Gabrielle woke with a start, feeling relaxed and revitalized in a way that defied description. Images of the previous night and morning came to mind and she blushed at the memory, but looking around her bedroom, she realized she was alone. She tapped her watch on the nightstand and it read eleven twenty-one am. “Fuck,” Gabrielle exclaimed, shocked she’d slept so late. She picked up her phone and there were a number of unanswered texts from Susan Yin, requests from the bridge to see if she was alive, missed phone calls and finally a note from Aphrodite. The message read, Don’t worry about a thing, hon, I got this. She sat up and hit the comm button to contact the bridge.

“Yes Gabrielle,” Michelle’s voice greeted her, the amusement clear under a thin veneer of professionalism.

“Is Susan Yin onboard?” the bard asked feeling like an idiot.

“Why yes, she’s having brunch on the sundeck with Aphrodite. Argo is there too, angling for a second breakfast.”

Gabrielle could feel her cheeks flush crimson. She closed her eyes wishing she could manipulate time instead of just outlive it. There was no way she was going anywhere without a shower, as she turned her head to get out of bed, she winced in pain. She gingerly touched her neck, surprised at how much it hurt. “Please tell Susan I apologize and I’ll be on deck in about twenty minutes.”

“Will do,” Michelle replied. “And Gabrielle?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“I wouldn’t worry about anything. She and Aphrodite are having a lovely brunch. Your friend is really fantastic, we all like her.”

“Thank you, Michelle,” she said, releasing the button on the comm unit. This was a wrinkle she should have foreseen and blindly didn’t. Of course people would make assumptions about the nature of their relationship. No one meets someone you’re sleeping with and thinks ‘your fuckbuddy is fantastic, so nice she’s helping you get the love of your life back.’ She absently wondered if her crew would be just as welcoming of Xena or if they would choose sides and resent the woman who took Aphrodite’s place.

Not that Xena or anyone else could actually take Aphrodite’s place, she decided. Their relationship may change but the goddess was going to hold a unique place in the bard’s life permanently; how could she not? People can’t just forget what they know about you, what you share together. That didn’t make her love for Xena any less.

Standing in front of the mirror in her bathroom she was shocked to see the deep purple bruise on her neck, looking at her back, arms, and other parts of her body, there were bruises all over. She didn’t remember it happening and had to assume that she was not immune to injuries inflicted by gods, regardless of how pleasurable the affliction was at the time.

The day was warm so she dressed in shorts and a t-shirt after her shower, not bothering to put on shoes and headed up to the sun deck. She was relieved that only three or four of her bruises were still visible. There was an empty chair at the table where Aphrodite and Susan were talking. Argo was contentedly chewing a bone in the shade of the umbrella. As soon as she sat down, Aphrodite looked at her alarmed.

“Oh, you seem to have a smudge,” the goddess said as she touched her neck, as if she was wiping away a smudge of dirt and the pain vanished. The bard casually glanced down at her arm and her thigh noticing those bruises had vanished too. “Thanks, Valerie,” she said.

“It’s okay,” Aphrodite replied with a nod to Susan, “I told her my given name is Aphrodite.” Gabrielle nodded in understanding. “And look at this,” she said excitedly, picking up a large yellow envelope sitting on the table. “She dumped the contents on to the table and there was Anna Winter’s passport, driver’s license, credit cards including a black American Express card identical to Gabrielle’s, social security card, and insurance card for the vehicles owned by the company. All the kinds of paperwork and identification one would have in their wallet as well as several bound stacks of bills.

“10k?” Gabrielle asked.

Susan nodded, “the usual. We can work up diplomas and such later.”

As Aphrodite put the money and the paperwork back into the envelope, Sarah Gibson approached their table with a tray. There was a very large shot of strong espresso, a healthy sized dutch baby pancake, some fruit, and tater tots. The bard was embarrassed anew. She had just been served her favorite meal after an all-night bender. Susan and Aphrodite both chuckled. She looked at Aphrodite accusingly.

“What? I had eggs benedict,” the goddess said with a wink.

Gabrielle tried to think up a classy retort when Aphrodite pulled a few bills from the stack in the envelope and gathered the documentation and credit cards, leaving most of the cash and the passport. “You kids have fun,” she said, “I’ve got shopping to do and I know the boat is waiting to take me ashore. Mind if I take Argo with me?” She stood up and without any hesitation, leaned over and kissed Gabrielle goodbye.

Gabrielle returned the kiss, inwardly a little uncomfortable that it was right in front of her vice president. A vice-president who was also a god-daughter.

“Don’t be such a prude,” Aphrodite whispered for her ears only as they parted.

Gabrielle blushed. “You can absolutely take Argo,” she said changing the subject. “They have a leash and bags for her on the taxi boat, but they won’t let her in the stores.”

Aphrodite winked again. “Wanna bet?”

Gabrielle watched her go and when she turned back to Susan, the other woman was openly smiling at her.

“What?” Gabrielle said, taking a deep sip of the espresso and digging into her breakfast.

Susan shrugged. “I’ll be honest, I had no idea you were gay.”

Gabrielle was surprised, “You’re kidding,” she said.

“Okay, I don’t worry about your love life, and I’ve never done boat duty so I guess I never thought about it one way or the other. You run an organization of mostly spies Gabrielle, we all compartmentalize really well and you keep your private life pretty private. I’ve never known you to be involved with anyone.”

Gabrielle thought about the seventeen years that Susan had worked with her as ‘Gabrielle Evans’ and the years before that as ‘Rebekah Evans’ and certainly she hadn’t had a serious relationship in that time. A few flings, but it had been over sixty years since her last real long-term relationship and that was kept from her business life. If it had been a hundred years earlier Gabrielle might have been concerned if this would change how the other woman saw her, or if she had any questions that needed clarification. In 2017 no one gave a shit and the type of person who would, wouldn’t be working for her. “We are going to discuss my private life a little later,” she said, after dipping a tater tot in ketchup, “I need to wake up first. In the meantime, fill me in on what’s going on with Brian Glass.”

Susan sipped her coffee deciding how to best answer her boss. “Yesterday was his first day at SP and it was about what you’d expect. Orientation mostly. I will have him working on a research project, totally isolated from anything else we have in the pipeline. Everyone knows he’s a provisionary placement, he knows he’s provisionary. Sabin is going to work directly with him and we’ve had a long conversation about the guy. Sabin doesn’t trust him and plans to watch him like a hawk.”

Gabrielle nodded approvingly. “If by some miracle we’re wrong about him and he withstands this kind of scrutiny, he’ll be a keeper.”

“I agree,” Susan said.

Finishing her breakfast, Gabrielle realized there was no further reason to put off the conversation she needed to have with Susan. She punched the number for Sarah on her phone after asking the other woman if she’d like more coffee.

“Sarah, can you please have someone bring another double espresso for me and another cup of coffee for Susan to the study.” As an afterthought she added “And some scotch and a couple of glasses. Thank you, much appreciated,” she said putting her phone down. “Okay, let’s go to the study, I need to read you in and you might have a question or two.”

The other woman led the way, being quite familiar with The Hippolyta. As they walked down to the lower deck she said conversationally, “Aphrodite invited Shen and I to Catalina with you guys for the weekend.”

Gabrielle was surprised, as a security precaution very few people knew that Susan had a grandson. “How did that come up?” she asked.

Susan looked a little bewildered, “I’m not sure, I mean, I mentioned him- we were talking about family, she said she knew you from where you grew up, and it just kind of came out. I just get this feeling that I can trust her. Which I realize is quite out of character for me.”

“Aphrodite has that effect on people. She is trustworthy, but I’m going to explain a bit more about that. And absolutely; join us in Catalina. We’re moving the ship tonight. We can stay for four days so we’re there through the weekend. Have the helicopter bring you guys on Friday when he gets back from boarding school. You can head back Sunday afternoon to get him back to school by curfew. It’s been too long since Shen and I hung out.”

They walked through Gabrielle’s ‘official’ office to the private study accessed by a door on the wall behind her desk. Like the office behind them this room had no windows but it was much more homey. To one side was a somewhat cluttered desk. There were several shelves with books as well as other antique looking mementos. A number of personal photos adorned the walls and bookcase. Susan settled herself on the couch against the far wall, a coffee, double espresso, bottle of Scotch and two glasses sitting on a low table in front of the couch. Gabrielle closed the door to the study and then crossed to her desk where she flipped a switch. A low hum sounded, a white noise, and a pale blue light went on in the corner. The room was absolutely secure.

Gabrielle joined Susan on the couch and got right to the point. “What I’m going to tell you is going to sound impossible, you may think I’m crazy and you will absolutely not be the first to think so.” Susan sat politely, paying attention. Gabrielle continued, “Your family has worked for me for three generations. Your mother and your grandfather, worked for me.”

“Yes, I know that,” Susan said.

“I mean me personally. Not my mother or my grandmother.” Gabrielle clarified.

“Yes,” Susan said.

Gabrielle frowned. This conversation had never progressed in this fashion before. “You don’t seem to find that odd.” Gabrielle finally said, at a loss.

“Oh, no.” Susan disagreed, “I find it very odd. I am grateful we are having this conversation. I remember my grandfather telling me stories about when the two of you met in 1912, although you were going by Ingrid Bard at the time.”

“I remember him then,” Gabrielle replied smiling fondly. “A young man of 20. He was part of the second wave of immigrants from China, and we met in San Francisco. I’d landed in Halifax Nova Soctia in April and then made my way west. My husband William had died and I was focusing on my company.”

“He described you as self-possessed and confident; someone who could talk anyone into doing anything and talk herself out of any trouble. The company was Chakram Enterprises then?”

“It was. It was a difficult time for me then and your grandfather was kind beyond his years.” It occurred to Gabrielle now as she remembered the man how much his granddaughter resembled him.

“I know the two of you were close. He said that you treated him with a level of respect and trust unusual for that time.”

“I treated him exactly how he deserved, he was a very dear friend. Back then, when I was preparing to change identities, it was a time – years- consuming laborious process. Inventing children people never saw me with or relatives, or adopting a relative’s child. Just before a switch the people who worked closest with me would transition out, either by retirement, or I’d find them better jobs elsewhere. Then I’d promote people from the lower ranks so my new self would start fresh with a new senior staff who didn’t know I wasn’t who I said I was. Obviously, this has gotten more difficult over time.

“Anyway, I just couldn’t part with Shen Chu and kept him on. I came up with a story about adopting my niece and having her away at boarding school. I did what I could with hair and makeup to age myself. When it came time for Abigail Evans to take over from Ingrid Bard and rename the company Bardic & Company your grandfather pleasantly went along with it. I always suspected he knew but did his best to treat me like I hadn’t known him for eighteen years. I think he clued in your mother, Betty when she started in fifty-two, because she never said a word.”

“Shen revered you so, and it was something he instilled in my mother. He thought you were perhaps a benevolent spirit or Wu. My mother’s assessment was a little different. She was a devout Christian after she married my father and thought you might be an angel sent to live among people.”

Gabrielle chuckled. “I can guarantee there is nothing angelic about me. And you?” Gabrielle asked, really surprised at how the conversation was going. “What do you think? Angel, Wu or something else?”

“I have no idea. My grandson is really into spider-man, super heroes in general but especially spider-man. The genre is full of remarkable people who were the victims of some sort of accident or experiment.” She leaned forward to pick up the delicate coffee cup. “I remember when I started at the company in sixty-nine, there was that glorious year when all three generations of us were working for you, or for Rebekah Evans I should say, before Shen died, right after Tom and I got married in nineteen seventy. There we were, Shen thinking you were a Wu, mother thinking you were an angel, and me too preoccupied with learning my job to give it much thought.”

            “I see,” Gabrielle said, feeling more refreshingly lost than at any time in recent memory. “And it was the gay thing that surprised you?”

            Susan chuckled, “Yes, actually that was my big reveal for the day. As long as you’re ‘coming out’ about this, so to speak; feel free to elaborate. I can’t imagine you being anything other than human.”

            “I am absolutely human. A very imperfect, flawed one at that.” Gabrielle reassured her, taking a sip of espresso and deciding how to best frame her explanation. “Let’s say your grandson is on the right track. Something happened to me when…well when I was a bit younger than I look now. It made me age very, very slowly. Like, really slowly.”

            “Just how old are you?” Susan asked, the familiar apprehension beginning to thread her voice.

            Gabrielle looked at her directly, her expression serious. “It’s hard to say because when I was born it wasn’t like we had calendars, and time keeping in general has shifted a bit but my best guess is that I’m about 2,097.” Gabrielle’s very fast reflexes allowed her to stop Susan from dropping her cup of hot coffee. Gently she took it from the Chinese woman’s fingers and set it back in its saucer.

            “That…it can’t…”
“I know,” Gabrielle said gently, reaching for the bottle of Scotch and pouring some into each of the glasses.

            “That’s the time of Caesar,” Susan finally said, dumbfounded after a mental calculation.

            “I did not like him,” Gabrielle said, as she handed her one of the glasses. “He was a horrible person.”

            “You knew him?” Susan breathed in disbelief.

“I’d say I had to interact with him on several occasions and did not like him,” Gabrielle explained. “My friend knew him better.”

Susan Yin took a very deep breath and let it out slowly. She accepted the glass from Gabrielle but she didn’t drink from it. “Aphrodite, she’s like you?”

            This was not a question Gabrielle was expecting, because every other time she’d told anyone her big secret she had been the only person in her predicament. “Actually,” she said carefully, “Aphrodite is much older than me. Even if she doesn’t always act like it,” she added.

            At this point Susan took a healthy sip of the Scotch. “Something happened to you over two thousand years ago.” She almost seemed to be trying to convince herself. “Two thousand years ago. I would not believe it if the evidence wasn’t overwhelming,” Susan finally said. “Gabrielle, you have a way of talking about history that sounds very convincing. Like you were there.”

            “You don’t think I’m just a history nerd?”

            “I’m not alone in thinking you are the biggest history nerd to have ever lived. But even for a nerd you know a lot of detail about a lot of subjects, a lot of professions. I’ve known you my whole life- seventy-three years, my mother’s whole life. You are my godmother, my mother’s godmother. You obviously haven’t aged a day in that time. Changed your hairstyle maybe. When you talk about historical events though, you have a way about talking about the past that brings it alive.”

            “I used to be a bard,” Gabrielle explained.

            “Where?” Susan asked.

            “Greece.”

            “You mean Ancient Greece.” Susan clarified.

            Gabrielle frowned. “Well yes, if you want to make a girl feel old.”

            “Sorry, sorry,” she said. “This makes so much sense of Acquisitions now. The property you own, the priceless paintings, antiques, warehouses of really old stuff. And it makes sense why you keep buying new stuff – new art, new guitars when you own vintage ones, the stocks, vehicles – you’re saving things knowing in several hundred years they will be priceless.” Susan looked relieved, giddy almost that so much of what she’d seen in her working life now made sense. “I thought you were an amazingly savvy businesswoman, and you’re just really patient and persistent.”

            “Hey now!” Gabrielle objected. “I’m kind of a savvy businesswoman.”

            “In the sense that living longer than everyone else is savvy, then sure.” Susan said. “Everything you’ve amassed is to fund charitable ventures and special projects. Why?” Susan put her glass down and poured herself another drink. Gabrielle was happy to see she’d moved beyond shock to realizing that she could now discover every secret there was behind Bardic & Company “Wait…wait,” the Chinese woman said putting her hand up, her eyes suddenly getting wide. “Aphrodite…is…Aphrodite.”

            “About that,” Gabrielle began.

            “The myths. The Goddess of Love.” Susan interrupted, unable to stop herself. “She’s a goddess?”

            Now Gabrielle picked up her own glass of scotch and took a sip. She enjoyed the warming sensation in her mouth wishing the alcohol could also give her inspiration as to handle this next line of questions delicately. “Aphrodite is indeed the one you’re thinking of. Certainly, she is a goddess to me, not just because I know her and I love her, but she was part of the dominant religion when I was growing up.”

            “And the others?” Susan asked her voice quiet and stunned.

            “Ares, Poseidon, Athena, Hades, these haven’t been mythological figures for me, these are people I’ve had conversations with. Something happened over two thousand years ago that cut these people off from the source of their…well I guess power is the best word for it. They still aren’t like regular people, or like me even, but they are closer to us than they were.” Gabrielle felt no need to go into detail about exactly how the god’s of her day lost much of their power.

            “Are all religions like that?” Susan asked.

            Gabrielle shrugged, “I don’t know. The ancient Egyptians worshipped gods that were part animal. I’ve never met anyone like that. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think they weren’t real, or might not look different now.” She took another sip of scotch. “Living this long has taught me that charismatic people inspire other people. Do they have power before or after people follow them? Who can say. Myths can evolve and change over time; usually they get exaggerated. In your own lifetime you’ve seen the invention of Scientology- a new religion completely created by a science fiction author. Already the myths about him grow with his believers.”

            Susan nodded, considering it a fair point. “You’re equating all religions with…”

            “I will be the first to say I’m not an expert in religion. As old as I am there is a lot that I don’t know and so many things I can barely fathom. I do know my religion though, the one I was raised in, and it had gods and goddess and I’ve met them and battled them…”

            “And fallen in love with them?” Susan asked.

            Gabrielle poured each of them another scotch. “No. Not exactly.” She took a deep breath. While the details of her love life weren’t really anyone’s business, knowing the facts about Xena might make things less confusing down the road. Especially since she hoped this particular mission might be completed in Susan’s lifetime. “I absolutely love Aphrodite. I mean, who wouldn’t, right? And we are very close friends- obviously. But the big love of my life is this woman, Xena. The friend I mentioned earlier.” She frantically searched for a way to tell Xena’s story that didn’t have words like ‘resurrection’ and ‘ashes’ in it. “Two thousand years ago, when the gods lost touch with each other and I lost touch with them, I also lost touch with Xena. I have been searching for her ever since. I’ve had relationships in that time, fallen in love with people and stayed with them for many years. There have been other times when I’ve run around like a total floosy. I’m kind of being a floosy right now, which is fine with Aphrodite.

            “When I was a kid, there was this story that people had two heads and four arms, four legs. Zeus threw down lightning bolts and separated people so they’d have one head, two arms, and two legs but we keep searching for the other half of our soul. Xena is the other half of my soul, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t valued the other relationships I’ve had. If you ever live to be two thousand you find that your attitudes about monogamy, sexual orientation, and any number of things get really murky.” She took a deep breath, not feeling comfortable at all having this personal of a conversation with an employee. “The whole point of my company, why I’ve built everything I’ve built has been to search out Aphrodite, who is going to help me…find Xena. Well, her and Poseidon.”

            “Zuma Ocean,” Susan said, another piece falling into place.

            “Yes, he changed his name to that and I have no idea why, it’s kind of on the nose.” She put her glass down. “I knew this…project…would take a very long time, so I’ve wanted to do good as I went along. Contribute to causes I believe in, be a force for things positive. I’ve also learned over the years to be obsessed about my security and I know that knowledge is power.”

            “Which explains the different facets of Bardic” Susan said with a nod.

            Gabrielle looked at Susan, a very real fear suddenly dawning on her. “Susan, I hope this…all of this doesn’t change the way you think about me, or about being Shen’s godmother.”

            Susan smiled and Gabrielle felt relieved. “Gabrielle…what is your given name by the way?” she asked.

Gabrielle nodded. “It was Gabrielle. I don’t return to it very often, but it was time; I’d missed it.

“Well I’m happy to know you buy it,” Susan said beaming. “I have no doubt that you’ve had children. Believe me, many things about you are falling into place now. You and I both know that a mother, or grandmother’s greatest fear is worrying who will care for their children when they are gone. My dear, you’ve just given me a wonderful gift. I will sleep much better at night knowing that should my life be long or short, you will be there for Shen through his entire life. That the painful burden will be yours to say goodbye to him long after I’m gone; that he will never lose you.” She finished off her scotch and put her glass down. For long moments she was quiet, clearly digesting all she’d heard. Finally, she looked up and smiled fondly at her godmother, taking her hand before speaking.

            “Gabrielle, I may be only seventy-three, clearly a child in your eyes, which is a little unsettling. But, sometimes even children can tell us something we don’t know. I understand why you are so guarded. I can see why this information could be damaging to you over the centuries. But you have made yourself very powerful, but with this power is also a responsibility as my grandson would say. You need to decide who you can trust, like me, and you need to tell them this. If people don’t believe you – so what? You’re eccentric or crazy. The president of the United States is completely crazy and no one is about to lock him up. Why? Money. Lord knows you’ve got more money than President Turner. I would not be surprised if you have more money than anyone else on earth. You need a kind of security that money can’t buy you. You need to trust more people. And not just for your sake.”

            “What do you mean?” Gabrielle asked.

            “The crew on this ship for example,” Susan continued. “Each of these men and women only have one life. And while you’ve always made it clear the risks involved in working in the Transportation and SP divisions, they think you are taking the same risk. You aren’t; not if you are immortal. Trust your crew, they are trusting their lives to the decisions you make. If they think you’re crazy they should have the opportunity to leave the company. That would be better for them and you. You need only people in your immediate vicinity that can understand this kind of remarkable reality. You may lose people, possibly a lot of people, but for those who remain, they will be better for you and it will be fair to them.”

            Gabrielle felt winded, like she’d just been exposed to a basic truth she’d not noticed for ages. It had been a long time since she’d felt that way. In equal measure she felt stung and proud by Susan’s insight. “You are absolutely right, Susan. I will tell them before we go to Baja.”

            “I will want you to tell Shen as well. Not right now,” she clarified. “I would like him to be well out of puberty before he realizes he knows the Goddess of Love.” Both women shared a laugh. “But I do want him to know the truth sooner than I did. I am very honored that you were willing to be his godmother. And my godmother.”

            Gabrielle felt her eyes well up and decided there was no good reason not to cry. “I know this is highly unprofessional and absolutely against HR regulations, but do you mind if I hug you?”

            After walking Susan to the docking area at the aft of the yacht, she watched the powerboat motor back to the dock at the marina. She considered the options in how best to tell the 15 crew aboard The Hippolyta the truth. She returned to her study and sat down at her computer. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Did she want to type out a speech, craft a presentation with bullet points, write poetry? Her eyes drifted over to the book case and the wall with the photos. Inspired, she got to work.

            She had no idea how long she’d been at it when she heard the click of someone depressing the button to the intercom. “Gabrielle,” Elaine Jackson’s voice came through the speaker. “Aphrodite has just returned to the ship. Would you like us to depart for Catalina now?”

            Gabrielle glanced at her phone, it was twenty minutes after six. She was stunned that she’d been working all day. While she thought she’d made the presentation that would do the trick, she didn’t realize it had taken so long. “Yes, let’s head to the Two Harbors. Anchor off of Emerald Cove. What is the weather like on deck?”

            “It’s a little breezy for dinner,” Elaine replied. “Sarah has made a couple of different vegetarian lasagnas for dinner and the off duty crew was going to eat at seven.” The bard grinned a little shyly. The unspoken question here was did she want Sarah to fix her something special for dinner and did she and Aphrodite want to eat with the crew or in her private apartment. “I’ll let her know my dinner plans when I’ve had a chance to talk to Aphrodite. You think two hours to Catalina?”

            “Yes ma’am.”

            “Excellent, thank you Elaine.”

            She punched the name on her phone to contact Hatsuo. “Yes, Gabrielle?” He said answering immediately. “Anything to report on the security front since the discovery of the bug?”

            “No ma’am,” Hatsuo said. “We’ve been doing more frequent sweeps, we’ve been monitoring around the ship. We had an extra detail from Transportation come out and observe from shore. Other than the usual interest in a mega yacht and kids with their drones looking for sunbathers, we haven’t seen anything that would prompt me to alert you.”

            Nodding, Gabrielle made a decision. “We are going to spend four days at Catalina. While we’re away from the mainland see if the drone traffic still persists. Make sure there isn’t someone with more expertise trying to look like a curious kid. I want everyone to have as much downtime as possible. While off duty I want everyone to relax and recharge. We are going to have an all hands meeting in the conference room before we head back to the marina. I will have some more details then about any possible staffing changes and more downtime before we tackle our next assignment.”

            “Understood,” he said.

            She ended the call and there was a knock at the door to her study. “Come in,” she called.

            Aphrodite was there, wearing a new dress that was positively stunning. It had a very fifties vintage look and was a gorgeous sea foam green with small white polka dots. “Wow,” she said appreciatively.

            “I was shopping for Xena and somehow some stuff for me ended up in the bag too.” She said with a smile.

            “Imagine that,” Gabrielle replied, getting up from the desk, feeling an unpleasant stiffness in her neck.

            “Come see what I bought for your girlfriend,” the goddess said, leading the way to the bard’s stateroom suite after greeting her with a kiss. She opened the bedroom door and Gabrielle was a little taken aback by the number of bags and boxes piled high on the bed. “We’re going to have to make room in your closet. I’ve already asked Blake to bring some storage boxes up here for the stuff we’re going to move out.”

            “You met Blake?” Gabrielle asked absently, still marveling at the sheer quantity of shopping the goddess managed to accomplish in one day. “How did you fit all this stuff in the Tesla?”

            “Honey, I’ve met nearly everyone on the ship. While you were passed out this morning, before Susan got here I made myself at home. I wandered around, said good morning to the folks on the bridge. Wandered into the crew quarters, took a look at the engine room. You weren’t kidding when you said Class One clearance would give me free reign. No one made me feel the least bit out of place.”

            “I’m still trying to figure out how you managed to fit all of this…” Her bewilderment was cut short by a knock at the bedroom door. Gabrielle opened the door and a handsome man stood there next to a cart with a number of empty plastic tubs stacked neatly within each other.

            Blake Taylor looked to be in his mid-thirties. A little taller than Aphrodite with crisp, stylish short hair and a fit physique not quite as muscle bound as some of the other crew. While dressed in what could be describe as “vacation-wear” is ensemble was more stylishly put together than the crew that had had inhibited the bridge when Aphrodite was introduced. He wore casual slacks, loafers and a collared shirt. To the goddesses ears his accent placed him as growing up in the English countryside and then moving to London as soon as he was able. In seconds his manner spoke volumes, this was a man who made order out of chaos. Suddenly it became very apparent to the goddess why the bard’s ship was so tidy.

“Good evening, Gabrielle,” he said with a warm smile. “Aphrodite requested…”

“Yeah, the boxes…” Gabrielle said absently, looking back at the bed.

Aphrodite shook her head. “She’s in shock,” she explained to the newcomer. “Just leave the boxes here. We will fill them up and leave them outside the door, over there?” She pointed to a hallway a respectful distance from the bedroom. “Then you can pick them up whenever and put them in storage?”

“Absolutely,” he said.

“Great,” the goddess replied with a smile. “Then please let Sarah know we will join the crew for dinner, but Gabrielle and I have to chat about something first. We’ll see you at seven.”

He nodded before leaving and Aphrodite closed the door. She leaned against it, not looking forward to what she was about to say.

“I did some thinking while I was shopping,” she began, fully aware that Gabrielle wasn’t just in shock at the number of bags and boxes on the bed, but realizing that it was her first concrete evidence in a very long time that the prospect of Xena returning might be more than a pipe dream. “We need to talk about when I move into the guest stateroom.”

“Wait, what?” Gabrielle said, like she must have misheard her.

“At some point, I need to move into the guest quarters,” she clarified. “Some of this stuff is mine, you don’t think I should just set up house there now, when I unpack it? I’m not saying I’m going to start sleeping there, certainly not tonight, but…”

“No, I don’t,” Gabrielle said without hesitation. “Yes, I know this,” she gestured around the bedroom, “has an expiration date. It’s been two days we certainly aren’t there yet.” She looked at the goddess for a moment and chose her next words carefully. “Are you worried about this being confusing for me…or confusing for you?”

“Orgasms don’t confuse me Gabrielle,” she replied a little defensively.

“I know,” Gabrielle said easily. “But sleeping with someone might. It’s all the things that aren’t sex that might throw you.” The goddess didn’t reply, but her expression softened. “Look, I respect that you don’t want to make things confusing for me. Having you in my bed one day and then Xena the next. I agree with you that it would be…inappropriate. But I also want to say that I have been happier these past couple of days than I have been in a very long time. I feel less alien, I feel more hopeful. I feel a kind of security that is letting me move forward and make some very big decisions that could have far reaching implications for me, for Xena, and for my company. I’m going to give you credit for that. If you want to move to the guest room for you, because you are feeling attached in ways you don’t think are good, then I will absolutely understand. But please don’t do it for me- and you can’t do it until Susan and Shen visit for the weekend.”

“When then?” Aphrodite asked, her voice soft and kind.

Gabrielle thought for a moment. “When we have the hammer. When I have the hammer in my hand and we come back to the boat- that will be it. I will make sure that I will have said everything I want to say to you and I will hope that you have done the same and things can shift in a good way.”

“It’s a deal, Gabrielle,” Aphrodite said although the inevitability of sadness was evident in her voice. “Now we need to get going to dinner, you know they’re going to wait for us. We can clean out your closet after.”

“How did you know about dinner?” Gabrielle asked, following the goddess out of the bedroom.

Aphrodite chuckled. “Are you kidding? Six different crew members invited me.”

Chapter 6: Fun In The Sun

The long weekend at Catalina Island was exactly the break Gabrielle had been looking for. The change of both scenery and routine seemed to lift the spirits of everyone onboard The Hippolyta. Bard and goddess went through her closet and packed away a third of the contents therein. Aphrodite had her curiosity answered by discovering that the drawers were indeed as neat and tidy as the rest of the closet. “I can’t take credit,” Gabrielle confessed, “the people assigned as stewards keep me in shape. This rotation it’s Blake Taylor and Samantha Ramirez. The only place that is off limits to the crew is the study and therefore it’s the messiest place on the ship. Occasionally they make me straighten it up, but not often enough.”

Gabrielle went through the wardrobe impressed with how thorough Aphrodite was in anticipating what Xena might need. There were the usual undergarments, jeans, shoes, t-shirts, blouses, jackets, some clothes that were less casual, a couple of dresses, accessories, some technical outdoor clothing, a pair of motorcycle boots, and a leather jacket. “You don’t think an iPhone and an Apple Watch are overkill?” Gabrielle asked with a chuckle. “For the woman who’s most advanced possession was a flying round knife?”

“She is going to need to Google a lot of shit when she gets here. That’s going to be one of the first things you’re going to have to teach her.” Aphrodite put the boxes in a drawer. “I don’t think she’ll give a shit how they work, just that they help.”

For her own attire, the goddess unpacked her duffle bag into the drawer that Gabrielle had emptied for her use. She hung up the things that she didn’t want to get wrinkled and added her new purchases as well. “Where did you put it?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant as she held up a new jacket and studied her reflection in the full-length mirror.

Knowing full well that she was talking about the shell, Gabrielle answered. “I put it in the safe.” The goddess nodded, approvingly.

By evening, Gabrielle realized that a comfortable routine had developed. The crew gave them plenty of space in the morning, but once on deck for breakfast they interacted with Gabrielle less like she was entertaining a guest and more like she was with family, someone who was going to be around for a while. The pair would eat breakfast alone, join the crew for lunch and for dinner, and after dinner would retire to Gabrielle’s staterooms. Argo was grateful to have an additional person to swim and play ball with and the crew seemed genuinely happy to have her around. Everyone was drawn to her and seemed to go out of their way to have a few moments to chat with her daily.

Gabrielle was glad that her request that people take their downtime seriously had been heeded. Other than her own private spaces onboard, the bard had always made it clear that the ship’s amenities were for everyone to use. People lounged by the pool, enjoyed the hot tub, swam in the pool or snorkeled off the back deck, and took the jet skis for a spin. Several of the crew had erected a climbing wall from the lower decks that extended past the top decks and were having races to scale it. It wasn’t unusual to see someone fishing or groups of people gathered in the den to watch a movie on the large television.

With the sun warm on her skin and the smell of steaks coming from a well-tended barbecue nearby, Gabrielle didn’t think the day could be any more perfect, aside from having Xena there with her of course. From her vantage point on a beach towel at the stern of the yacht she had full view of her dog frolicking in the water with a few of the crew, as well as people enjoying other areas of the ship. She was absently listening to a political radio show podcast that several other members of her crew were enjoying; laughing at the jokes, while also debating the current political climate. While she felt distracted by Aphrodite’s presence, she was grateful for the respite from the dismal realities of the world at large.

Lazily she opened her eyes when she felt the sun blocked from her face. Vox and Wolfgang were standing in front of her, the two youngest members of her crew. Wolfgang stood there in his neon green speedos, his muscular lean body nearly completely covered by tattoos. He wasn’t wearing his glasses as he’d been swimming. Vox Wandre, the engineer, stood next to him nearly as tall and just as lanky. She was wearing men’s orange baggy swim trunks with an orange bikini top and a white ribbed tank top over it. Her Scandinavian skin was pale and the assortment of tattoos on her arms, legs, and even on her belly under the tank top stood out in sharp contrast. Her hair was white blond and came to just past her ear on one side and was shaved close to her scalp on the other. Her features were boyish and chiseled and she looked at Gabrielle through pale blue eyes, shifting a little uncomfortably in place as she stood next to Wolfgang.

“What’s up guys?” Gabrielle asked, pushing her RayBan’s to the top of her head so she could see them better in the backlighting. “Anything interesting on The Stephanie Miller show today?”

Wolfgang shrugged, “Everyday is a new horror show…”

The trio had their attention diverted by a loud gasp as Bohemian broke the water’s surface. Treading water as he flung the wet dreadlocks out of his face, he was gasping for air, looking at the water around him “That’s insane!” he exclaimed. A moment later Aphrodite broke the surface of the water. “I don’t see how you can do that!” he said in amazement.

“I told you I was a free diver,” she said easily, not even winded.

“No one can hold their breath that long,” he protested.

She laughed, “I think I kinda just did.”

They both cleared the water, climbing the short ladder onto the beach deck where Gabrielle was sunbathing. Aphrodite said ‘Hi’ to Wolfgang and cocked her head at Vox. “I don’t think we’ve met yet,” she said.

Immediately Gabrielle did a double take. Aphrodite was wearing her new bathing suit- a black and pale blue bikini. She’d been wearing a sarong when they left their cabin this morning. The bard wasn’t sure if it was the suit or the fact that the goddess had just been in the water, which she was casually shaking from her short hair, but something about the goddess was different. Beyond radiant, the water seemed to shimmer as it ran in rivulets down her body. The goddess almost seemed to be glowing. Suddenly the bard felt very thirsty.

Wolfgang looked like a deer caught in headlights as he was unable to pull his eyes from the goddess standing in front of him. “Um…ah…this is Vox Wandre,” he said quickly, “our engineer. Um…hey… I think I need a swim.” He handed Vox a tube of sunscreen and bolted for the water, quickly joined by Steve, who had also been lounging nearby listening to the podcast leaving Blake alone to tend the laptop. It was not lost on Gabrielle that everyone in the vicinity was looking at Aphrodite and that the duo now splashing in the water had both been wearing speedos.

“Nice to meet you,” Vox said, extending her hand to Aphrodite, her expression ambivalent, a small smile not reaching her eyes.

As the goddess shook her hand it was all she could do to not smile at the young woman sympathetically. While not outwardly hostile, it was clear from the strong grip and eye contact that the engineer was not a fan of the Goddess of Love.

“You and Wolfgang were saying something about the Stephanie Miller Show?” Gabrielle asked in an attempt to diffuse the tension.

“What?” Vox asked. “Oh, yeah, nah,” she said with a careless shrug. “Just the usual stuff. Playing clips from the Gideon Power Hour and making fun of him. Shit like that.”

Gabrielle nodded. “I’ll admit I’m behind,” she said a little color tinting her cheeks. “I’ve been…ah… busy.”

“I’ve heard,” Vox said with a disapproving glance at Aphrodite. Then, realizing that she’d overstepped, tried to backtrack. “I was below deck in the engine room the other day with Ingrid when you made the introductions on the bridge so I wanted to come by and say ‘Hi’. You know, introduce myself.”

“Ah,” Gabrielle said with a nod, forgiving the young woman’s overstep.

“And to bring you this,” she added. Extending her hand holding the tube of sunscreen. “Wolfie thought you might need it.”

“Thanks,” Aphrodite said, taking the sunscreen from the other woman, which only intensified her frown.

The bard’s expression grew stern and she turned her head towards the men in the water. “Wolfgang Louise Fowler did you do the tattoo bet again?”

“Your middle name is Louise?” Aphrodite asked with a chuckle.

The young man laughed and shook his head. “No, it’s from the radio show. When you’re in trouble everyone gets the middle name Louise. It’s a thing.” Treading water, he raised his hands helplessly. “It was too easy.”

“How much did you bet him?” the bard asked turning her attention to the lanky butch woman standing in front of her.

“Five hundred bucks,” Vox said quietly.

“Exposition, please?” Aphrodite asked looking at Wolfgang, who blushed furiously. As if it was a totally unconscious move, she ran her fingers through her hair pushing the short blond tresses away from her face. As she did so her body moved, her arms raising which in turn raised her chest and the muscles of her abdomen flexing slightly. As much as Gabrielle wanted to stare, she allowed herself only a glance and looked at the young man who was transfixed.

“No one believes that Gabrielle has a giant dragon tattoo that covers her whole back,” Bohemian explained for the distracted navigator. “Vox is the newest member of the crew and the new guy nearly always falls for it.”

Aphrodite chuckled and turned towards Vox. The young woman looked at Aphrodite and after a quick double take almost looked at her with grudging respect. With her short hair smoothed back against her head she had a more severe, commanding presence. “Why don’t you think that Gabrielle has a giant, gorgeous, stunning dragon covering her back?” she asked deceptively sweetly.

Vox shrugged, which seemed to be her go to maneuver. “She just doesn’t seem like the type or whatever,” she said.

Aphrodite nodded to Gabrielle who rolled her eyes, stood up, and turned around showing Vox the sinuous, winged, claw-footed dragon that wound its way from her tailbone to the nape of her neck and across both shoulders.

“Holy shit,” the young woman said. Quickly bringing her hand up to touch it, she just as quickly put it back down again, knowing better than to touch her employer so intimately.

“It’s always the femmy ones you have to watch out for,” Aphrodite added with a wink.

“Wolfgang isn’t taking your money,” Gabrielle said with a frown at Aphrodite. “This bet thing is too much like hazing and it isn’t okay,” she added to the men in the water and to Bohemian sitting next to the goddess.

“Hey man,” he protested, “I wouldn’t do that to Vox, we went through training together in Transportation.” He winked at his friend who cracked a smile in spite of herself. “She’d kick my ass.”

“No, it’s cool.” Vox demurred. “I’m one of the guys, they’ve all been great- even Bo.” She glanced at the sunscreen that Aphrodite had set down on a low table nearby then back at the goddess. “I’m going to get back to our podcast,” she said. “I’ll see you guys after dinner.”

“I’ll join you,” Bohemian said, getting up to follow the engineer, wrapping a towel around his baggy swim trunks so he didn’t leave a trail of water behind him.

“Okay,” Gabrielle said with warmth and kindness, waiting until she left to sit back down on her towel.

“You didn’t call me Aphrodite Louise so I guess I’m not in trouble?” The goddess asked as she sat down next to her lover. Gabrielle gave her a look then picked up her beer taking a long pull. With seriousness the goddess added, “that one is going to be trouble. She’s absolutely in love with you.”

“For now,” Gabrielle replied quietly, “She’s young and just figuring out who she is. I’d rather her be infatuated with me than Michelle or anyone else in the crew.”

“Not your first rodeo with a love-sick employee?”

“It happens from time to time They always end up getting a grip on themselves or transfer out of the department or leave the organization. Sometimes they become really exceptional additions to the team.”

“And you never indulge?” Aphrodite asked with a raised eyebrow.

Gabrielle shook her head. “Not for a very, very, very long time at work, and certainly never in the Transportation or Special Projects divisions, they’re too important. I indulge elsewhere.”

“You’re going to have to tell me all about your indulgences later,” Aphrodite said with a flirtatious wink, the slicked back hair making the goddess look much more butch than she was accustomed to.

“Should I use the sunscreen?” Aphrodite asked. “I know your skin won’t burn but for appearances?”

Gabrielle put her sunglasses back down and glanced around the ship. Frequent glances were still being sent the goddess’ way and she was either unaware of the extra attention or chose not to acknowledge it. “Sure. Usually I wear long sleeved surf shirt to avoid the question about not burning or tanning, but the sun feels so nice.”

Aphrodite put her sunglasses on before applying the cream to the bard’s back. She glanced over at the table a short distance away where several people were talking politics over the podcast and sure enough Vox was glowering jealously at her. She resisted the urge to take off her sunglasses and wink.

Argo strolled over and curled up next to her mistress, enjoying a nice scratch behind the ears. “There is something different about you,” Gabrielle said as the goddess finished, taking the tube and quite unnecessarily applying the sunscreen to her lover’s back.

“I love the ocean,” Aphrodite replied. “I was born from sea foam; it makes me feel young and reckless.”

Gabrielle nodded. “It shows. You know, we’re going to have a ten-year old on this ship any minute now,” she added quietly, for the goddess’ ears alone.

“I promise to behave,” Aphrodite assured her. “I’m great with kids.”

Gabrielle giggled a little and took another sip of her beer, glancing with sympathy at the men swimming around, not because they necessarily wanted to, but because they had chosen to wear speedos instead of baggy swimming trunks. “I’m just glad the affect you have on me doesn’t show,” she said quietly with a nod to the men off the back of the boat, still swimming.

Now it was Aphrodite’s turn to chuckle, “I think it’s adorable that you don’t think it shows.”

 Gabrielle was going to respond when the voice of a newcomer diverted her attention.

“I just got off duty, did I miss anything?” Michelle asked, approaching the barbecue and checking the doneness of the meats and vegetables. Sarah shooed her away.

“I’m not micromanaging your captaining, leave my barbecue alone.” She said teasingly.

“Look who’s being obvious,” the bard muttered to Aphrodite, who had just spotted the captain wearing a bikini. Michelle’s curly brown hair had been released from its professional bun and fell just past her shoulders. Her bathing suit was a gradation of the colors of a sunset and contrasted beautifully with her light brown skin. Well-muscled and confident, she looked like she had just stepped off the cover of a sports magazine swimsuit edition. As the bard had inwardly predicted, the goddess took notice of her the same way Steve, and Wolfgang had just been looking at her.

“Just so you know,” Gabrielle said quietly, “the crew is very much off-limits for you too, especially the captain.”

“That’s a stupid rule,” Aphrodite said feigning a pout.

“Um, no, it’s the law,” Gabrielle replied. “You kinda, sorta work for me now; you’re on the expense accounts.”

“You’re just jealous,” the goddess countered.

“Perhaps,” Gabrielle agreed, but was distracted by the approaching helicopter.

“Okay now?” Aphrodite asked. Gabrielle turned her head to see what she meant and did a double take. The shimmer and glow were gone and now Aphrodite looked like a run of the mill gorgeous woman as opposed to the walking, for lack of a better word, aphrodisiac from minutes earlier. “Should we go greet them?” the goddess asked as she watched Argo shake the water from her coat and bound up the stairs to the upper decks.

“Nope,” Gabrielle said, laying back and enjoying the warmth of the sun. “Argo will go greet them. Susan will want to get the two of them settled in the guest stateroom. He’s going to have to decide if he wants to hunt for his chocolate candy bar now or go swimming first. We’ve got a routine you see.”

“You hide a candy bar?”

“Susan is pretty strict about what he eats when he’s not at school, but she knows I do it and is fine. Somewhere on board is a dark chocolate peppermint candy bar and he’ll run around the ship to find it.” She shrugged, “it’s good exercise. I read it in the ‘godmother handbook’ somewhere.”

Aphrodite was amused, looking forward to spending some time with a young person, it had been a long time. “What other kinds of things do you guys do together?” she asked.

“He will tell me about what’s going on in school, he will complain about his history lessons, we’ll watch movies. I’m not really into video games,” she gave Aphrodite a ‘it’s not as interesting when you’ve already done it’, expression over the top of her sunglasses. “But there are plenty of people on the crew, certainly with this particular crew, who will play with him. You know, normal ten year old stuff.”

Michelle had taken a seat on the edge of the dock as Gabrielle had been speaking, both to Aphrodite’s delight and the bard’s regret. “You guys have to play music tonight,” she said. “Shen loves it when you guys play.”

“I saw all the instruments,” Aphrodite said.

“Not all of them,” Bomenian added returning to the group, sitting down next to Aphrodite and dangling his legs in the water as well. “Gabrielle has this amazing lute from the Renaissance. We keep it in the vault. Occasionally we can get her to play it for us.”

“Well I think that’s settled,” Aphrodite said looking forward to the future concert.

“I’m hardly the only musician onboard,” Gabrielle with a nod to Bo. “We’ve stayed up many a night butchering songs by any number of people.”

“Just don’t ask her to sing, though,” Michelle said with a chuckle. “Gabrielle is an amazing musician, but singer she is not.”

The goddess laughed out loud. “All these years I’ve known you Gabrielle and you still can’t carry a tune in a bucket?”

“Yeah well,” she said with a blush.

Gabrielle was saved from further embarrassment as a lanky ten year old bounded across the main deck and climbed down the stairs to the beach deck. “Squirrel!” he shouted enthusiastically.

“Moose!” Gabrielle said as he rushed over to give her a hug. That mission accomplished, he went to the other crew members nearby and gave them high fives or fist bumps. Returning to where Gabrielle was he looked over at Aphrodite, suddenly becoming a bit shy. “Shen,” Gabrielle said encouragingly – I want you to meet my friend, Aphrodite.”

“It’s very nice to meet you Shen,” Aphrodite said extending her hand. “Or should I call you Moose?”

The young boy shook it and then deciding that the goddess was okay, he offered her a fist bump that she happily returned. “Gabrielle is the only one who calls me Moose,” he explained. “We used to watch Rocky and Bullwinkel when I was a kid.”

“How was the trip from school?” Gabrielle asked and the boy shrugged, clearly jaded for a ten year old.

“Helicopters are noisy,” he said, “but we did see a pod of whales on the way here which was cool. What is my crew assignment?” he asked.

“Whales are pretty cool,” Gabrielle agreed. “So, you’ve been assigned breakfast duty tomorrow,” Gabrielle said, like she was giving him the world’s worst homework. His face lit up. Clearly the kitchen was not the worst place in the world to be by his estimation.

Over by the barbecue Elaine started to quietly chant “smorgasbord… smorgasbord…” a chant that was quickly picked up by the two men in the water and Michelle sitting next to Aphrodite.

“Pancake Smorgasbord!” Shen announced to the cheers of the assembled crew.

“It’s fantastic,” Michelle explained to Aphrodite. “He gets to pick three assistants and we have the most amazing collection of pancakes from around the world.” Quietly she added, “It’s so adorable because he always picks different crew because he doesn’t want anyone to feel left out.” Aphrodite smiled, already able to see Gabrielle’s influence on the small boy. Suddenly several crew who had not been enjoying downtime at the stern of the boat had appeared along the railing, playfully shoving each other out of the way and shouting to get Shen’s attention.

“Pick me!” Nicolai Burns shouted from the railing, waving his hand, his thick Russian accent carrying his booming voice to the crew below.

Michelle leaned over towards Shen, “He’s the sous chef this rotation,” she said conspiratorially.
“You already get to work in the kitchen,” Shen shouted back. “Besides, I picked you last time,” he said apologetically. “Last time it was you, Samantha, and Wolfgang.” Still treading water, Wolfgang slowly put down the hand that he’d just raised. The boy looked around at the faces of the crew and tapped Aphrodite on the shoulder. “You’re new, I pick you.”

“Awesome!” she said with a huge radiant grin.

“And Bo,” he added who accepted Aphrodite’s high five happily.

“And Gabrielle.”

The selections made, the crew at the railing went back to their duties and Gabrielle shared a high five with Bo and Aphrodite. Susan joined them at the beach deck and Sarah called everyone to dinner. People made their way to the barbecue area and filled their plates with the cooked meats and vegetables as well as a variety of salads and other side dishes. Like all of the meals the goddess had shared with the crew, she enjoyed the sense of camaraderie the close-knit group provided. There was no denying it felt more like a family than crew of co-workers.

Regardless of their assigned duties, after dinner was finished everyone helped out with clearing the plates. Several of the off-duty crew retreated to the galley to do the dishes while others disappeared, reappearing shortly thereafter with instruments, amplifiers, and a drum kit that were brought up from below deck. A concert area was set up on the sun deck at the stern of the ship. Chairs were arranged for the spectators and even the on-duty crew joined them. Elaine, who was presently in command, had a tablet with her that she frequently scanned to check readouts from the command room. Hatsuo was doing the same thing with his own tablet. Bohemian emerged with a black hard-shell case, obviously the lute brought forth from the vault.

Aphrodite took in the crisp clear night and brightly shining stars. Everyone had put on warmer clothes to protect against the slight chill in the air.  The water could be heard lapping against the hull of the yacht. The vessel was much too large to fit any of the moorings at Two Harbors, so they were anchored further out to deeper waters than most vessels would dare. A number of curious boats had sailed or motored past to take in the sight of the large ship; several onlookers were about to get a surprise concert. It wouldn’t take much imagining to put herself back in Greece watching a play, or a concert when the world made much more sense than it did now.

Gabrielle picked up the lute and checked the tuning. “Any requests?” she asked Shen, her tone implying that she knew full well what the ten year old was going to ask her.

“Eruption!” he yelled, to the delight of the rest of the crew.

Aphrodite couldn’t help but chuckle. Leave it to a ten year old to ask for a song that would have confused the hell out of whomever made the instrument Gabrielle was holding. The goddess acknowledged that even though the instrument lacked a tremolo bar, Gabrielle did a fantastic rendition of the Van Halen classic. More impressive was that as she finished she added strains of the Scott Joplin tune Maple Leaf Rag and then the song from the cantina scene in Star Wars. Shen was delighted. When she finished, Aphrodite could hear cheering from several boats that had gathered near the large yacht.

“Do you know anything from the actual Renaissance?” Aphrodite asked coyly. “Something that might have actually been played on that gorgeous instrument?”

“Are you offering to sing?” Gabrielle replied with a bit of challenge in her voice.

“You’re a history nerd as well?” Blake, the steward asked hopefully.

Gabrielle laughed. “She’s more of a history nerd than I am.”

“Oh this, I’ve got to see,” Rebekah Luna said with obvious disbelief in her voice.

“Okay,” Aphrodite said as she approached the bard. “Do you know The Hunt Is Up or Flow My Tears?”

Gabrielle nodded. “Let’s do The Hunt Is Up, it’s more upbeat.” To her audience she added, “From the time of Henry VIII if anyone was wondering.” Gabrielle played and Aphrodite sang in a clear crisp soprano and the crew was mesmerized. When they’d finished there was silence on the deck and in the boats near them. “Well this is awkward,” Gabrielle said quietly to her companion.

“Hush,” Aphrodite chided, “they’re having a moment.”

“How the hell do you follow that?” Bohemian groused, breaking the silence. As if on cue, the sounds of applause drifted up from the boats nearby and the crew joined in enthusiastically.

“Prisha, you’re up next,” Gabrielle said, trading the lute for an acoustic guitar as Bo secured the antique instrument in its case. Samantha Ramirez, the other steward whom Aphrodite had only met briefly while wandering the ship, took a seat behind the drum kit and Ingrid Kamaka picked up the bass. “Aphrodite, I don’t think you’ve met Ingrid,” she said with a nod to her bass player. “As the mechanic this tour we hardly ever see her outside the engine room.”

Ingrid grinned, checking the tuning on her instrument. “Gotta keep an eye on those dilithium crystals,” she said.

“Lugh,” Aphrodite replied, in perfect Klingon. To which the red head responded with a playful wink.

 The goddess resumed her seat with the rest of the non-performing crew and was delighted by the concert. A number of people in the crew picked a song with various people singing well, or not, depending on their ability and just how much ‘off duty’ fun they’d had. Prisha sang a haunting song in Hindi. Rebekah Luna sang a joyous song about creation passed down in the Sioux tribe. Bohemian sang an extra cheesy version of Sammy Hagar’s One Sip directly to Aphrodite that amused the goddess greatly. People switched instruments taking turns either sitting in the audience, getting up to sing, or playing something different. The songs were either family traditions they shared with their crewmates or tunes old and new that they enjoyed from contemporary artists. Ingrid and Samantha even sang several songs they’d written together. Even Shen joined in for a couple of tunes. For nearly two hours Gabrielle and the crew entertained not only themselves, but the nearby boats which had increased in number. When it got colder and the fog rolled in the call for ‘last song’ was made.

Sarah Gibson, turned to the woman sitting behind her. “Vox hasn’t sung anything.”

Michelle leaned over to Aphrodite and asked, “Have you guys met?”

“Oh Vox and I go way back,” she said with a smile as the lanky woman passed her.

On her way to the stage area the engineer stopped and knelt down to Shen’s eye level. “Any requests?” she asked the boy. He whispered in her ear and she shook her head, “You know your grandmother vetoed that song by CeeLo; too much swearing.”

“You should sing something mellow,” he said sleepily. “It is the last song. Sing something that makes you feel.”

“From the mouths of babes,” Michelle whispered to the goddess.

The engineer stepped up to the microphone and belted out a gut-wrenching version of Heart’s Alone that would have impressed Ann Wilson. The cheers from the boats below were heard even though the fog had gotten dense enough that they couldn’t be seen.

Well after midnight the crew set to work taking the drum kit apart and moving the guitars back below deck where they would be protected from the moisture and salt. Bohemian, with Shen’s help, took care to wipe each instrument down and give them the once over before stowing them. Gabrielle conferred with the boy as to the proper timing of breakfast and apologized to Susan for keeping him up so late.

“He loves it out here,” Susan said as she walked with Gabrielle and Aphrodite to their staterooms. “Being around the crew is good for him, I’d trust anyone in Transportation around him. He’s convinced that Vox requested ship duty at his suggestion.”

Gabrielle nodded. “We trust our lives to Transportation every day,” she said quite out of habit then winced when the other woman arched an eyebrow at her.

“Some of us do anyway,” the Chinese woman replied.

Gabrielle nodded as the three women came to a halt outside the door of the guest stateroom suite. “We go back to the marina the day after tomorrow,” she said. “I will tell the crew before we head back and we will see what comes of it.”

“Tell the crew what?” Aphrodite queried, not sure what they were talking about.

“About me,” Gabrielle said.

Aphrodite looked puzzled. “Trust me, Vox is the only one who cares that you’re gay and that’s because she wants to be gay all over you.”

Susan chuckled. “There was a time when Michelle wanted to be gay all over Gabrielle as well, but she got over it. And I thought she didn’t have a chance.”

Gabrielle rolled her eyes, “She didn’t have a chance; no one has a chance. Come on, I’m standing right here.”

Still smiling, Susan patted Gabrielle’s arm, “This woman takes more good natured teasing from the people who work for her than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“Susan knows the truth about…us…” Gabrielle explained looking at Aphrodite who had a ‘no duh’ expression on her face. “No, not the sex truth – the age truth.”

“Ohhhh,” Aphrodite said. She looked down at the Chinese woman who was not quite as tall as the bard. “Do you mind?” she asked as she raised a hand to the woman’s face.

“Not at all,” Susan said, not quite sure what was going to happen. Briefly the goddess touched the woman’s forehead with the tips of three fingers, and then gently cupped her cheek for a moment. Susan’s eyes grew wide in surprise.

“That’s amazing,” she said when the goddess finished. “I feel this…overwhelming sense of…love I guess.”

Aphrodite shrugged, “Love is kind of my thing.” Turning to Gabrielle she added, “You can trust her. No duplicity. She’s a keeper.”

“That’s why I told her,” Gabrielle said.

“What I mean is, her counsel is sound. If Susan thinks you should tell the crew, while it might not be what I’d do, I can see why you would take her advice. She’s only ever given you the best advice she can based on the information she has at the time.”

“Thank you, Aphrodite,” Susan said with a warm smile only now lowering her hand from the cheek where the goddess had touched her. “You are indeed an amazing creature.”

They said their ‘Good nights’ and as Aphrodite and Gabrielle walked to the master suite, the goddess leaned over “I’m betting I’ve got a chance. I’m just sayin.”

~~~~~~~

Later, Aphrodite was sitting up in bed, reclining against a soft pile of pillows as Gabrielle reclined against her. Gabrielle touched her arm gently and murmured contentedly, “Do you think telling the crew is a bad idea?” The goddess thought for a moment and then squeezed the bard reassuringly.

“That’s not my call to make love and you should stop obsessing about it,” she insisted. “If you trust them and think Susan is right, I guess you should tell them. I’m not in the business of advertising who I am so…” she chuckled near the bard’s ear. “If we’re going to take on Ares and utilize your own private army, it might be useful if they know.”

Gabrielle shifted, twisting towards the goddess so she could rest her head on the other woman’s breast and absently trace invisible symbols on her abdomen with the tip of her finger. “Noticed that did ya,”

“Your crew is too precise and efficient to be anything but an elite band of fighters. Even the lovesick one. But I have to ask, why is everyone always dressed like they’re on vacation?”

 “For the same reason that Transportation has a friendlier ring to it than Special Forces. We aren’t advertising who is doing what or making it clear who is crew and who might be on vacation. Depending on whom we get boarded by and what the legal liaison determines at the time, sometimes we pose as rich families.”

“Makes sense,” the goddess agreed. “How big is your army?”

“There are about sixty-seven people in the Transportation Division and another forty-two in Special Projects; the crew cycles in and out of duty on board the ship or providing security for other assignments. They need to be in the division at least five years before they get ship duty, and there is a through vetting process. Each one of them is remarkably accomplished, even Vox.”

“As much as your young butch suitor dislikes me, I’m going to be a cakewalk compared to Xena when she gets here. I’m afraid she may be trouble- nothing Xena can’t handle of course – but the kid has kinda grown on me and I don’t want to see her ripped limb from limb.”

“I don’t think she dislikes you,” Gabrielle protested.

“Honey, I am literally doing all of the things that she’s fantasizing about, and things it hasn’t even dawned on her to fantasize about yet. Of course, she hates me.”

“Like everyone on the ship, she is a professional regardless of what she thinks in the privacy of her own mind.” Gabrielle replied. “I trust her to do her job and if…when…we bring Xena back, she will adjust or she will leave, simple as that. Besides,” she added with a seductive murmur, “can you really tell what people are fantasizing about?”

“I can,” Aphrodite said. “It’s remarkable how unimaginative most people are, present company excluded of course.” She ran her fingers through the bard’s hair, brushing it back from her face with a gesture that said more about comfort and caring than it did about arousal. “Which is something we can discuss in greater detail later. It’s late sweetie and you should really get some sleep. We have to report to the galley at 7:30am sharp as per Chef Shen’s orders.

“Are you going to sleep?” Gabrielle asked, groggily.

“Maybe,” Aphrodite replied. “I’m content to hold onto you for awhile.” While she didn’t respond, the goddess could feel Gabrielle smile and then slip into a peaceful slumber, her breathing soft and measured against Aphrodite’s skin. As she held her she thought about the bard’s upcoming meeting and what she might possibly do to promote a sense of loyalty to Gabrielle among the crew.

Gabrielle woke slowly hours later and was surprised to find her lover seemingly asleep. They were each on their side, the bard softly breathing against the back of Aphrodite’s neck. Happy to be the one conscious first for a change, she took full advantage.

The brush of soft lips against the back of her neck had the goddess of love instantly conscious. She lay there for several long moments luxuriating in the sensation of the sensual caress to her skin. She had just rolled over and begun to move things along when they were interrupted by the sound of a voice through the speaker in the bedroom.

“Gabrielle, it’s 7am.”

“Fucking A,” Aphrodite said, clearly frustrated and annoyed. “Just when the episode was getting good.”

“Sorry sweetie,” Gabrielle said, disappointment evident in her voice as well.

The goddess rolled her eyes. “If Shen weren’t so damn adorable we’d be blowing this off.” She frowned at the bard’s abdomen after an audible stomach rumble. “I swear that thing is on a timer.”

Gabrielle blushed. “Breakfast has always been my favorite meal of the day.” Argo barked in agreement. “Hers too,” the bard added.

The Pancake Smorgasbord did not disappoint. Aphrodite knew that Gabrielle was relieved when the two of them arrived before Bo. She could tell that the bard was going to tease the security officer and stopped her. “He was intentionally late because he assumed we would be otherwise preoccupied.” She whispered in the bard’s ear. The collection of contradictions that was Bohemian Van Lyle was quickly becoming Aphrodite’s favorite member of the crew. He certainly seemed the least intimidated by her, or by Gabrielle even. The genuine kindness he extended to everyone did not seem to mesh with a man who would enlist in a company’s Special Forces division. He was clearly a lover, not a fighter.

“What kind of pancakes are we making today, bro?” he asked Shen as the youngster handed each of them an apron.

He pointed to a chart he’d made on paper pinned to the bulletin board in the large galley. It had four columns, outlining each person’s responsibilities and the day’s menu. “I wasn’t sure if you could cook,” Shen said to Aphrodite his voice quite serious, “so your job is to help out Bo and Gabrielle and me.”

“Every executive chef needs a decent sous chef,” she replied with a smile. “I’m happy to help out.”

The menu listed American pancakes, Japanese pancakes, French crepes, Finnish pannukakku, and Danish aebleskiver as well as an assortment of fruits, bacon, and smoked salmon. Shen wanted to tackle the fluffy Japanese pancakes and the American style buttermilk ones, so Gabrielle was assigned the crepes and Bo was given the other two varieties. Aphrodite tackled the fruit and prepared several fillings for both the crepes as well as the spherical aebleskiver.

“How long have you been a chef?” Aphrodite asked Shen as he moved a mountain of cooked bacon to a warmed plate in the oven.

“My grandmother wants me to be able to take care of myself, so I’ve learned how to cook and do laundry and stuff,” he said. “Technically, I’m not a chef.”

Aphrodite grinned and the young boy couldn’t help but smile back at her. “You kind of seem like a chef to me,” she said. “Your pancakes look perfect.”

He quickly glanced at Gabrielle and then took a step closer to the goddess so he could talk to her without being overheard. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said conspiratorially. “I don’t think Gabrielle has enough friends.”

“You don’t?” Aphrodite asked, surprised. “Isn’t your grandmother one of her friends?”

He looked a little sad as he answered. “My grandmother is a little afraid of Gabrielle,” he said. “Most people are, but I’m not sure why. I’m friends with her, but I’m away at boarding school a lot and I can’t always hang out with her.”

Aphrodite nodded. “You know, I’m here to actually help Gabrielle find another of her friends.”

“Is she nice like you?” Shen asked.

“Unfortunately, no.” Aphrodite answered honestly. “But if you give her a chance, she’s is really nice on the inside. She just doesn’t really show it on the outside the way I do.”

“But it’s cool if I like you better?” the boy asked as if this might indeed be an issue.

“I’d be honored if you did, but not upset if you didn’t,” Aphrodite answered and then sealed their pact with a fist bump before Gabrielle realized they were talking secretly.

Taking her leave of the boy Aphrodite moved on to help the ship’s security officer with his tasks. Clearly a master of multi-tasking, Bo was working on the Finnish and Danish pancakes simultaneously, incorporating some of the fruit fillings that Aphrodite had prepared for him. He smiled when she approached, grateful for the extra pair of hands.

“That’s one seriously cool little dude,” he said quietly.

“I do believe the feeling is mutual,” the goddess replied. “It’s like an entire ship full of siblings, aunts and uncles.”

The tall man was thoughtful a moment, working on the Finnish pancakes with practiced ease. “That kind of describes the main core of Ms. Evans company. Not the subsidiaries mind you, those are like regular companies I guess. But the folks who interface a lot- those of us in Transportation or SP, tech, politics and the rest- it is like family I guess. You close with your family?”

Aphrodite chuckled, “my relationship with my family can best be described as weird; sometimes strange, sometimes estranged- always unconventional.” He nodded, opened his mouth then closed it again changing his mind. “Out with it,” the goddess urged.

“You seem really cool,” he began. “There is something different about you than the others. There is a lightness to Gabrielle that I can’t recall ever seeing before. Every one of us is pretty protective of her and…”

The Goddess of Love smiled at the man making him blush. “I get it. Don’t break her heart or you’ll break my legs, or something to that effect? Before we circle back to just how many ‘others’ there have been, I can promise that Gabrielle and I are solid. Things may evolve, but no one is getting their heart broken. In fact, I might be the one on the downside here, but I’m a big girl and I can take it.”

Playfully he smiled, “if you’re ever on the rebound and want to make some bad decisions over a bottle of tequila?”

Aphrodite laughed, genuinely moved by the tall man’s brazenness. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she replied with a flirtatious wink.

By the time an hour had passed and crew were starting to mill about the galley, a mountain of food had been prepared.

Chafing dishes had been set up on deck to keep the various courses warm and the crew who arrived early carried the prepared food, dishes, drinks, and flatware out to the deck for breakfast. On schedule, nineteen people lined up for breakfast, each of them either high fiving or fist bumping Shen in thanks.

“Shen is fantastic,” Aphrodite said to Gabrielle as she joined the bard at a round table that was already occupied by several crew. Gabrielle was seated with Michelle to her left and Elaine to her right. Vox was seated next to Michelle and one glance at her features made it clear that she was annoyed the Captain took the seat she’d been hoping for. Wolfgang was seated next to Elaine so Aphrodite took the seat in between the young man and Vox, thereby sitting across from Gabrielle.

“Everybody loves Shen,” Wolfgang agreed. “We wish he could spend more time onboard.”

“It’s a really good school though, and I can understand why Susan wants him to go there.” Elaine countered, her hair pulled back from her face today making the scar on her cheek more noticeable.

“He’d be safer here,” Vox said quietly.

“Safer?” Aphrodite asked.

Vox smirked a little, obviously pleased that she knew something about the company that the other woman didn’t.

“Susan is very cautious,” Gabrielle explained. “In the past, there has been a kidnapping attempt or two; an attempt to grab someone to get leverage. Not Shen, mind you but other people. Different countries, different organizations work that way. We’ve pissed off our share of really terrible people, warlords especially. Susan is really…private…when it comes to Shen’s existence. Now that she’s raising him on her own she feels that the boarding school is both a better education and a safer environment than living with her full time.”

“I can see why you guys would want him here,” Aphrodite agreed, which seemed to surprise the woman sitting next to her.

“I see you’ve added an all hands meeting for tomorrow morning in the conference room before we head back, to the Marina I’m assuming?” Michelle asked Gabrielle. “Is there anything special you need for the meeting?”

Gabrielle took a sip of her guava juice before responding. “Actually, there is. And yes, we’re going back to Marina Del Rey. In addition to the usual ‘meeting snacks I want a bottle of whatever anyone on the crew drinks. Vodka, tequila, whiskey, bourbon, gin, whatever anyone’s poison is, have it at the meeting. The meeting might be at ten, but it’s five o’clock somewhere.”

Michelle nodded, as if that sort of request weren’t unusual, while everyone else at the table save for Aphrodite looked puzzled. “Seats for Shen and Susan?” she asked.

Gabrielle shook her head. “No, this meeting is for the myself and the crew.”

“I’m planning to attend.” Aphrodite announced which made all the eyes at the table shift to her.

“And Aphrodite,” Gabrielle amended without skipping a beat.

“But she’s…” Vox began.

“And Aphrodite,” Michelle confirmed with a stern look at Vox. “We will have everything set up,” she continued with a smile. Without saying anything else, Vox got up from the table with her plate, ostensibly to go get seconds. “I’m really sorry,” Michelle said to Gabrielle, “she needs to get her shit together.”

“Yeah, but,” Wolfgang protested, sticking up for the woman who had just left in a huff, “it’s her first tour and…”

“She’s getting used to the routine,” Elaine finished for him with a warning look at the young man.

“Oh, come on, kids,” Aphrodite said with mild exasperation. “We all know what’s going on here.”

“No,” Gabrielle countered gently. “They both have valid points. Yes, she’s new, but she should have her shit together.”

Michelle nodded, “I…adjusted…I’m sure she will too. I’ll have a talk with her.” She stood and gathered her plate and glass. “I’m headed to the bridge. Is it just R&R today or will you need anything?”

“I do have some work I need to get to. I may contact you to patch me through for some secure connections. I’ll keep you posted.”

“If Gabrielle is going to be stuck with work,” Elaine suggested looking at Aphrodite. “Bo, Wolfie, and I were going to go snorkeling out by the rocks; you’re welcome to join us. Vox may come too,” she added cautiously, hoping it wouldn’t be a deal breaker.

Aphrodite beamed at her, “That would be lovely, I would be happy to join.” she said. With a wink at Gabrielle she added, “Just save me a couple of hours before dinner, okay? Three should do it.” Elaine chuckled as Wolfgang picked up his plate and scurried away from the table as quickly as he could.

Gabrielle laughed, “You should really stop doing that to him,” she said.

“It’s not my fault that he keeps picturing what he thinks is going on,” Aphrodite protested. “It’s his own damn fault that he’s nearly on the money.”

~~~~~~~

Free from distractions, even those of the most pleasurable kind, Gabrielle was able to finish the work she’d set for herself. She checked off her action items from the meeting with her division heads and even caught up on the latest political dumpster fire by a reckless administration in free fall. She wrote an email to Victoria Chen, head of her political division with some additional candidates she wanted to support as well as organizations to combat the disenfranchisement operations of the Turner administration. Finally, she finished her presentation for the next day and felt ready to tackle the latest stop on her coming out journey. In addition to carving out time for her lover, she also set aside several hours to hang out with Shen and chat about his many adventures at school.

When Aphrodite returned from her own excursion she took time away from the bard to socialize with other crew on the ship. She was aware that she’d recently been monopolizing Gabrielle’s attention, and while perfectly understandable, knew that the bard had a vast organization to maintain and oversee as well as a very special ten-year old guest. While she made the most of her time with Gabrielle in the hours preceding dinner, she demurred from watching a movie with Shen, Susan, Argo and Gabrielle, deciding instead to spend some time alone looking out at the stars and the ocean.

The next morning Gabrielle felt a nervousness that she hadn’t in centuries. She stood in her closet, unsure of what to wear.

Aphrodite didn’t say anything, just kissed her on the forehead and handed her a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. They dressed quietly and walked Argo up to the outer deck together. The goddess brought her purse, which Gabrielle found odd, but was too distracted by her own nervousness to really acknowledge it.

She drank some tea and headed to the conference room where the rest of the crew had begun to assemble. As requested, the bottles and glasses had been gathered in the center of the conference table, with seventeen seats arranged around.

When the rest of the crew had assembled and the room was secure, Gabrielle got right to the point. “I’ve asked everyone to join me because I have some fairly significant things to cover. Everyone is off-duty for the rest of the day, I will be bringing the ship back to the marina this evening.” The assembled crew looked at each other with varying degrees of surprise on their faces. “Furthermore, after you have had some time to process what I’m about to tell you, you will have the opportunity to stay with Transportation, transfer to a different department, or retire from Bardic with full benefits and retirement. The NDAs you signed when you joined the company absolutely cover what you’re about to hear. Do not mention this to anyone, not that anyone will believe you. And finally,” she added nodding at the various bottles of alcohol that rested on a tray in the center of the table surrounded by various glassware, “since all of you are off-duty, you’re free to have a drink or three if that helps this information go down any easier. It’s a lot to take in, and no one will think less of you for having a belt.”

“Since you’re offering,” Bo said as he reached for a bottle of tequila and a glass. There were chuckles around the table and Gabrielle was grateful that the tension had been broken. She reached for a glass herself. He filled her shot glass, then his, and they toasted each other before downing their shots.

Gabrielle tapped her iPad and a panel in the wall behind her slid down revealing a large monitor. In the center of the screen was a rectangular photograph of the bard shot onboard the ship from the previous day. The date was indicated in small type under the photo. “The company line is that I took over Bardic & Company in 2000 from my mother, Rebekah Evans.” She tapped her tablet again and a second photo joined the first. This was also a photo of Gabrielle, but the hairstyle was different. Again, the date of the photo appeared underneath. “She took over the company in 1965 from her mother, Abigail Evans.” A third photo appeared and eyes around the table started to grow wide in surprise. “Ingrid Bard started the company in 1900. Before that it was known as Chakram Enterprises, which was run by Adele Sparrow.” At this point Steve, Elaine, and Sarah all reached for various bottles and glasses, with looks of disbelief on their faces. It was one thing to say someone looked just like a family member or shared a resemblance, it was quite another to see photographs of obviously the same person side by side. The quality of the photographs changed, moving from color, to black and white, then to daguerreotype. One more tap from the bard and the entire screen filled with identically sized rectangles in neat rows with dates, the images of her from pre 1830s represented by drawings and paintings. There was an audible gasp around the table.

“Holy fuck,” Vox whispered.

“Oh moi boch,” Nicolai rumbled in Russian.

“The short version,” Gabrielle continued, “is that something happened to me over two thousand years ago that rendered me, for all practical purposes, immortal.”

For several long moments no one spoke. Rebekah and Wolfgang both reached for bottles and glasses, the clink of glassware and the unscrewing of bottles being the only sound in the room. Finally, Bohemian cleared his throat, “I really feel like this should be a prank or something,” he said. “But you sound really serious.”

“Not a prank,” Gabrielle said.

“This is impossible,” Nicolai said after downing his second shot of Vodka. “But I have been with you a long time, and this makes sense of…well…everything.” It was clear that the large bear of a man was struggling with his own experiences juxtaposed with things that made sense. “It’s been you. You all along, recruited me in Moscow…”

Gabrielle nodded, “yes, Nicolai, that was me in that bar and you shared that bottle with me that night.” She gazed at the assembled faces, some she’d known for several years, a couple of people much longer. “Prisha, that was me in Hyderabad, not my grandmother. Elaine, I was at the hospital that night. I helped treat you when they brought you in, you were mostly unconscious, but I stayed with you that first night, then I did some research into your background. I was there, at a distance as you recovered and finished school. You were hired by me, not my mother after graduation, I was in my old lady disguise then. Hatsuo, the academy in San Diego, that was me, same thing.”

“How did it happen?” Hatsuo asked, at a loss for anything else to say.

Gabrielle shifted a bit uncomfortably. Even though she expected this question, she wanted to be careful in how she answered it to avoid any expeditions looking for some ‘fountain of youth’ that did not, to her knowledge anyway, exist. “It was something I ate, and as far as I know, it no longer exists on earth.”

“I don’t see how this is physiologically possible,” Michelle said. “How can a body even survive that long. Your cells ability to heal themselves would be nothing short of miraculous. Have you been tested? Could research be done to…?”

Gabrielle raised her hand to stop the question. “Michelle, this is not the first time someone has sought scientific evidence to what I’m saying. In the past, whenever I’ve told someone, it has always ended with me spending a number of years in an institution or asylum. A number of tests have been conducted on me that have ranged from brutal to torturous; electroshock therapies, lobotomies, painful experiments, you name it. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything about me that can help anyone else. As soon as blood leaves my system, it’s regular O Negative, nothing special about it.

“Who else knows?” Steve asked. “Or rather I guess I should ask does anyone else believe this?”

“Among the living, I’ve told you guys as well as Susan Yin who believes me. I told her just a few days ago. Aphrodite,” who she indicated with a nod to her left “also knows and believes me. Actually,” she continued, “it was Susan who urged me to tell all of you. Depending on how this goes, my intention is to talk to Jorge about who to tell in Transportation and work with Susan to decide who to read in from SP. I also plan to tell the rest of the division heads when I think the time is appropriate.”

“So other than the photos, there really isn’t any way you can prove any of this?” Elaine asked doubtfully. “I kind of think I remember someone resembling you that night in the hospital, but I was on a lot of morphine. I don’t mean to be rude, but it sounds kind of out there.”

“Out there?” Vox exclaimed. “This is fucking nuts.”

“I’m not offended,” Gabrielle said.

Steve looked at Elaine and shook his head, “Doesn’t this make her obsession with history make sense?”

“Hey now!” Gabrielle protested, “I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed with history!”

Michelle chuckled. “Gabrielle, most of the time you sound like you’re either a candidate for Mensa or trying out for Jeopardy. But Elaine is right, you can’t really prove anything.”

“And is it me or is that painting on the sixth row a Rembrandt?” Blake asked. “And that other drawing looks like a Da Vinci.”

“Good eye,” Aphrodite agreed looking more closely at the screen. “I also see a Botticelli, a Caravaggio and a Renoir”

Gabrielle shrugged. “Yes,” she said to Blake then turned back to Michelle. “I was just hoping you guys would believe me.”

“It’s a big ask,” Michelle replied. “I mean it absolutely makes a lot of things about you fall into place, but you just said you sat for portraits by a who’s who of famous artists.”

“That’s crazy,” Vox muttered.

“Crazy would be sitting for someone lecherous like Picasso,” Aphrodite countered as she opened her purse and pulled out a boning knife from the galley. “Gabrielle can provide physical proof,” she said. The goddess extended her hand palm up and Gabrielle placed her hand in Aphrodite’s, also palm up. Aphrodite put Gabrielle’s hand on the wooden conference table and without warning or hesitation, brought the knife down through her open palm deep into the table’s surface.

“Ow! Fuck!” Gabrielle screamed in obvious pain and anger. “Fucking bitch, motherfucker.” There was a din of moving chairs, as in that instant every member of the crew were on their feet ready to defend their employer. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Gabrielle panted around the pain, “please sit back down everyone. Vox, Bo, Nicolai I mean it! Sit the fuck down. Shit, Aphrodite,” she said to the woman next to her who handed her another shot glass full of tequila. “I thought you were just going to cut my hand. You know I’ve been crucified, how could you do that? Fuck!”

Aphrodite looked at the faces glowering at her from around the table. As she hoped they were all angry at her and feeling a great deal loyalty to Gabrielle, forgetting for the moment that she’d just rocked their world with incomprehensible information. “Can we all agree that Gabrielle is impaled on the table?” she asked. Silent nods and furious looks from around the table affirmed her statement.

“What do you mean you’ve been crucified?” Rebekah asked. “Like Christ crucified?”

Gabrielle struggled to keep her voice neutral, gasping around the severe pain. “Romans crucified a lot of people, Caesar was a dick.” Bo poured himself another drink, which the large Russian man immediately stole.

Aphrodite looked at Gabrielle as she put a hand on the bard’s wrist to hold it steady, her other hand on the knife handle. “On three,” she said then counted, “one,” then pulled the thin knife from the bard’s hand with a strong yank.

“Ow!” Gabrielle screamed again, but with less anger this time. Gabrielle lifted her hand from the table, leaving a small pool of blood behind. A thin stream of blood trailed down her arm and Aphrodite extracted some gauze from her purse handing it to her lover to wipe the blood away. Gabrielle wiped away the blood that had run down her arm and the wound then held up her hand to the crew. Before their eyes they could see the ends of the open cut, about an inch in length, seal itself. In moments, the open puncture was a red line, like a light scratch. “The red mark will be completely gone by morning,” Gabrielle said to the crew before wiping up the blood on the table.

“It still hurts?” Elaine asked, clearly worried.

Gabrielle gingerly touched her palm, “It feels like a really deep bruise. Certainly a knife isn’t as painful as a giant nail.”

“Let me,” Aphrodite said and briefly massaged the bard’s hand.

“Thank you,” Gabrielle said, then held up a hand that had no visible injury whatsoever.

“Wait a minute,” Vox said, looking at the goddess disbelievingly. “You’re like Gabrielle?”

“Not exactly,” Aphrodite said, pouring the woman a shot of vodka and sliding the glass to her. “I’m much older.”

“How did you know I drink vodka?” she asked suspiciously, not downing the shot.

“Wolfgang took the shot from her and drank it himself. “Come on Vox,” he said urgently. “Aphrodite. APH-RO-DITE, Goddess of Love, Ancient Greece…”

“You can’t be serious?” Vox said to her crewmate, as she looked critically over at the goddess.

“Trust me, she has an effect on people,” Wolfgang replied reaching for the vodka bottle.

“I think we’re getting a bit off topic here,” Gabrielle said.

“Are we?” Steve wondered aloud. “You’re saying you’re two thousand years old, she’s claiming to be older, you both seem to have unusual…abilities.”

“Okay,” Aphrodite said, “no more coddling. God or goddess or whatever is a very murky word in today’s climate so I obviously don’t use it. I used to have more power than I presently do but I can tell each of you when you lost your virginity. And, no” she said to no one specifically, “if you were ten years old and it was against your will it doesn’t count, and there is nothing wrong with the age of twenty-one, sixteen, eighteen, twenty-two, twenty-four…I could go on. Yes, each year counts when you lose your virginity to each sex for those of you that have indulged both ways – there are differences. And no, being bisexual doesn’t mean you’re confused, you are actually bisexual, although one of you tried to use that as an excuse before coming to terms with yourself.” As she spoke the crew began to exchange nervous glances with each other, wondering what was being said about whom.

“I know what each of you fantasize about. When it comes to love and romance I know what you’re afraid of, what you crave, and really there is nothing wrong about admitting your own kinks about submission if that’s what you’re into. And for the three of you wondering if you have a shot with me, you’ve picked a killer time to entertain such ideas.” Bohemian winked at her then chuckled to himself, Wolfgang shifted uncomfortably in his seat refusing to make eye contact and Michelle kept her gaze steady, refusing to be embarrassed.

She moved to stand behind Gabrielle and put her hands on the bard’s shoulders. “If everyone would look at me for a moment.” As she’d been talking her words had an obvious effect on the crew and many had taken to staring at the grain of the table, looking anywhere but at Gabrielle or the goddess. “Okay rev those engines…” Aphrodite said when they glanced at her, “and relax,” she said softly.

There was an audible gasp around the table.

Gabrielle turned her head and as she looked at the goddess she noticed an intense blue glow fading from her eyes. “What did you just do?” She demanded, concerned.

Aphrodite shrugged, “I turned all of them on, then off again.”

“You guys, I am so sorry,” Gabrielle said in a rush. “That was completely inappropriate and it won’t happen again,” she said sternly to the goddess.

“What?” Aphrodite protested. “If they believe me, believing you will be a piece of cake.”

“It’s INAPPROPRIATE,” Gabrielle exclaimed. “That is totally sexual harassment.”

Samantha Ramirez spoke up, “I’ve gotta say, as one of the few straight women on board, that was really weird.”

“It was weird for this gay dude as well,” Blake agreed.

“I apologize,” Aphrodite said. “Gabrielle is right, it was inappropriate. I did overstep, but you were all being stubborn and we don’t have all fucking day.”

            “Well, I certainly think you made your point,” Michelle acknowledged. “And believing what I just experienced, it does make what Gabrielle is saying a little easier to swallow. So you don’t die, but you can be hurt, and you built this company because…?”

            Gabrielle took a deep breath and retold the same basic story that she’d told Susan. She mentioned Xena, how she was missing, and that to find her she needed to get Aphrodite’s help and that a large part of the entity that they all worked for was to seek out immortal people to help in that quest.

            “So all the gods are real?” Wolfgang finally asked. “There is an Ares, a Hades, Poseidon, Zeus all of them?”

            “We don’t know who all…is around,” Gabrielle said. “Obviously Ares, I mean look at the world. Yes on Poseidon, obviously Aphrodite. We’re not sure about the others…”

            “And we’re all risking our lives so you can find your lost love,” Steve asked, cautiously.

            “Well, that and to do all the same work that the company has been doing for over a hundred years,” Gabrielle replied, a little more testily than she intended.

            “What the fuck,” Vox said with a shrug, “I’m in.”

            “Well of course you’re in,” Ingrid snapped back, “you’re…” Gabrielle stood up and with a warning glare stopped Ingrid’s train of thought. “You are really dedicated crewmember to do so,” Ingrid amended sheepishly. “I’m in too.”

            “No guys,” Gabrielle protested. “Take the afternoon and think things over, I know this is weird.”

            “We kinda signed up for weird by joining a civilian para-military organization, didn’t we?” Michelle asked. “I’m in.”

            Within moments, all of the crew had affirmed that they would continue on knowing what they knew. Gabrielle smiled at them thankfully. “I really appreciate this. I’m going to be in my study for the next couple of hours. If anyone would like to talk to me privately, I’m available, I’ll answer whatever questions for you I can.” She glanced at Aphrodite.

            “I’m going to go watch a movie with Shen,” the goddess replied.

            “Susan is okay with you hanging around Shen?” Nicolai asked defensively, “After what just happened to us?”

            “Oh shit,” Gabrielle murmured.

            “What exactly are you asking me, Nicolai?” Aphrodite asked with deceptive calm in her voice.

            “I mean, he’s just a boy,” the gruff man protested in his thick Russian accent.

            Once again Gabrielle could see Aphrodite’s eyes shift from placid clear blue to intense azure then back again. This time only the sous chef seemed to be effected. The color drained from his face and his eyes glistened with unshed tears.

            “Aphrodite, what did you do to him?” Gabrielle demanded, getting angry. “You have to stop doing shit to my crew.”

            Nicolai waved her away. “No, Gabrielle,” he said wiping at his eyes. “No, it’s fine, good even. She made me remember my auntie and how I felt about her when I was ten. It’s a nice memory. I understand now where she’s coming from.”

            Gabrielle felt taken aback. “I’m sorry,” she said to Aphrodite.

            “Sweetie,” the goddess said with a smile, “do you think I’d do anything to hurt anyone that has your back? Trust me when I tell you that everyone in this room is an ally,” She picked up the hand she’d driven a knife into earlier and kissed the palm, “we can discuss your apology later.”

            “Miss Aphrodite,” Elaine said as the goddess stood up to leave.

            “Honey, it’s just Aphrodite. Seriously,” she said kindly.

            “The thing you did with Gabrielle’s hand, with the wound…”

            Aphrodite walked around the table to where Elaine was standing. “While I don’t think you need it, if it makes you feel any better,” she put her hand on the petite woman’s cheek. When she removed her hand, the scar was still there, but tears rolled down Elaine’s face and she hugged her tightly.

“Thank you, thank you,” she said.

Wolfgang was confused, “The scar is still there?”

“Not the one on the inside,” Aphrodite said. “That’s the one that bothered her.”

“Hey, as long as you’re passing out hugs,” Bo said with a grin and open arms.

Gabrielle watched as each member of her crew waited to hug Aphrodite before leaving the conference room, even Vox. She had never been so happy to have her coming out story hijacked by someone who made her immortality seem run of the mill by comparison.

Chapter 7: Homecomings

            Standing on the bridge of The Hippolyta watching the sunset, Gabrielle listened to the soothing thrum of the engines. It felt good to be in charge of the ship once again. She was happy that several members of the crew took the opportunity to meet with her one on one, but was almost disappointed that Hatsuo and Michelle’s, biggest concern was what they could do to help Gabrielle in her quest, not what the bard could do to help them grapple with their new information.

            “Hey,” Aphrodite said, as she stepped into the command room. “Did you want to be alone?”

            “Not at all, beautiful,” Gabrielle replied with a grin. “You are welcome anywhere, anytime.”

            “Your level of game is getting almost annoying, bard,” she said after kissing her softly.

            “What is the crew up to?” Gabrielle asked after checking the readouts on a couple of screens in front of her.

            “Michelle and Bo are helping Vox get drunk on the sundeck as they hash out her feelings. I think the upshot is that you are now way too old for her.”

            “Nice,” Gabrielle said flatly.

            The goddess chuckled. “Blake didn’t know Steve was bisexual so they’re having a nice chat. Samantha, Ingrid, and Elaine, are hashing out the legal ramifications of everything and what would and wouldn’t be believed in court. They’d include your actual lawyer but she’s winning at Texas Hold’em with Hatsuo Susan and Prisha. I think they’re using your money. Nicolai, Sarah, and Wolfie are playing video games with Shen while Argo is sleeping on the couch.”

            “Look, check this out,” Gabrielle said as she watched one of the screens. She turned a couple of dials on a small controller pad and the image on the screen changed.

            “Is that from a drone?” Aphrodite asked looking at the view of the water from above on the monitor.

            “Yeah, I think I found some whales.” As she maneuvered the drone several large blue whales and a couple of smaller ones came into view.

            “Look at the calves!” Aphrodite said excitedly as the drone moved closer, providing a view never possible from a boat. Aphrodite was standing behind Gabrielle watching the monitor over her shoulder with her arms wrapped around the shorter woman’s waist. They watched the whales lazily break the surface and exhale through their blowholes before submerging again. Eventually a small pod of dolphins joined them, looking tiny by comparison. After a while, the bard brought the drone back to the deck and landed it near the control room.

            “What does this do?” the goddess asked pointing at several of the readouts and switches.

            Gabrielle chuckled. “It’s best to learn from a pro,” she said and picked up a handset after turning a switch. “Ensign Shen Teal, please report to the Command Center. Ensign Shen Teal, report to the Command Center, please.” The request could be heard on speakers throughout the ship. Aphrodite took a couple of steps away from Gabrielle leaving an appropriate distance between the two of them. Shen and Susan came bounding into the control room with Argo at their heels. The pit bull made a bee-line for a soft dog bed in the corner of the room, plopping herself down most ungracefully.

            “I get to drive?” Shen asked Gabrielle hopefully.
“Well, technically you’re steering and controlling the autopilot. but whatever. First though, you have to teach Aphrodite what the different read outs mean.” Gabrielle said taking a step away from the ship’s wheel.

            Shen stepped forward with purpose and pointed to a map that was under Plexiglas to the side of the navigation screens. “This is Catalina,” he explained. “This is where we’re going - Marina Del Rey. He indicated with his finger the path they’d be traveling. “That screen is radar and it’s showing the depth of the ocean below us so we don’t run aground. This one is the auto pilot and it has the route programmed in. You turn it off here,” he pushed a button and took hold of the wheel. “And this is the heading I need to stay on so we go to the right place.”

            “What about that screen over there?” Aphrodite asked with a smile.

“That’s one of the security monitors. The security crew on duty makes sure no one sneaks on the ship,” he looked a little embarrassed, “or steals cookies out of the galley.”

            “And this one?” Gabrielle asked, pointing to the monitor next to security.

            Shen scrunched his face thinking. “I think that has to do with communication. The radio channels for the coast guard and when you talk to other parts of the company. It has encryption, right?”

            “Exactamundo,” Gabrielle said, beaming.

“You guys packed up?” the bard asked Susan as Shen continued to explain patiently to Aphrodite exactly how he was running the ship. At one point, he even turned the wheel over to her and told her she was doing an excellent job.

“We are going to take a car from the Marina to the airport and the helicopter back to school, Lilian will meet us and fly us over.” Susan replied. “This has been a very nice weekend,” she said warmly. “Thank you so much.”

“Thank you for making the trip,” Gabrielle said with a smile. “And thank you for…you know,” she added.

“I look forward to many illuminating chats about history. I saw the portraits from your presentation earlier today; quite the who’s who of famous artists.”

“They weren’t all that famous at the time,” Gabrielle said with a chuckle.

“What are your plans for the week?” Susan asked. “The jet won’t land at LAX until Thursday.”

“I have some research I need to do, review some maps, and remind myself where I left something. I need to do some inventories, make sure the ship is stocked since I’ll give the crew some extra shore leave when they’re off duty. When we come back from Greece we’re going to have to go to Cabo and I think taking the boat is best. Honestly, I’d take it to Greece if we had more time to spare, but I’m kind of anxious to…move this project along.”

“That is quite understandable,” Susan agreed. Conversationally she added, “When your project is finished, I’m out. You need to have ‘the talk’ with Sabin of course, but he’s ready to take over and I’m ready to relax. I’d like our visits to just be social ones.”

“I look forward to that too,” Gabrielle said with a smile. “It will be great when you get to meet Xena. I think you guys will get along.” They were quiet for a moment, watching as a flock of pelican flew alongside the ship skimming the water then rising again. “I will tell Sabin next, and after that Jorge I think. He can help me decide who needs to know in Transportation. I’m also thinking of telling the other division heads.”

 “I don’t think Transportation personnel need to know until they are assigned ship duty and for that they need to be in for a few years. I mean it’s Jorge’s call...” she shrugged. “I would only tell the team leaders in Special Projects and see where you go from there. Obviously people like Brian Glass don’t need to know until they’ve been fully vetted. Most of the rest of the company doesn’t get involved in your…esoteric pursuits, so they don’t need to know.”

“Need to know what?” Shen asked making it clear he’d been half listening to the adult’s conversation. He looked at his grandmother and then back at Gabrielle. “Is this about you being gay?”

Gabrielle blushed in spite of herself, trying to remember the last time there had been so much discussion over her sexual orientation. “Did someone tell you that?” she asked.

The ten year old shook his head. “No. You just seem gay to me. I mean you seem like you like girls- so technically a lesbian I guess – not that I’ve seen you around any girls that didn’t work for you besides Aphrodite, but you have that vibe.”

Susan started to chuckle and turned her head, becoming very interested in whatever Argo was up to, which was sleeping.

“Well, Shen,” Gabrielle said bending down to look at the boy eye to eye, “you are very perceptive. I am gay, for the most part, but I’ve had a few relationships with men. If I had to pick a label, I think that’s the one I would pick. Is that cool with you?”

He frowned, giving the question some serious thought. “I don’t really care. You’re my godmother the same either way. I just don’t want you to be lonely.”

“Well buddy,” Gabrielle said, giving the boy a hug, “I’m working on that.”

“You don’t seem gay.” he said to Aphrodite.

“That’s because I’m bisexual,” she replied simply.

He looked from one woman to the other. “Are the two of you…” clearly he had no idea how he wanted to finish that question.

Aphrodite put a hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly. “Now kiddo, you’re venturing into ‘none of your business’ territory. Just think of me as your favorite auntie for the time being. Say, what does control do?” She asked pointing to one of the dials he had yet to explain.

Grateful for something more interesting to talk about than girls and their relationships, Shen happily launched into fresh explanations of the controls he missed and their functions.

~~~~~~~

Gabrielle studied the computer screen in front of her so intently that she didn’t notice Aphrodite’s silent entry into her study. Argo raised her head from the couch where she had been dozing.

“Gabrielle,” the goddess said softly, drawing the bard from the computer screen with a start.
“Wha...”

“Honey, it’s two am. You need to stop for tonight.”

The bard glanced at her watch, disbelief clouding her features. She stood with a groan and stretched her back then rubbed her eyes. “I had no idea it had gotten so late. I thought we saw Shen and Susan off maybe two hours ago.”

Aphrodite looked at the screen the Bard had been working on. There was an old journal on the desk as well as some sea charts and maps of Greece. On the monitor were another map and a flight plan with a landing at the airport at Zakynthos. “What am I looking at?” the goddess asked pointing to the hand drawn map in the bard’s journal.

Gabrielle picked up the old book and touched the page reverently. “A lot of the stories for Xena I had to tell over and over. I started off writing things down in scrolls, then the scrolls would be stolen, or destroyed. Next, I kept journals. At some point I’d get run out of town or locked up, lose everything, have to start over and I’d start a new journal and retell the stories…”

She shook off the memory and pointed to a place on her map. “One such journal: This is the Gulf of Corinth. Cirra is on the north side of the water, here in Boeotia,” she traced her finger up, “almost directly south of Mt. Olympus. For reference with my less than stellar drawing, here is Macedonia with Potidaea to the north and east of Cirra and Amphipolis further north and further east of Potidaea.”

“Right,” Aphrodite said looking at the map. “East of Thessaly, here.”

“Exactly. We were in the Gulf of Corinth when we encountered the pirates. Poseidon took both crews to the island of Kephallenia to Antisamos Beach with the island of Ithaca just to the north. That’s where Hephaestus had the anvil and hammer in a cave at the time. When it was…ah…destroyed, I took the hammer and Xena’s chakram, which I still had, and went south to the island of Zakynthos where I stored them in a sea cave for safe keeping. This spot,” she pointed to the computer screen, “is called Shipwreck Beach and while touristy, is probably the closest place to head out to the cave. Do you snorkel?”

Aphrodite rolled her eyes, “No, but being a god does let me hold my breath indefinitely, as I know you’ve noticed,” she added with a wink.

“Um...yeah. That is a very good point. For appearances do you mind looking like a diver?” the bard asked, knowing full well she was blushing.

“You need to breathe?” Aphrodite asked, puzzled.

Gabrielle nodded. “Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I’ve drowned a few times. It’s awful. Once I get back to air I cough the water out of my lungs and regain consciousness and my brain repairs itself, but it is not a pleasant experience. I’m sure it’s similar to how I’ve bounced back from the two lobotomies I’ve been subjected to.”

“Honey, I’m so sorry,” the goddess said, kissing the top of the bard’s head.”

“Ancient history,” Gabrielle said, forcing a smile. “Come on Argo,” she called to her dog. “Let’s go for a walk on deck.”

As the pair strolled in the cool night air, Gabrielle listened to the distant sounds of the Marina at night. Noise from vehicles, the lapping of waves, and the distant sound of a helicopter somewhere could be heard. “What were you up to this evening?”

Aphrodite smiled mischievously. “They nearly invited me to their poker game until they remembered that I can read all of them pretty easily, so I was invited to just hang out and chat. It’s nice, though. You have a good family here. They asked me about Xena.”

Gabrielle looked at Aphrodite and arched an eyebrow. “I was honest, for the most part. I explained that she’s been kept…separate from the world and hasn’t had the same experiences that you had. I told them they’d better give her a chance and that it isn’t a ‘her or me’ situation.”

Argo made use of her AstroTurf area and led the way back to the master stateroom with goddess and bard following behind. “Aphrodite,” Gabrielle began, stopping halfway down the spiral staircase that led to her bedroom, “I don’t want you to think…”

“Shhh,” Aphrodite said with a shake of her head. “Not tonight. We are going back to your bedroom, you are going to lie down and have the most amazing massage you’ve ever had, and you’re going to sleep in well past breakfast. There will be no relationship processing until you have the hammer. We’ve already established that.”

They descended a few more stairs, and Gabrielle stopped her once more so she’d turn around. “Aphrodite?”

“Yes?”

“I do love you.”

“I love you too, sweetie. I really do.”

The bard chuckled. “But being the Goddess of Love you kind of have to, don’t you?”

The goddess paused at the bedroom door and gave it some thought. “I don’t have to love everyone equally. Some people, some very special people, I love more.”

~~~~~~~

The Goddess of Love strolled up to the main deck to join the off-duty crew for breakfast. She sat down with Blake and Wolfgang across from Vox and was joined by Michelle after she had helped herself to the morning’s frittata. “No politics at breakfast,” the captain announced and Wolfgang turned off the podcast playing from his phone.

“Everyone seems on the same page politically,” Aphrodite observed.

Michelle grinned, “We are for the most part, but who needs to hear that at breakfast?”

“And it’s one thing to hear the point of view of people who can talk in complete sentences, even if you disagree with them,” Blake added, “but when she plays clips from the Gideon Power show, it just makes me want to throw your phone in the ocean.”

“And that would be littering,” Elaine added with a chuckle as she walked by.

“Who is Gideon Power?” Aphrodite asked honestly.

“You seriously don’t know?” Vox asked stunned.

“What are you guys chatting about?” Sarah asked as she joined the quintet at their table.

“Aphrodite has never heard of Gideon Power,” Vox said.

While the goddess was sure that the engineer had tried to keep the self-satisfied superiority out of her voice, she wasn’t entirely successful at it.

“He’s kind of a Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly type,” Sarah supplied helpfully, no trace of smugness whatsoever.

“Without the charm,” Wolfgang added.

“Ah,” Aphrodite said, with understanding. “I will admit that I don’t get most of my news from American outlets,” she admitted. “Unless it’s articles in print, I prefer the perspective of people who aren’t trying to analyze things and be part of the machine at the same time.”

Wolfgang chuckled. “Dude, you’re never going to get the best of her,” he said quietly to Vox. “You need to stop trying.”

“I’d be interested in listening to the program with you guys,” Aphrodite said, specifically to Vox, “after breakfast maybe? I do like to get different perspectives.”

The young woman nodded, warming up to the goddess in spite of her best effort not to. “Yeah, that’s cool,” she said into her frittata.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” Sarah asked, looking shyly at the goddess.

Aphrodite put her fork down, then dabbed the corners of her mouth with her napkin. “That’s kind of my bread and butter, go ahead.”

“What exactly do you do?” Sarah asked. “I mean, as The Goddess of Love? Do you go around the world and make people fall in love?”

“You mean like the gig Santa Claus has? Without the toys?” Aphrodite asked dryly.

Unfortunately for Vox, she’d just had a healthy sip of orange juice which came out her nose from laughing, right into Wolfgang’s lap.

“Dude!” he exclaimed, annoyed. “Fuck. Come on, man!”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” Vox breathed. “Santa Claus! That’s hysterical.”

The navigator brushed at his lap with his napkin, chuckling. “It is kind of funny.” Vox was still cracking herself up, “Yeah, you’d think toys would totally be a part of it.”

“Okay, now that’s funny,” Aphrodite conceded. “To answer your question honestly, Sarah,” she added to the chef, “think of it this way – when your body is healthy, and it has the vitamins and minerals it needs, it can better fight off infection, right? Well I’m like a massive dose of vitamins that helps people realize the love they’re already carrying around with them. Sometimes it’s love for a person, or an idea, or a family. Sometimes it’s jealousy or unrequited love, hopeless love, or annoying infatuation.”

            “So, if you can make someone love somebody, you can make them not love somebody too?” Vox asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

            “I could, but I wouldn’t,” Aphrodite replied. “Being able to love, even when it’s painful and really sucks, is profoundly human and profoundly awesome. To take it away would diminish…” she looked at the young woman sympathetically, “whomever, and I wouldn’t do that. A lack of love, even the messy kind, is what gives you the kind of assholes that flock to people like Gideon Power.” She turned her attention back to Sarah. “I travel around a lot, all over the world, acting almost like…well the way a magnifying glass intensifies sunlight. I channel and expand the love I feel all around me.”

            Sarah looked like she was about to ask another question and Aphrodite shook her head, “and one thing all my many years of experience has taught me, is that like Santa, it’s best to just accept that I do what I do and not worry too much about the mechanics of how I do it. It kind of is beyond your understanding. Or at least, beyond my ability to have it make sense in a way that fits your understanding.”

            “Any food left?” Gabrielle asked when she joined the crew on deck. She was greeted by hearty welcomes from those off duty. As she passed Aphrodite on her way to the plates and chafing dishes she squeezed the goddess’ shoulder and placed a quick kiss on the top of her head. “Good morning, gorgeous,” she murmured quietly.

Aphrodite smiled. She was well aware that this was the first time Gabrielle had ever attempted to be open, honest, and physical with someone in front of her crew with them knowing the truth, and while clearly she felt some level of self-consciousness about it, she was determined to do it anyway.

Sarah squeezed closer to Blake to give Gabrielle space to sit next to Aphrodite, and the bard enthusiastically tucked into breakfast.

“Wolfie,” Aphrodite said when she’d noticed that the rest of them had finished eating, “If you want to put your podcast back on, go ahead.”

Gabrielle quickly glanced over to Michelle to see if the captain would countermand that request. She knew about the prohibition regarding phones and dining. Michelle caught her glance and returned it with a wink. “I’m not about to tell The Goddess of Love what to do,” she said with a grin to Gabrielle. “You gave her Class One clearance, you’re on your on your own.” Without another word, the captain smiled and excused herself heading off to the bridge.

Wolfgang shrugged and tapped his phone, playing the podcast from where he’d paused it earlier. The host, Stephanie Miller, was discussing the latest Twitter meltdown of President Turner with her guests, the comedy duo Frangela. They played a clip from Gideon Power’s ‘Power Hour’ where he put a positive spin on the president’s behavior and lied about the context of his outbursts.

Aphrodite frowned at the sound of the voice coming through the phone’s speaker. “Can you please replay that?” she asked thoughtfully.

Wolfgang scrolled the recording backwards a bit and hit play.

“Well fucking A,” the goddess said crossing her arms. “That asshole.”

“What?” Gabrielle asked, looking confused.

“You wanted to find Ares, right?” Aphrodite asked. “Well we just did,” she added with a nod at the phone.

“That doesn’t sound like Ares,” the bard disagreed with a frown.

“I think whoever it is, is disguising their voice with a modulator,” Vox said, listening critically. “It sounds kind of metallic.” She pulled out her phone and after a quick search showed the results to Gabrielle and Aphrodite.

“That’s not Ares,” Gabrielle said, looking at the photos.

Blake chuckled, “You showed us hundreds of pictures yesterday, all of them you, but none of them you.” He cocked his head, something just occurring to him. “What’s your real name, anyway?”

“It’s Gabrielle,” Gabrielle said. “I go back to it every few hundred years. I mean if you want to be formal, it’s Gabrielle of Potidaea.”

“I’m going to get my laptop,” Vox announced. “I’ve got some software that might deconstruct this,” she said nodding at Wolfgang’s phone.

“Great.” The bard agreed, “I need a quick word with Michelle. Let’s reconvene in the den and have a listen.”

Aphrodite and Argo accompanied Gabrielle to the bridge where Michelle had relieved Elaine of command. The fit woman was sitting on a couch at the back of the command room reviewing some lists on an iPad and chatting with Steve. “It’s your call,” she was saying to the bosun, “but I think the varnishing could wait.” When she saw the bard at the doorway she immediately stood up. “Gabrielle on deck.” Steve promptly stood as well.

“Please, sit.” Gabrielle said with a wave of her hand. Argo immediately jumped on the couch and snuggled next to the captain.

“Hey! I was going to sit there,” Aphrodite said playfully, earning a snicker from Steve and a frown from Gabrielle.

“What’s up, boss?” Michelle asked, clearly flattered.

“Tomorrow Aphrodite, Argo, and I are going to take the jet to Greece to go get something. I don’t know how long we will need to be gone.” Michelle nodded, listening.

“I think I should take a couple of crew. Normally, I’d just grab a pair of bodies from Transportation…”

“But you trust us more because you’ve trusted us?” Michelle asked with a wry smile.

Gabrielle nodded. “What can I say, when Susan is right, she’s right. I want you to decide who is going to go. I’m not sure what it will be like on the ground. I’m not expecting any issues, but you never know. This should be a simple retrieval mission for something I stored…a while ago.”

The captain nodded, “I will text you tonight and let you know who.”

“Look, if anyone is thinking of leaving…I don’t want anyone going who isn’t up for…” Gabrielle began.

“Everyone is just as committed to the company and you as they were last week.” Michelle said. “We have had a number of frank discussions amongst ourselves. No one is transferring out.”

“I’m sure there must be some kind of fallout…” Gabrielle protested.

“Oh, there’s fallout alright,” Steve interjected. “No one is pretending there isn’t fallout. It’s like finding out that the sun doesn’t orbit the earth. That’s a big deal and you have to rethink a lot of what you’ve taken for granted. But that isn’t your fault,” he concluded with a shy glance at Aphrodite.

“Annnnddddd,” the goddess encouraged.

“Look, you can’t stand on deck and have a conversation with a goddess and not have your religious views somewhat shaken.” Steve put up his hands and shrugged.

“Depends on the religion, I’d expect,” Aphrodite replied.

“Did you ever meet Jesus Christ?” Steve asked, seriously.

Aphrodite looked uncomfortable. “I’ve known a lot of people named Jesus. Did any of them fit the description of the person described today? Gabrielle would be the first to tell you about how stories get embellished over time with the telling. That’s what storytellers do. Does that make the central theme of the story, which is ‘don’t be a dick’ any less true? Absolutely not.”

“But if someone believes that, and believes in you, and believes in…whatever,” Steve protested.

“I know what I am, and I know what people call me. I’m not worshipped the way I used to be- and that kind of sucks,” she said “but that doesn’t change what I do, for the most part,” she added with a glance at Gabrielle. “For all I know there is an Osiris or Horus running around somewhere, whomever. Religion was created as an instrument to govern people by providing solace for the things that scare you. For those of us who’ve been the object of religion, well it really has less to do with us than one might expect. Personally, I think if you just stick to the mantra of ‘don’t be a dick’ you’ll be fine.”

“Honestly,” Michelle said to Gabrielle with a smile, “No one is going to leave their post because things are just so incredibly interesting now.”

Gabrielle shrugged. “Good enough for me.”

The trio of Gabrielle, Argo, and Aphrodite descended to the main deck and joined the crew who had assembled in the den. Vox, Sarah, and Wolfgang were huddled around a laptop that was set up on the coffee table with an external speaker.

“Try it again, with half of that.” Wolfgang suggested as the engineer’s fingers flew over the keyboard. Wolfgang quickly vacated his seat on the couch for either Gabrielle or Aphrodite.

“Argo,” Gabrielle said with warning in her voice when the pit bull strolled over to the couch. Aphrodite took the seat next to Sarah while Wolfgang and Gabrielle pulled up a couple of slipper chairs.

Vox made a final tap on the keyboard and playback restarted. The bard’s eyes grew wide at the sound she heard. “Holy fuck,” she said, amazed.

“I know,” Aphrodite agreed. “My damn brother.”

“So by ‘brother’,” Sarah asked carefully, “you mean Ares, the Ancient Greek God of War.”

“He’s such a jerk, and you don’t really have to keep saying ‘ancient’. We’re old, we get it,” she fumed.

“But for ‘old’ you’re also incredibly hot,” Wolfgang added helpfully. “Both of you.” Aphrodite smiled and gave him a wink which made the navigator blush.

“And he has an army of racist, misogynistic, homophobic, crazed yokels,” Gabrielle said, moving the conversation back on track. “Do you know where he hosts his radio show from?” she asked Wolfgang.

The lanky man shook his head. “He’s pretty secretive,” he explained, “says the government is always tracking him. “The Deep State.”

Gabrielle took the phone out of her pocket and scrolled through her contacts. After making a selection she put the phone to her ear. “Sabin, the ‘Olympus’ assignment, please open an investigation on Gideon Power, the radio guy. Full throttle, see if anything connects to the name Ares. I want to know everything there is to know about him, his business, background- everything. This has the highest priority. Thank you.” She listened as he reiterated her instructions. “Yes, exactly,” she confirmed then ended the call.

She put the phone down and smiled, feeling that she had accomplished more in the last ten days than she had in the hundreds of years previously. “Really great work, guys,” she said. “Thanks. I want everyone really enjoying their off-duty shifts. Take time to get off the ship. You want to go out, see a show, fly somewhere- whatever you want- expense it, just be back on-time. I’ll have the plane so you’ll have to fly commercial, but go first class, I’ll let Jorge and Michelle know. I’m celebrating tonight, so I want the rest of you to celebrate as well.”

“Not a bad pay day for digging a silly political podcast,” Wolfgang said with a self-satisfied grin. “What do you guys think? Vegas, Broadway, Baseball game?”

“What about that restaurant outside of Portland?” Sarah asked enthusiastically. “Where we went with Bo, Ingrid and Elaine?”

Vox nodded in agreement, “let’s ask if they want to go, do the restaurant then fly back to Vegas for some gambling and a show!”

The trio left hurriedly, before their boss could throw any cold water on their plans.

Gabrielle chuckled indulgently as she watched them scurry out.  

“So, where are you sweeping me off my feet?” Aphrodite asked with a warm smile.

Gabrielle thought a moment, Dwayne’s words of caution coming back to her. “I’m taking you hiking,” she said with a grin. “Let’s go get dressed.”

~~~~~~~

The late afternoon sun shone down on Yosemite Falls as Gabrielle packed up the remnants of their picnic. “The candied salmon was delicious,” Aphrodite said passing the water bottle back to the bard who stowed it in her backpack. “I must say,” she added with a smile, “you’re making progress taking the ‘douche’ off the ‘billionaire with her own fleet of vehicles’ thing.”

They continued their hike, enjoying the sound of the waterfalls and nature. It was several hours later when they returned to the kitchen of the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley. A small table for two had been set up on the back porch and Gabrielle put on an apron.

“You’re making me dinner?”

“I’m taking Dwayne’s advice,” Gabrielle replied with a wink.

“He didn’t mention that I love to cook. Let’s make this a joint effort,” Aphrodite said, joining Gabrielle at the stove.

They were serenaded by the sounds of night as they ate their seabass en papillote with stuffed zucchini flowers. Several deer came into the clearing to have their last nibble on the tall grasses before retiring for the night. In the moonlight, an acrobatic bat made short work of the insects attracted by the lights of the historic hotel.

“What’s your plan for tomorrow?” Aphrodite asked, finishing her wine and chocolate almond tart.

“We go to LAX and take the jet to Zakynthos and hopefully find the hammer quickly. If all goes well, we can be on our way to Cabo the next day.”

“So, this may be our last night together,” Aphrodite observed. There wasn’t the sound of regret in her voice, she was simply stating an agreed upon fact.

“I intend to make the most of it,” the bard said raising her glass.

“Me too, Gabrielle.”

~~~~~~~

The next morning, they were met on deck by Nicolai and Vox, each of them carrying a large duffle bag. Vox was wearing military boots with pants, a t-shirt, and jacket. If she was exhausted from her night in Las Vegas, it didn’t show. Nicolai was wearing a dark suit with dark sunglasses. To Aphrodite’s eyes he looked every inch the most intimidating bodyguard she’d ever seen. She greeted the pair with a warm smile.

“I’ve always wondered what the Incredible Hulk would look like in a suit,” she said warmly to the Russian. “Nicolai, you clean up nice!”

“Thank you,” he said in his thick accent with a small bow to the goddess. “It is bespoke. Transportation has a good tailor.”

They were met at the transport boat by Michelle who handed Gabrielle and Aphrodite their passports, “I got the Susan Vincent and Anna Winter passports out of the safe,” she said. “I hope your trip is successful.

“Thank you,” Gabrielle said accepting the documents. She raised an eyebrow when Michelle hugged Aphrodite as they boarded the small boat.

“What can I say,” the goddess said, shouldering her backpack. “Your crew likes to hug.”

A dark sedan was waiting for the quartet at the marina which took them to a private jet at the Los Angeles International Airport. On the tarmac at the bottom of the stairs stood another well-muscled man in a suit similar to that of the Russian.

“Aphrodite,” Gabrielle said making the introductions, “this is Ed Schecter.” He smiled, extending a hand in greeting.

“I’ll be your flight attendant today,” he said. The goddess was at a loss for words. He didn’t look like any flight attendant she’d ever seen before. While his suit was similar to Nicolai’s, he wore his with a crisp white shirt that contrasted sharply with his dark brown skin. He was obviously a body builder, the suit straining against the very muscles it was intended to cover. His head was shaved and Aphrodite thought he looked like a younger, darker version of her neighbor Dwayne. While Nicolai seemed like a hairy, hulking mountain of a man, Ed seemed to have sculpted his body with the precision of a surgeon. Ed watched Aphrodite try to juxtapose her assumptions with the job title of “flight attendant” and his obvious appearance and chuckled. “Well, maybe a flight attendant who is good in a fight,” he added. “Please, this way.”

He led Gabrielle, Aphrodite, and Argo head up the stairs first then greeted Nicolai and Vox, both of whom he clearly already knew. “How do you like ship duty?” he asked the young woman.

“Oh, it’s been quite the education,” she said which made the Russian rumble with laughter.

They were greeted at the top of the stairs by a pair of women each wearing a hijab. “Our pilot Isra Suhr and co-pilot Kismet Suhr.” The pair did not wear suits like the two men, but were dressed in the closest thing to a military uniform that Aphrodite had seen on any of Gabrielle’s people. “I stole the Suhr sisters from the Royal Brunei Airlines,” Gabrielle explained, answering Aphrodite’s unasked question if the women were related.

“We should be cleared for takeoff momentarily,” Kismet said. “If you’d please take your seats.”

Gabrielle’s plane was a spacious one. While there were no company markings or logos on the inside or out, it was clear that the vehicle could function as a traveling office or conference room if necessary. There was a couch on one side and several recliner chairs on the other with a couple of tables, small kitchen, and other amenities. A comfortable sleeping area could even been seen towards the back with dressing area. Aphrodite moved to the couch to sit down and Gabrielle joined her, with Argo jumping up onto the far side. Nicolai and Vox deposited their duffle bags at the back of the plane, and the big man moved Gabrielle and Aphrodite’s backpacks to the pile as well, then each took a recliner across from the couch.

Gabrielle handed the passports to Vox who put them in one of the backpacks. “This is a retrieval mission,” Gabrielle explained to her flight attendant. “Susan Vincent, and Anna Winter,” she said with a nod to Aphrodite, “are traveling with our assistant,” she nodded to Vox and Nicolai, “and bodyguard, to do a little sight-seeing and swimming. When I find the package, I’ll retrieve it and we will immediately return for departure back to LAX. This is a quick trip.”

In moments the plane was moving. Ed took a recliner near the cockpit. “Understood,” he said. “Let me know when you guys are hungry,” he added cheerfully. “It’s going to be a ten-hour flight, please tell me if you need or want anything.”

Everyone thanked him, and soon thereafter they were airborne. Without asking if it was okay to get up, Nicolai stood and crossed the small interior to a cabinet, extracting from it two blankets and two pillows. He handed a blanket and pillow to Vox and said “For later.” He then handed a blanket to Gabrielle and said “For now. You don’t look good; too tired. Use girlfriend for pillow.” He then sat back down, put the other pillow behind his head, and leaned back in the recliner. “I will wake you up three hours before landing to go over our mission.”

Aphrodite chuckled, shifting and encouraged the bard to just stretch out.. “You didn’t get any sleep last night,” she said quietly. “Don’t argue with a sharp dressed Russian.”

While it was hard not to notice the look of envy that briefly crossed Vox’s face, Gabrielle admitted to herself that she was too tired to care. She put her head down on Aphrodite’s lap and within seconds was sound asleep.

~~~~~~~

“Gabrielle! Wake up!” Aphrodite’s voice cut through her slumber with an urgency that had the bard awake and alert instantly.

“What’s going on?” she asked, noting the look of concern on the faces of her companions.

Ed had just put a laptop on the table across from Gabrielle. “Transportation just sent us a code red on Susan Yin and this video call came in for you; you’ve got,” he looked at his watch, “two minutes to make the connection.”

Gabrielle ran her hands through her hair, and briefly wiped her eyes. “Everyone over there,” she said pointing towards the direction of the cockpit, “out of camera sight. She tapped the keyboard and a video window opened up showing a standard interrogation room with Susan Yin seated at a metal table her hands handcuffed to a metal post in the table. Seated next to her was a familiar face. At the sight of Ares, Gabrielle started to gesture with her hands, next to her side below the table, out of view of the camera, keeping the muscles of her face as passive as possible.

“The irritating blond. How the fuck are you still alive?” Ares asked with a big grin.

Gabrielle ignored him, focusing instead on the woman in handcuffs. “Susan, are you okay?” she asked.

“What is she doing?” Vox whispered to Aphrodite.

“It’s American Sign Language,” the goddess explained, her voice a soft whisper.

Nicolai nearly lifted Aphrodite off her feet when he grabbed her arm and brought her to the cockpit. “What did she say?” he asked, trying to speak as quietly as he could, but closing the door just in case. The cockpit of the small jet was now crowded with the pilot, co-pilot, huge Russian, engineer and goddess. “She’s saying ‘red dragon, real time, now, confirm’ Aphrodite repeated, puzzled. Does that mean anything to you?”

In an instant the Kismet, the co-pilot was on the radio, speaking urgently to the person on the other end. “Jorge, Red Dragon, from Gabrielle. You need to confirm. Red Dragon, now. Confirm please. This is not a drill.”

From her peripheral vision, Gabrielle saw Ed, standing just outside the cockpit door, nodding to her that a message was getting relayed. Now she needed to stall.

“You’re not talking to her, Gabrielle, you’re talking to me. Why don’t you start with how you survived?”

“My name is Susan Vincent,” Gabrielle said, “What do you want with Susan Yin?”

“I saw you making out with my sister,” Ares said holding up an eight by ten photograph of bard and goddess naked in the water at Catalina, when they thought they’d been alone. The angle of the quality and angle of the image screamed ‘drone’ to the bard and Gabrielle knew they would be watching the same feed on a small screen in the cockpit recording everything. The luxury of embarrassment was something she could not afford at the moment. Ares looked at the picture and looked again at the bard. “I’ve heard of ‘sex on the beach’,” he said, clearly amused at his own joke. “But sex in the water? Never saw you play tonsil hockey like that with Xena. Let’s dispense with the ‘Susan Vincent bullshit. I had you bugged immediately after you made contact with my sister. Your whole crew calls you Gabrielle.”

“You kidnapped Susan because you care who Aphrodite is kissing? Isn’t that taking the protective brother thing a bit too far?” Gabrielle asked in disbelief fully aware that the God of War was trying to goad her into anger and making a mistake.

Ares shook his head, his dark eyes flashing. “No, I’ve got your minion because whatever it is you think you’re doing, you’re going to stop doing it now. Now. Today.”

The door to the cockpit opened and Aphrodite signed that there was no word yet, the message had been relayed, and they were waiting.

“What are you even talking about?” Gabrielle asked, not having to feign much confusion. “I ran into Aphrodite, we hit it off, we went to Catalina, why would you even care?”

“At least you’re admitting who you are, that’s progress,” Ares sneered. “How are you still alive?”

“Beats me,” Gabrielle replied. As she spoke Argo woke but didn’t bark. The dog sat with her head cocked to one side, staring at Aphrodite whose eyes had flared an intense blue once again.

“What was that, the light? Who is with you?” Ares demanded hotly.

“I have a pilot, co-pilot and flight attendant,” Gabrielle replied exasperated. “There was a glint of sunlight off the wing. I’m on my way to go buy a company. It’s what I do Ares. I make money, I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you and you need to let Susan go.”

“I know you’re trying to bring Xena back,” Ares said, his tone deadly. “Somehow my sister is involved, that’s why you’re chasing her. You’re going to abandon that quest right now.”

“Ares, what on earth makes you think I’d be able to accomplish this feat now if I haven’t done it already?” Gabrielle asked “And don’t be ridiculous, getting involved with Aphrodite to bring Xena back makes no sense, she’d pick up on that in a heartbeat. Does that sound like something she’d be into? You need to release Susan, she has nothing to do with any of this. Tell me where to meet you and we can talk.”

“She isn’t going anywhere. I know that you are looking for immortals. You’ve been looking for me, you found my sister, you may have found my uncle who knows who else you’ve found,” he said his eyes cold.

“I found Aphrodite because I decided to buy her company. I buy companies, I make money, I take hot women to Catalina,” she said indifferently. “Seriously, that’s it. We fucked, had a great time, so what? Xena never even came up.”

“You might have thought you learned a thing or two from The Warrior Princess,” he shot back. “But you haven’t. Underestimating me is something Xena never did that you don’t seem to have picked up on. I’ve been watching you as long as you think you’ve been looking for me. I took note of your company, seemingly growing out of Chakram Enterprises selling antiquities to raise capital.”

“A girl’s gotta eat,” she replied flatly. “That doesn’t explain why you would grab Susan of all people. She doesn’t know anything about any of this. This is between you and me, let her go. Just let her go.” Gabrielle continued to watch out of her peripheral vision, reading the signs that told her that the co-pilot was still waiting on confirmation from Jorge and the Transportation department.

“That’s not how wars are fought Gabrielle” Ares continued. “My beef is with anyone who would consider helping you. This is going to stay a Xena free world. And anyone who would help you is going to have a problem with me. I’ve really come a long way in my enhanced interrogation techniques. I had some practice in Iraq. Wanna watch?”

“Wait,” Gabrielle said hopefully and moving the conversation away from Susan, “Are you saying that you and Aphrodite have the power to bring Xena back? That’s something you can do? Because I haven’t found anyone in two thousand years that has said they can do it.”

“Stupid bard, this is not the part where I divulge the intel you’re looking for.” Ares rolled his eyes.

Vox tapped Aphrodite’s shoulder and whispered in the goddess’ ear, her voice barely audible. “Confirmed from Jorge Hernandez, red dragon secure – en route to nest.”

Aphrodite relayed the message using sign language and Gabrielle forced herself not to breathe a sigh of relief.

“If you’re going to be obstinate, or stupid, admittedly with you it can be hard to tell the difference, I can always ask your associate my questions,” he said turning to look at the handcuffed woman, then looking back at the camera with a leer. “She may be more talkative.”

“Ares,” Gabrielle said, looking past the man to the woman behind him, hoping against hope that Susan could see her face. “From the time that the dragon on my back glowed red and provided protection from creatures like you, I am secure in the knowledge that I will always gain the upper hand and triumph in the end.” As she said the words she saw the micro expressions on Susan’s face change.

“Thank you, Gabrielle,” Susan said as Ares’ expression shifted to one of surprise and rage. He turned back towards the Chinese woman as if to hit her, but she had already slumped over on the table, dead.

“Fuck you Ares,” Gabrielle said when he turned back to face her, then cut the connection. Gabrielle slowly closed the laptop and sat for a couple of moments looking at absolutely nothing as the loss of her most trusted employee began to sink in and make itself real. Tears from her eyes fell freely, but she didn’t cry, she was too angry for that. It was one more loss in a string of losses spanning two millennia.

The door to the cockpit opened fully and Vox, Aphrodite, Nicolai, and Ed gathered around all wanting an explanation for what happened, no one wanting to ask for it. Argo walked over and put her large head on the bard’s knee, pressing down reassuringly. Without thinking Gabrielle rested her hand on dog’s head and her breathing steadied. “I don’t know how he got her,” she said, her voice thick with emotion, “but long ago we established that if anything happened to her, I was to immediately secure Shen, red dragon, and not worry about her. She was adamant, and I promised her that.”

“But…” Aphrodite asked.

“She had a tooth with cyanide in it,” Gabrielle explained. “I didn’t think she was still wearing it, she wasn’t doing field work anymore. But she was signaling me from the second that Ares started talking that she was planning to kill herself before he could do anything to her, to make her give up any information about me. And she had no intention of enduring torture at her age.”

Gabrielle looked over to Kismet, “Update, please,” she said flatly.

The co-pilot conversed briefly on the radio. “Jorge is on high alert. Shen has been secured onboard The Hippolyta. Extra security has been sent to the marina. Sabin has been alerted and has taken Special Projects to high alert as well. Everyone is waiting for your instructions. Do you want us to turn around?”

The bard shook her head. If Ares was willing to go to these lengths, there must be something he was truly afraid of. “I will tell Shen about his grandmother when I get back,” she said. “Read in Michelle, she will inform the crew. I want screen captures from that feed of Ares. I want SP to do facial recognition on every fucking database on earth if necessary, we are going to find him. For now, we proceed as we’d intended.” She stood and moved to the back of the plane, stepping into the sleeping quarters, “Aphrodite, if you could join me a second?”

Aphrodite joined the bard and Gabrielle slid the compartment door closed. “We need to deal with Ed. Isra and Kismet too.”

“I think your pilot and co-pilot were preoccupied with flying this jet to worry about a bunch of potentially coded talk. Ed, yeah, I know he’s confused. I can help him put the pieces together- it was metaphor and coded language, but that would be tampering with one of your people and you’ve made your feelings about that clear.”

Gabrielle sighed unhappily, “I don’t like that either, but I don’t want him stewing in his confusing and possibly making a mistake – for his safety more than anything else.”

“I’ve got you Sweet Pea,” Aphrodite assured her. “I’ll handle it.”

With a nod, Gabrielle wiped her eyes, determined not to let the tears for Susan fall just yet. She opened the door to the compartment and addressed the trio waiting for her. “Let’s go over the mission at hand,” she said grimly.

~~~~~~~

“Any questions?” Gabrielle asked, an hour later, as she looked up from the map that she’d unrolled in front of her team.

Somber expressions greeted her, but no one had any questions. Ed in particular looked focused and ready. Gabrielle had noticed Aphrodite’s eyes glow for a moment when she’d touched his forearm to ask a question.

“We are starting our descent,” Isra said over the cabin speaker. “Landing in ten minutes.”

“Let’s get dressed,” Vox announced as she moved back towards the duffle bags.

When the plane touched down, Gabrielle descended the stairs first, followed by Argo, then Aphrodite. She felt empty inside, but was determined to not let her most recent loss derail what she’d been working so long to achieve. As arranged, a Land Rover was waiting for them.

“Ed, you stay with the plane,” she said, putting an earpiece in her ear. “I don’t know if Ares knows where we are, or if he knows what we’re up to. We will be in constant communication. If anything looks the least bit out of place, you say something. I don’t care if we have to buy this whole fucking airport; when we come back, this plane takes off.”

“Yes, boss,” he said with a nod. “Good hunting.”

As bard and goddess walked towards the Land Rover, Aphrodite took Gabrielle’s hand briefly and gave it a squeeze. “Welcome home, Gabrielle,” she said softly.

Chapter 8: Hurt/Comfort

Nicolai drove the Land Rover to a small marina where a speedboat was waiting. They didn’t talk during the drive; Gabrielle sat in the back seat with Aphrodite holding her hand, feeling connected and looking out the window at a homeland that had changed so much since the last time she was here. Her new responsibility was descending upon her like a cloak; she was a mother now, a mother to a sweet, intelligent, kind ten year old who had already gone through the abrupt loss of his own mother and now grandmother in the span of less than two years. If she could survive this she was grateful, as much as it was going to hurt, that Shen wouldn’t have to lose her too.

She knew she couldn’t keep the child on the boat indefinitely. He would grow up, become an adult, go to college, fall in love, and raise a family. Would Ares still be hunting him then? Should he go back to his boarding school? Should she send an armed company of soldiers to protect him?

“Honey, you’re obsessing,” Aphrodite said gently, no doubt reading her thoughts. “Worry about what is in front of you; the rest will sort itself out later, I promise.”

Gabrielle nodded, feeling comforted, but still empty.

At the dock, there were a few tourists getting in and out of boats with a wider array of tourists on the beach. They loaded their gear into the speedboat that had been arranged for their use. Before exiting the car, Vox put the small automatic weapon back in her duffle bag and nodded to Nicolai. As they walked to the boat, Vox led with Nicolai bringing up the rear.

In the boat, it was the engineer’s turn to drive, while the large Russian man kept watch with the machine gun on his lap. Argo had found a spot between duffle bags to curl up, nearly hidden under a seat. There was not a lot of room in the boat and the ocean spray felt colder than she remembered.

“It will take a while to pass the tourists,” the Russian man said, discretely keeping his gun down. While the engines were loud, they could hear each other speak quite well with the aid of the ear pieces they were all wearing. “Vox, I think you should sing.”

“What?” Vox queried, quite surprised at the request.

“For Susan,” he said in a tone that brokered no argument.

“What songs did she like?” Aphrodite asked.

“She loved music from the seventies,” he said with a rueful grin. “We were in the organization a long time together. Different departments, same mission, yes?”

Gabrielle smiled, fondly remembering when each of them had started; Susan a few years before Nicolai, when she was known as Rebekah Evans. “You guys were babies,” she said. “Susan always loved the song Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt,” she mused, remembering how moved the Chinese woman was the first time she heard it.

Without hesitation, the engineer began to sing, surprised and delighted when Aphrodite joined her providing harmony. Gabrielle saw Nicolai wipe a tear from his eyes more than once and she looked out at the expanse of blue both longing and dreading when she would break down and have a long cry over this as well.

In time they passed Shipwreck Beach and found themselves in a more secluded area. Gabrielle critically scanned the contours of the island comparing the contours to the charts she’d memorized. She signaled for Vox to slow down and for long moments she studied the rocks trying to remember the details from the last time she was here. They weren’t too close to rock’s edge, at least a hundred feet from the cliff wall that rose nearly straight up in front of them. Anyone standing up there would have an unobstructed view of the boat which meant that Gabrielle wanted to retrieve what she came for as quickly as possible.

“The water line is different,” Gabrielle said to no one in particular. “I think there has been some erosion. The cave will be under the water, maybe twenty-five to thirty feet down from here. Vox and Nicolai switched positions, the large man taking over the driver’s seat in the boat while the lanky engineer donned a wet suit. Both Aphrodite and Gabrielle were wearing long sleeved swim wear. The bard hoisted the tank and scuba equipment to her back as the goddess extracted a harpoon gun from the duffle bag.

“You don’t need any equipment at all?” Vox asked, uncertainly. “Not even a mask?”

“I’m at home in the water,” Aphrodite explained. “I was born here.”

The goddess dove into the water with bard and engineer following behind, tipping in backwards tanks first from the speed boat. Once under the surface, Gabrielle took the lead and swam down looking critically at the rocks. Dangling from her wrist was a small pick axe and at her waist was an empty satchel. The clarity of the water was good and visibility was easily twenty feet or more. Before long, she’d spotted something familiar and made a bee line for a specific area of rock. Once she’d arrived, she scanned an area covered with coral and various ocean plants. She tapped a couple of times with her axe, trying to disturb as little of the coral as possible and in a few minutes, gave a thumbs up sign to the two women who were swimming nearby. Vox was trying to help her while Aphrodite was scanning the area for any number of predators. With Vox’s help, Gabrielle was able to make quick work of clearing the cave entrance, and before long the opening was large enough for the women to swim through single file. Gabrielle activated her headlamp and led the way. Roughly forty yards into the tunnel it opened into a larger chamber, still completely submerged. Gabrielle moved to the back of the chamber on the left side and began to once again dig with her pickaxe. Vox moved to her side adding the beam of her headlamp to where the bard was working. Moments later the remains of a strong wooden box was uncovered. The wood had long since rotted away leaving only the iron bands that bound it. After reaching in with her gloved hand she extracted a pair of sai, a chakram, and a large hammer. She put the hammer and sai into the satchel at her waist and checked the sharpness of the chakram against her gloved hand. The blade easily cut through the neoprene, so she carried it by the bar in the middle, not wanting to risk having it slice through the satchel that carried the hammer.

The trio swam out of the cave and headed for the surface. It was only when they neared the boat that they realized bullets were flying and that they were under attack.

Gabrielle broke the surface first and shouted at Nicolai, “Got it!”

“Very nice,” he shouted. “Maybe get back in the boat now?”

The big Russian was shooting back at the cliff top with his automatic weapon, using his bullets sparingly. The attackers were also using automatic weapons, creating a rain of bullets that pierced the water dangerously close to the boat. Small splashes were erupting everywhere as the bullets tore through the water.

Vox broke the surface next and instantly screamed; she’d been hit. “Fuck!”

Aphrodite surfaced last and swam over to aid the injured woman.

“Vox is hit,” Aphrodite explained to Gabrielle as the bard swam up to them. There was another small splash as a bullet hit the water and the engineer screamed again. “Twice,” she amended.

With Gabrielle’s help they maneuvered the engineer to the side of the speed boat away from the gunfire, but not before the woman had been hit a third time jerking her head back. Gabrielle tossed the chakram carefully into the boat, then wrapped one arm around the engineer’s torso and held onto the boat cleat with her other hand; Aphrodite did the same and the injured woman hung tightly in between them.

“Let’s go!” Gabrielle shouted to Nicolai. The large man did not ask any questions, but put the boat in gear and took off quickly enough to put some distance between them and the gunfire, but not so fast that bard and goddess could not maintain their grip on the boat and on the injured woman they were holding between them. “Is Argo okay?” Gabrielle screamed, hoping he could hear her without the radio she’d been wearing before getting in the water.

“Yes,” he yelled back. “She warned me before they started shooting. She’s a good dog!”

The minutes dragged on but eventually the large man slowed the boat down, finally putting it in neutral long enough to lean over and lift each of the three women out of the water, depositing them in the boat. Aphrodite seemed fine as far as Gabrielle could tell, but she could feel several places on her own body where the bullets had passed through and her skin was healing. It was painful as hell.

Giving Vox the once over told an even more dismal story. She was bleeding profusely from her abdomen, her shoulder, and the side of her head. A moment’s inspection let the bard know that the head wound was a superficial graze requiring only a few stitches. It was impossible to gauge the damage from the other two injuries while on the boat. “Back to the dock,” Gabrielle said urgently. “Fast as you can. I’m not losing two people today. I’m fucking not.” Nicolai instantly put the boat in gear and they sped off. “Contact the plane. We need to take off the second we board. I don’t care who we have to bribe, how much it costs, whatever. Tell Ed to just make it happen.”

“Yes, boss,” Nicolai said and immediately began to relay the message.

“Hold here,” Gabrielle instructed Aphrodite showing her where to put direct pressure on the woman’s abdomen, as she groaned in pain.

“I know it hurts, Vox,” Gabrielle said, checking to see if there was any apparent injury to the woman’s neck or spine. “Hang in there; you’re going to be okay.”

“You’ve got this tiger,” Aphrodite said encouragingly.

“Report from Ed, boss,” Nicolai shouted, knowing that Gabrielle hadn’t worn an ear piece into the water. “Representatives from the Greek government are forbidding takeoff. They have some questions for you.”

“Looks like Ares tracked the plane,” she fumed. “We are not staying for questions,” she shouted to Nicolai, “Make sure the twins know we are going to be taking off without permission. Have them contact Rebekah Luna and loop in legal.”

The bard’s jaw clenched. the trip back to the dock seemed to take achingly longer than the trip to the cave, but they finally arrived. Before they reached the dock, Gabrielle explained her next instructions to the large Russian. “As soon as we stop, you pick up Vox. Her spine is ok, it’s ok to carry her. You are going to get in the back seat with her and Argo. I will drive.” A protest quickly crossed his face but he didn’t voice it. “I can drive just fine,” she reassured the him. “I have been driving since the invention of the automobile.”

He nodded, “Yes, you drive.”

“Keep direct pressure here, and here,” she explained as the boat stopped and he reached to pick up the injured woman. “Argo, go!” Gabrielle shouted, as she replaced her earpiece and the dog quickly launched herself out of the boat and up the dock. People quickly moved out of the way of the charging pit bull making a path for the rest of them. Gabrielle followed, carrying the chakram and the satchel, leaving the rest of the scuba equipment behind. Nicolai came next and Aphrodite followed, keeping an eye on the injured Vox and sous chef.

When they reached the car, it took only a moment for bard and goddess to situate the other two in the back seat and in moments they were peeling out of the beach parking lot. “Ed, how we doing buddy?” she said, calm tension in her voice.

“I’m spending your cash, boss.” He said, his voice calm but urgent. “Local cops should be stopping traffic for you but government detail with a military escort is on their way to the airport,” the flight attendant replied. “They are determined to stop us. They are offering medical assistance for Vox.”

“The fact that they know she’s injured says a lot,” Gabrielle replied, expertly winding the land rover through the narrow streets. “I know who’s behind this and Vox doesn’t stand a chance if we wait for her to get transferred to a hospital. Stick with the local police, offer whatever it takes.”

As if on cue, they came to an intersection and a motorcycle officer stopped traffic and waved her though, then started his bike to follow behind. The same thing happened at the next intersection, the officers seeming to leap frog each other clearing a path for her to speed through the winding streets to the airport. It took only a short time to reach the tarmac and the plane.

The stairs were lowered and Ed stood waiting to help however he could.

“Let’s go! Let’s go – get us in the air NOW!” Gabrielle shouted at the cockpit as she cleared the hatch behind Aphrodite, Argo, and Nicolai, who was carrying the injured Vox. They could see several cars in the distance speeding in their direction. Ed secured the door behind them. The plane engines roared to life as the two women in the cockpit began arranging with the tower for emergency takeoff.

“We’ve been denied clearance for takeoff,” Ed relayed from just outside the cockpit.

“Do it anyway.” Gabrielle urged, her voice tense and urgent. “Put her here, on the floor,” Gabrielle gestured to Nicolai, who gently laid Vox supine on the floor where Gabrielle indicated then backed out of the way, awaiting further instructions.

“Come here Argo,” Aphrodite, who had moved towards the back of the plane, called the visibly distraught dog over to her. Argo reluctantly moved behind the goddess, but kept her injured friend in her line of sight.

The plane began to move as Ed retrieved a combat medic bag from a side compartment, set it down next to Gabrielle, and began breaking out supplies in a very fast, methodical fashion. He first handed the bard a pair of bandage shears, then began pulling out various supplies and equipment from the bag. IV bags, cannulas and tubing, gauze, monitoring cables, and a LifePak 20 portable monitor emerged from what, to Aphrodite, appeared to be a seemingly bottomless bag. This wasn’t far from the truth: combat medic bags are designed to provide a battlefield medic the ability to stabilize and transport a severely injured soldier, including the ability to perform emergency surgery. In other words, it was a small hospital packed into a backpack. You just needed to add someone who knows what they are doing.

Gabrielle knew what she was doing. The bard’s hands flew over the injured woman, using the shears to completely cut the neoprene wetsuit away from the engineer. Nicolai moved the neoprene pieces out of the way, then retrieved several blankets from a cabinet and covered Vox’s legs to keep her warm.

“I gotta say, Gabrielle,” Vox stammered, clearly in shock and in pain, “when I envisioned your hands all over me, this isn’t quite how I pictured it.” Her musing was cut short by a loud gasp of pain in response to the bard removing the pieces of her wetsuit sticky with blood.

Ed attached electrodes to Vox’s chest, then grabbed her right arm and slapped a blood pressure cuff to her bicep and an oxygen sensor to her finger. He then gathered up all the ends of the wires and tubes, connected them to the LifePak, and powered it up. The monitor’s beeps and chirps reflecting Vox’s physiological vital signs were quickly followed by their appearance on the display. Both Ed and Gabrielle glanced at the numbers and visibly relaxed.

“Sorry, sorry,” Gabrielle said apologetically. “I know this hurts like a bitch.” Ed moved to Vox’s other arm, cinched a tourniquet above her elbow then inserted a large bore IV cannula. Despite the pain from her injuries, Vox winced as Ed sent the needle home.

“Seriously, Ed? Fourteen gauge? I’m still conscious you know.” Ed grunted in reply while he hooked up a bag of fluids.

“Don’t knock it, Vox,” Aphrodite said reassuringly. “You’re in for some primo hurt/comfort.”

“Your shoulder and head injury aren’t too bad,” Gabrielle reassured the engineer, in part to distract her. “The abdomen may be a little more interesting. Hang in there.”

The plane made a turn en route to the runway for takeoff. Gabrielle checked the LifePak again then looked at Vox. “You’re pretty stable right now, but I’ve got to figure out what’s going on in there,” she said, indicating the bullet’s entry point in Vox’s abdomen. “I’m not going to be able to put you out, so this is going to hurt a lot, and I’m sorry about that.” She doused her hands with disinfectant, dried them briefly and put on surgical gloves with Ed’s help.

“When does the comfort part start?” Vox asked Aphrodite with a swagger the injured woman clearly didn’t feel.

“You’ve got this kiddo,” Aphrodite replied with a radiant smile.

“Ed, hand Aphrodite the task lamp and shine it here,” she said pointing to the engineer’s abdomen.

“We need to take off now,” Nicolai urged, watching out the window as a parade of six cars quickly sped towards them. The plane accelerated having made the turn and sped down the runway.

There was a lurch as the jet became airborne, causing Vox to scream. “Everything okay back there?” Kismet called from the cockpit.

“Just level us out as fast and low as you can. We can’t go to cruising altitude until I figure out what’s going on here ‘cause the change in cabin pressure will complicate things.”

“Got it, boss.”

Vox squirmed in discomfort and groaned as Ed, now prepped and wearing gloves himself, placed a pair of surgical eye loupes on Gabrielle’s face. “Vox,” Gabrielle said urgently, “I need you to be really, really still.

“I think I can help with that,” Aphrodite said. Passing the light to Nicolai, she moved behind Ed to position herself cross-legged at Vox’s head. She placed her hands on Vox’s temples which had an immediately calming effect on the injured woman. “I do energy work,” she explained to Ed, her blue eyes glowing faintly. He nodded in understanding, too preoccupied with the work he was doing to pay much attention to the goddess.

Working quickly and calmly Gabrielle checked the entry wound through the large tattoo on her abdomen, then she and Ed rolled the now unconscious Vox on her side to check her back for an exit wound. Finding the telltale wound that indicated the exit of an intact bullet, she was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the bubbling of blood from the wound made her catch her breath. Quickly rolling Vox back into place, her fears were confirmed by the sound of the monitor’s alarms over the jet’s engines as Vox’s blood pressure began dropping in response to the blood loss. Vox had been bleeding inside her abdominal cavity, and the delay in treating the injury was starting to take its toll.

“I need to get in there and stop the bleeding.” Even as the words were coming out of her mouth, Ed was reaching into the medic bag for supplies. He handed her another set of sterile gloves, surgical mask, scalpels, hemostats of various size and purpose, and gauze and then laid out a sterile towel onto Vox’s chest. Gabrielle opened the containers and shook the supplies onto the drape, donned her gloves, and put her instruments into her preferred order. Ed set up a suction machine and hung a fresh bag of fluids to Vox’s IV.

Gabrielle rubbed the surgical betadine scrub on and around the bullet wound, feeling around the entry wound for any clues as to the situation below. Placing her index finger on Vox’s stomach where she intended to cut, she grabbed a scalpel, looked up and met Ed’s eyes.

“Ready?” she asked. He nodded.

Gabrielle looked at Aphrodite. You can keep her under?

“Oh, I’m pretty sure she’s otherwise occupied.” Aphrodite replied cryptically. Gabrielle nodded at Ed and he turned on the suction machine.

“Let’s do this.”

Gabrielle steadied her breathing and lowered scalpel to skin. The meticulously rendered tattoo of a large feather colored in a gentle gradation of rainbow hue that fractured into silhouettes of birds taking flight barely registered in the bard’s consciousness as she cut. Her focus was beyond the surface of the engineer’s skin.

The blood that instantly began escaping the incision was bright red, indicating the possibility that the source of the bleeding was arterial. Ed followed behind the scalpel with the suction wand, clearing out the fluid as fast as he could. Once she finished making the incision, she pulled back the skin to expose the cavity so Ed could thoroughly suction out the remaining blood. While Ed cleared out the area, Gabrielle was studying the cavity for the source of the bleeding. Her search was rewarded by the oozing of blood from a separation in the liver caused by the bullet as it passed through Vox’s stomach.

“Okay Ed, I think I see the problem here. Looks like the bullet transected the liver and nicked the hepatic artery. Hold the wound open and let me get in there.”

Ed took over holding open the incision from Gabrielle, and Gabrielle grabbed a hemostat and attached the needle end of self-dissolving suture material. She then reached in and gingerly moved Vox’s liver around until she could visualize the bullet’s path. She followed the path until she reached the source of the bleeding.

“Ed, I need suction.”

“Um…” His response caused her to look up from her loupes. She had forgotten he was using both hands to hold upon the incision. Looking over to Aphrodite, she made some rapid mental calculations, then said,

“Goddess, glove up. You’re going in.” Aphrodite’s eye widened, but she calmly reached over to the medic bag, deliberately selected a package of surgical gloves, donned the gloves, grabbed the suction wand, and peered into the cavity.

“Where do you want me?” She asked with feigned innocence. Gabrielle mentally rolled her eyes at the goddess’ perpetual lack of seriousness, but maintained her composure.

“Down here, by my thumb,” Gabrielle moved her thumb and Aphrodite proficiently suctioned the fluids out of the way, then continued to keep the area clear without getting into Gabrielle’s way. Gabrielle quickly identified the nick in the artery wall and moved to suture it closed. Ed observed as Aphrodite continued providing spot suctioning around the area as Gabrielle worked, the two of them working in concert, adept and familiar with the rhythm of each other’s movement as if they had been performing this exact dance together for years. He marveled at the dance, distracted to the point he scarcely noticed the fatigue in his arms from holding open the incision.

“Okay, I think I’m good here.” Gabrielle’s matter-of-fact observation snapped Ed from his reverie. Aphrodite finished her duties with some spot clean up then sat back on her knees, admiring her work.

“I’ve never been much into housekeeping, but that’s not a bad job, if I do say so myself.” This prompted another mental eye roll from the bard. She nodded at Aphrodite.

“Don’t take your gloves off just yet. I need you to take over for Ed before his arms fall off. I still need to irrigate Vox’s abdomen with an antibiotic solution so she doesn’t die from infection and waste all my hard work.”

“Sure thing, hon.” That she was being ordered around by a mortal, albeit an extraordinary one, was not lost on the goddess, but instead of being annoyed she found herself bemused. Nicolai, who had been quietly observing from his position above the surgery as light bearer, also noticed and chuckled quietly to himself.

While Ed massaged the circulation back into his arms, Gabrielle shed her gloves, prepared a bag of fluids with antibiotics, then slowly emptied it into the cavity. Donning another pair of surgical gloves she carefully moved around various organs and tissue in Vox’s abdomen to ensure the solution covered as much surface area as possible and to check for any additional injury. Seeing nothing, she suctioned the fluids out of Vox’s body.

After closing and dressing the stomach wound she pulled the blankets up to cover the engineer’s chest. Checking Vox’s vital sign readings on the monitor one more time, she moved to the next area of injury, the shoulder.

“This is a little more straightforward at least,” she said to no one in particular after a cursory exam of the wound. “Ed, let Isra and Kismet know we can head up to cruising altitude. Have them contact Jorge; I want a Transportation team on the tarmac when we land. We need a stretcher and equipped van to get us back to the marina and then onto the boat,” she ordered. “Any word from Greece? Are we being followed?”

Ed quickly moved to the cockpit to get an update and returned to, what had become for all intents and purposes, an operating room. “No one is following us and the Greek government isn’t lodging any formal charges. For the time being we seem to have made a clean break. We’re clear to get back to the ship. Isra said she’d update us before landing to make sure it’s still safe.”

“She’s not going to a hospital?” Aphrodite asked, surprised.

“She will be safer on the yacht,” Nicolai said.

“We’ve got adequate facilities onboard to take care of this,” Gabrielle said confidently. “In a week she’ll be good as new.”

After a brief moment of stretching her neck from side to side, the bard donned a fresh pair of surgical gloves, showed Nicolai where to point the light, and began to remove the bullet lodged in the young woman’s shoulder. The bright orange koi tattoo had been spared.

They must have reached cruising altitude because when her own ears popped, Vox woke up with a start, and let out a started howl of pain. She looked at Gabrielle clearly confused, with an almost panicked expression on her face.

“Can I take a moment?” Aphrodite asked.

Gabrielle checked the wound. The bleeding was minimal, all things considered, so she backed away a bit to give the goddess the space to move into the woman’s line of sight.

“Ed, get up and stretch your legs,” Gabrielle suggested in a tone that brokered no argument. “Nicolai is taking over for this one.”

Gratefully the bald man nodded and carefully stepped around the prone woman to the back of the plane.

“How you doing, tiger?” she asked warmly, a comforting lull to her voice.

“I was just…but how did I...?” Vox stammered, wincing in pain.

“I can send you back there, to relive it all over again. Or you can stay awake with us. It’s up to you sweetie.” There was no judgment in the goddess’ voice, only caring and understanding.

Vox smiled, almost bashfully, “Send me back, please.” After a brief touch to the woman’s forehead, she was out again; her heart rate and vital signs stable and strong.

Gabrielle resumed her work and in short order had removed a bullet from Vox’s shoulder. After cleaning, stitching, and dressing the wound she then moved onto the graze wound on the side of her head, closing it with a few stitches.

Finally, she took the surgical gloves off collapsing backwards as the stress and fatigue finally started catching up with her.

“Excellent work everyone,” she said with another glance at the LifePak. “Vox should be fine. You all performed magnificently.”

Everyone nodded gratefully.

“I’ll let the twins know she’s stable,” Ed said before stepping into the cockpit.

“Looks like all that med school really came in handy,” Aphrodite said, relief evident in her voice.

Gabrielle smiled. She was pleased at how soundly the young woman was sleeping, but still curious. “What, exactly, did you do to her?” she asked.

“I…um…” Aphrodite was not one to blush, but something told Gabrielle that if she were able, she would be bright red right now.

“What?” Gabrielle asked, sitting up on her elbow.

Aphrodite shrugged, “I gave her a first-time story.”

“A what, now?” Gabrielle asked, completely confused.

“Memories,” the goddess said, exasperated. “I couldn’t think of a scenario to distract her with, so I gave her one of my own memories.”

Gabrielle’s eyes narrowed. “First time memories? As in sex memories?”

“Yes.” The goddess nodded, matter-of-fact. “I didn’t have a lot of time to come up with something.”

“With anyone I know?” Gabrielle asked, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. Aphrodite shrugged and smiled.

“So, my employee is going to remember having sex with me, as you?”

“That’s about the gist of it.” The goddess agreed.

The bard was going to say something else, but was distracted by a low, growling laugh that sounded like Jabba the Hutt. Gabrielle turned to Nicolai. He caught her gaze and laughed harder.

“Lesbians have such interesting troubles,” he said. “Vox is alive. So what if she’s seen you naked?” He continued chuckling, clearly very pleased with himself.

“Well, there’s a bit more to it than that,” Gabrielle stammered, her indignation quickly losing steam.

“Not if he was speaking metaphorically,” Aphrodite added helpfully.

            The flight to Los Angeles felt like it took days, not hours. Ed and Nicolai took turns napping in one of the recliners. At one point, Nicolai got up and rummaged through the kitchen and returned with a plate of cheeses, some hard salami, fruit, and a glass of water. He sat the plate down in front of Gabrielle who was sitting on the floor, her back resting against the couch, frequently checking on the injured engineer who was hovering somewhere between consciousness and slumber.

            “Eat,” he said simply.

            Gabrielle nodded absently and he spoke more forcefully.

            “Eat. Your day is a long way from over. When we get back to the ship you will take care of Vox, then you will take care of Shen. Right now, I’m taking care of you, so eat.”

            “Thank you, Nicolai,” Gabrielle said, putting a few grapes into her mouth.

            He glanced uncertainly over at Aphrodite. “I do not know if gods eat,” he asked quietly with a careful glance towards the sleeping flight attendant. “If they do, you eat too.” His eyes darted from Aphrodite to his employer making his meaning quite clear. While he might be taking care of Gabrielle in the moment, it would be up to Aphrodite to do so when she would be completely spent from taking care of everyone else.”

            “I’ll eat,” Aphrodite said, “if you let Gabrielle make sure you’re okay.” He tried to look indignant but she persisted. “You’re the one who said I’m a god, hon. I know you got shot four times in your vest.”

            Gabrielle was instantly on her feet and looked up at the big man, a very stern expression on her face. “Take your jacket and shirt off now,” she said. The commotion roused Ed who immediately produced a double extra-large hooded sweatshirt from a cupboard and had it ready for the large hulking man.

            With a grumble he took of his bespoke jacket, then his dress shirt which had four bullet holes in the front. He then removed his Kevlar vest and already had four deep bruises appearing. Gabrielle touched his skin gingerly after putting on a stethoscope to listen to his heart and breathing. She prodded at him briefly, producing a series of annoyed grunts, and then took a step back so she didn’t have to crane her neck as much to make eye contact. “Two broken ribs; your lungs lucked out. The other two are just bruises.”

            “When did you become a doctor?” he asked as he donned the sweatshirt, noting that the flight attendant had disappeared once again into the cockpit for an update.

            “Let’s just say that the first time I went to med school, I had to pretend to be a man and leeches were an actual thing we used.” She replied with a smile. “If I had a couple of leeches, I could take care of those bruises, no problem.”

            “I’ll keep the bruises,” he replied.

            “As long as I’m checking everyone,” she said turning her attention to Aphrodite, “are you okay?”

            “Not so much as a scratch,” she said. “Bullets just kind of avoided me. I saw that you got hit a couple of times…”

            Gabrielle shook her head dismissively with a subtle glance at Ed who had returned from the cockpit with an update from the pilot and co-pilot. “I lucked out too,” she said, giving Argo a belly rub, “not a scratch.”

            When they landed at LAX, as she had requested, a team was waiting. A man and woman with a stretcher carefully picked Vox up and carried her out of the plane. The rest of them deplaned and Gabrielle talked to Ed a moment more before joining Aphrodite and Nicolai at the van. Argo was already inside, sitting next to Vox protectively. They road back to the marina in silence and the team unloaded Vox, who remained unconscious.

            “How are Ed?” Gabrielle asked as soon as they were out of earshot. “The Twins?”

            Aphrodite smiled reassuringly, “I promise, he doesn’t think anything is amiss. This isn’t the first mission he’s been on where people used code words for things. The parts that he wouldn’t be able to explain away in his own mind he won’t remember – a lot can get scrambled in that kind of adrenalin filled moment. The twins have no idea.”

            “Is she going to keep those memories?” Gabrielle asked as the taxi boat neared The Hippolyta.

            “I can take them away if you want me to,” Aphrodite said.

            “No,” Gabrielle replied. “I mean if she wants you to take them away fine. Don’t do it for me.”

            Aphrodite put her arm around the bard and gave an affectionate squeeze. “You think she’s earned them, do you?”

            Gabrielle shrugged. “I guess.”

            It wasn’t long thereafter that Gabrielle had the opportunity to find out for herself. Vox Wandre woke to find her boss sitting in a chair next to her bed, watching the monitors carefully.

            “This is awkward,” she said wincing trying to force a grin.

            “That is a true statement,” Gabrielle replied with a smile. “You know, I don’t think you can sue me for sexual harassment when it only happens in your mind.”

            While it was the last thing in the world she expected, Vox blushed. “I would never sue you for that, Gabrielle,” she said.

            Gabrielle sighed and glanced over at Argo, who had hopped onto the injured woman’s bed and was resting her large muscled head on the engineer’s legs. She made it quite clear that she intended to spend the night there. “Vox, is this going to be a thing? Because it can’t really be a thing.”

            “No,” the engineer replied, with just a hint of sadness in her voice. “I know the memory isn’t mine and I expect that Aphrodite will be here any minute to take it away.”

            “It’s up to you,” Gabrielle said. “I told her I was fine if you kept it, as long as you’re okay with that and it…” she shrugged. “It could make things worse, it could makes things less worse. Sometimes the fantasy of a person is more amazing than the person…”

            “No,” Vox interrupted, “this was pretty amazing.”

            “You’re not helping,” Gabrielle muttered with a frown.

            “It’s not going to be weird,” Vox assured her. “Obviously if it gets weird, you fire me. I respect and appreciate that it is a memory you’d trust me to keep.”

            “Yeah, well…” Gabrielle said, checking the woman’s pulse one more time. “I’m sorry I made such a mess of the feather tattoo, I didn’t have a lot of options.”

“Now that I might sue you for,” Vox said eliciting a laugh from the bard.

“How ‘bout I spring for your touch up work when you’re healed up. Any tattoo artist you want, anywhere in the world. You can make a vacation out of it.” Vox gave her a thumbs up but was clearly in pain. Gabrielle knew she needed sleep. “You take it easy for the next few days,” she continued getting up to take her leave. “Everyone is going to keep an eye on you. She paused before leaving, allowing herself to act without overthinking she leaned over and kissed the woman’s forehead tenderly. “You did well today Vox,” she said softly. “I’m not going to forget it.”

            As she left the medical room, both Michelle and Elaine were waiting for her. Without speaking she nodded and followed them to the bridge. “Where is Shen?” Gabrielle questioned, her heart heavy with sadness and exhaustion.

            “We need to talk to you about that before you see him.” Michelle said.

            “I’m listening.”

            “When Jorge contacted me, I assembled the crew and we made a decision while Shen was en route. We want him to live here with you, with us, when he isn’t at school.”

            Gabrielle nodded, so far this conversation was tracking with her own thoughts. “But he isn’t going in the guest room,” Michelle explained. “The crew voted and we think he would be safer, and more comfortable, on the lower deck with us,” she said. “The captain and executive officer are never off duty together so we decided to share the captain’s quarters. That frees up the XO’s cabin for Shen. It will be more comfortable for him, like living in a dorm at school. We are in close proximity to keep an eye on him, and he’s always got someone to talk to.”

            “So Elaine is bunking with you?” Gabrielle asked Michelle.

            “There is a couch in the captain’s quarters if we both need to sleep there at the same time,” the captain replied. “There is enough room. We think it’s what’s best for Shen.”

            Gabrielle shrugged. It may have been the exhaustion, she was tired even before leaving for Greece, or it may have been the stress, or sadness, or any number of things, but she saw no flaw in their plan. “No one has told him have they?” she asked, wishing deep down someone else had.

            Michelle shook her head, “We thought it best…”

            Gabrielle nodded. “I know,” she said.

            “He knows something is up, he was scooped up from school by an elite military team, the kid isn’t stupid. He’s in his quarters now. He’s had dinner, we told him to try and get some sleep,” Elaine offered.

            Gabrielle told the women to set up a rotation so someone could be with Vox at all times and to notify her if anything seemed amiss. She also gave instructions to depart for Cabo San Lucas immediately. She left the bridge and descended to the lower deck and the crew cabins and knocked on the door to the cabin formerly known as ‘executive officer’s’.

            “Come in,” an uncertain voice said.

            “Hey kiddo,” Gabrielle said, her voice warm, but unable to force a smile.

            Shen jumped out of bed and ran the couple of steps to the door to hug the bard. In moments he was crying, already assuming the worst.

            “Grandma has been in an accident, hasn’t she?” he asked.

            Gabrielle held onto the boy tightly as sobs shook his thin frame. “Yes, honey,” she said soothingly, “she was hurt and she died.”

            “And I’m in danger?” he asked, pulling away a little so he could look at her.

            Gabrielle moved the two of them to his bed so they could both sit down and she could look directly at him. “We don’t have all the answers yet, Shen,” she explained. “I am going to try to get those answers. I don’t know if you are in danger, but I promised your grandmother that I would never take chances with your safety. That’s why you’re here right now. I hope you will be able to go back to school soon, but until I’m sure it’s safe, are you okay staying here?”

            He nodded and looked around the cabin. “Do you see what they did for me?” he asked.

            Gabrielle looked around the cabin and was surprised she hadn’t noticed the difference when she’d first stepped inside. On one wall was a poster of Gillian Anderson posing with The Creature From The Black Lagoon that she knew had belonged to Michelle. By the small television set was an Xbox that she knew was Bohemian’s. There was a small statue of the Buddha that belonged to Hatsuo. There were a couple of die cast metal action figures that belonged to Wolfgang. Everyone in the crew had put something in this space to transform it from an officer’s cabin to the bedroom of a ten year old boy. A very much loved ten year old boy.

            “They said Vox had been hurt,” he said cautiously.

            “She was hurt very badly, but she is going to be okay,” Gabrielle reassured him. “You know what the responsibility is for someone in sick bay, right?” she asked the boy.

            Shen nodded. “They get to pick the music that gets played throughout the ship.”

            “Do you know why I have that rule?” Gabrielle asked. The boy shook his head. “Why do you think?”

            He considered a moment. “It gives them something to do with the time they’re in bed,” he suggested. Gabrielle nodded. “And so the rest of the crew doesn’t forget about them as they do their regular jobs.”

            “I think Vox would be really happy for you to help her pick songs, and if you want to pick songs that your grandmother liked…or didn’t like…you’re absolutely allowed to do that.”

            He nodded, not quite able to smile. “What about school,” he asked.

            Gabrielle thought for a moment. “I’m going to talk to Hatsuo about that. For now, you can take some time off if you want, it’s okay to take time and be sad. But I think you will do your studies here, with our help, until we know it’s safe to go back. I promise we won’t let you get behind.” He nodded, the exhaustion and sleepiness evident on his own face at three am as it was on Gabrielle’s. “There is one more thing I need to tell you,” she said as she helped him get back into bed and tucked him in. “We are going to Cabo San Lucas right now. It will take us about three days to get there. When we are there I have an important thing I need to do.”

“Is this to get your friend?” he asked sleepily. “Aphrodite told me she was going to help you find one of your friends. I really like her.”

Gabrielle smiled. “That is exactly what I’m going to try and do. If I find her she will join us here on the boat. When she is here, she is probably going to need a lot of help from all of us to adjust. I’m not sure where she’s been and what she will be used to. I’m saying this because I don’t want you to think that I won’t have time for you or that I’ve forgotten you. Sometimes people have a hard time balancing things that are important to them. You are always able to get ahold of me,” she pointed to the button on the panel of his cabin’s intercom unit. “You also know that the crew can always reach me and they know how important you are to me. Don’t ever feel like you’re bothering me Shen, because you’re not. Okay? I love you, and I really want you to remember that.” He nodded, clearly losing the battle with slumber in spite of his grief. Gabrielle kissed him on the forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Moose.”

            “I love you too Squirrel,” he said.

            Gabrielle returned to her quarters and it took only a moment to know something was very, very wrong. For one, Aphrodite wasn’t there. They hadn’t spoken much upon returning to the ship because she’d followed Vox to the medical bay. She opened the door to her closet and immediately saw that the goddess’ clothes were missing. She opened the drawers she’d cleaned out for her and instead of the t-shirts, blouses or sweatshirts she expected to see, there was a pair of sai, a hammer and a chakram in the drawer.

            Gabrielle paced around her room uncertain of what she wanted to do. Their agreement had made sense. Of course, their relationship would change now that the agreed upon milestone had been met. She had the hammer. She sat down on what she now thought of as ‘Aphrodite’s side of the bed’ and tried to collect her thoughts. The weight of the day’s events descended upon her like a tomb. The adrenalin leftover from being shot at and then doing emergency surgery on a plane, coupled with the loss of her most trusted advisor and the new responsibility of raising a child all in one day was nearly too much to bear. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something on the floor, nearly under the bed. She reached down to pick it up. It was the four-page sex scene she’d jotted down for her lover her second night on the boat. This final loss was one too many.

            “Come in,” Aphrodite said at the soft knock at the door. She wasn’t surprised to see Gabrielle enter the guest suite. She was, however, surprised to see the absolute look of devastation on her face.

            “You forgot this,” the bard said, putting the journal pages on the dresser. She didn’t say anything else for long moments, and then turned to go.

            “Gabrielle,” Aphrodite said gently, “What did you come here to say?”

            The bard turned back, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “I came here to say that it’s too much; too much loss for one night. Susan’s death, Vox getting shot, Shen’s world turned upside down. I’m a mess and I…” she sighed. “I just want to cry, and have you hold me until everything stops hurting and that isn’t very fair to you.”

            Without hesitation Aphrodite walked over to Gabrielle and put her arms around the bard. As soon as she did the last pretense of holding her shit together melted away and the Gabrielle cried like she hadn’t cried in centuries. She sobbed openly, without reservation, and let years of pain kept in check by her self-imposed reserve wash over the woman holding her. In part because she knew that Aphrodite could withstand this storm, and in part because she didn’t have anything left to stop it.

            For a long time Aphrodite didn’t say anything. She simply held onto Gabrielle and let her cry. Finally, she murmured into the top of the bard’s head “You’re welcome to stand here and cry all night, but it’s going be harder for you to cry yourself to sleep standing up.”

            “I shouldn’t stay,” Gabrielle said flatly.

            Aphrodite moved so she could look Gabrielle in the eye. “This one is on me, sweetie,” she said tenderly. “I’m not letting you leave.”

Part 3

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