Dreams

by paymaster

Disclaimer: The characters of Xena, Gabrielle and Argo are the sole property of Universal Studios.
No copyright infringement is intended.

Disclaimer #2: This is an alternative fan fiction story of love between two consenting women. It
contains graphic sexual scenes. If you are offended by stories of this nature...leave now!

The bard jumped from her bedroll and quickly made her way around the fire to where Xena lay sleeping. The warrior's body lay quivering. "Xena...Xena wake up. Xena...PLEASE wake up!", she pleaded. Suddenly, the warrior's eyes popped open and with the dim light of the fire, she could see the bard kneeling beside her. "Xena, you were having one of those dreams again. You screamed out my name. This is the third time this week."

The warrior princess was grateful that the fire was almost out because she could feel her face flush and didn't want Gabrielle to notice. "I'm okay Gabrielle. It was just a dream. Go back to sleep.", she said between catching breaths.

"Do you want me to move my bedroll next to you in case you have the dream again?", the bard asked.

Xena wanted to say, "Yes, oh Gods, yes.", but instead came out with, "Thanks...but I'm fine Gabrielle. There's no need to worry.".

The bard returned to her bedroll and climbed under the blanket. She was disappointed that Xena had not taken her up on her offer to sleep next to her. She was also worried because the warrior's
dreams were becoming much more frequent. The bard wondered what battle from their past the
mighty warrior kept reliving. But, it seemed to her that there was something different in the way the
warrior cried out her name in her sleep. It didn't sound as though Xena were trying to warn her of
imminent danger. Gabrielle drifted to sleep as she pondered the difference in Xena's tone of voice.

Xena watched the love of her life return to her own bedroll across the fire. She had so wanted to
have Gabrielle lay next to her, especially after just having the dream again. Her arms ached to hold
her bard, to caress her soft blond hair, to feel Gabrielle's skin against her own. But, the last two and a half years had been the best of the warrior's life and she couldn't take the chance of blowing the friendship to Tartarus. She would have to settle for loving her bard from afar. It was becoming
increasingly difficult for her to control her feelings, particularly while she slept. She could keep her
guard up during the waking hours but her subconscious was getting the better of her at night.
Gabrielle had asked her many times to tell her about the dream, but how could she possibly make the bard understand. Each time, she had simply shrugged it off and told Gabrielle that it was just a dream and to go back to sleep. She couldn't keep this up. She had to find a way to contol her sleeping thoughts or risk being exposed to the bard. Xena finally eased back into slumber just before first light.

The sun was well on its' journey through the morning sky before Xena began to stir. She slowly
raised herself up on one elbow and looked around for her love. Gabrielle was nowhere to be found
but the pot was over the fire and Xena could smell the aroma of the rabbit stew that had been
leftover from last night. She lifted herself from her bedroll and began calling for the bard. "Gabrielle?
Gabrielle...where are you?"

Just then, she heard a rustling in the trees at the edge of the clearing. The young bard appeared, looking rather weary.

"Are you okay? Where have you been and why did you let me sleep so late?", asked the warrior.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was down by the lake...just thinking. And, I let you sleep because you needed it. After your dream, you were so restless that you probably didn't get two winks of sleep.", she answered.

"And how would you know that unless you were awake too?", Xena asked. "Well...", was all the bard was able to manage.

"Xena, we've got to find out what is causing you to have these bad dreams." Xena could hear the
concern in Gabrielle's voice but she couldn't bring herself to tell her bard that the dreams were not
bad. Instead, she decided to try and get Gabrielle's mind off of the subject by suggesting that they eat breakfast and get on the road, as the day was already half gone. They ate their breakfast then
Gabrielle took the bowls down to the lake to wash them as Xena began to pack up camp. When the bard returned from the lake, the warrior was ready to go.

"Gabrielle, after sleeping so late, we have several hours to make up if we are going to make it to the village by nightfall. I think we should both ride today. Argo won't mind." Gabrielle decided that Xena was probably right and she wanted to make it to the village because she had heard of an oracle that lived there. She wanted to talk to the oracle and try to get some insight as to how to help Xena with the bad dreams. So the bard agreed and allowed the warrior princess to pull her up onto Argo's back. Gabrielle wrapped her arms around Xena's muscular waist and laid her head on the warrior's shoulder as Argo took off.

The trip to the village was a quiet one. Xena and Gabrielle barely said two words to one another on
the road. Gabrielle's thoughts were consumed with how she could help the warrior princess that she
had come to love so dearly. She couldn't stand to see Xena in what she intrepreted as torment night
after night. She resolved to somehow ditch Xena long enough to visit the oracle when they got to the village. Xena was lost in thoughts of her own...mostly of the beautiful bard that had her arms
wrapped around her waist. Her desire for this woman burned from deep within her. There were
times when she just wanted to explode and tell the bard the truth about how she felt. But she was so afraid of losing the best thing that had ever happened to her. She started to snicker at that thought. Imagine, Xena the Warrior Princess, mighty, ruthless, fearless and yet she melted like butter when she looked into the bards' emerald eyes and shook in her boots at the thought of ever losing her.

It was about an hour before nightfall when they arrived at the village. Gabrielle told Xena that she
should drop her off at the market as it would be closing soon. She told Xena to go ahead to the inn
and get them a room and that she would meet the warrior there when she was done buying things for their supper. Xena did not protest. She hated shopping. When they arrived at the market, Xena
gently lowered the bard to the ground then headed towards the inn. Gabrielle waited for her warrior
to round the bend in the road then she hurriedly gathered the things they would need for a meal and
paid the shopkeeper his three dinars. "I've heard there is an oracle that lives in this village. Can you
tell me where?", she asked the old man. The old man pointed to a small hut across the road. What a
wonderful stroke of luck she thought, as she thanked the old man and the gods for her good fortune.

The bard hurried across the road toward the ragged old hut. She paused at the door and gave a
gentle tap. "Come in my dear. I've been waiting for you.", said the voice from inside.

She slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside the dimly lit hut. She could see a table with two chairs in the middle of the room. On the far side of the table sat an old woman with wild gray hair. She beckoned for Gabrielle to have a seat at the table opposite from where she sat. Gabrielle layed the bag she was carrying on the floor near the chair and obediently took a seat. "How did you know that I was coming?", asked the bard.

"That doesn't matter. What is important is the reason that you have come.", the old woman answered.

"I'm here because I want to help my friend. She is haunted, almost nightly, with bad dreams. I have asked her to tell me about them, thinking maybe it would help to rid her of the thoughts if she spoke about it, but she refuses to explain. She has become sullen and distant and I fear that there is nothing I can do to get her back."

"Do you love her?", the old woman asked.

"Yes, with all of my heart and soul. I have loved her since the day I first layed eyes on her. And with every passing day, I love her more. She is my reason for living.", the bard answered.

"And
why have you not told her this?", said the old woman. "Because I don't want to lose her. I can't bear the thought of living without her. Xena has had many lovers and I'm sure that she does not share my feelings."

"Two tormented souls.", the old woman said.

"What? I don't understand.", said the bard.

"Nevermind. Soon you will know the truth and the answers you seek shall be revealed to you. Your
warrior princess is tormented but not by her dreams. There is something she wants...no, she needs,
but she is afraid....more afraid than she has ever been in her life. You, my dear, hold the key to
releasing her torment."

"But how can that be? What can I do to help her?", the bard pleading with the old woman for an answer.

"You must convince your warrior to come to me tonight. I can help her see the way but she will have to choose her own path. I fear if she does not release her thoughts soon, she will go mad. Time is of the essence. Tell her she must come tonight."

By the time Gabrielle left the oracle's hut, it had grown quite dark. She didn't realize how long she
had been there. The sunlight had long been gone and the moon was beginning it's trek across the sky. She knew that Xena would be worried about her so she began to pick up her pace. As she rounded the last bend in the road before the inn, there stood a tall, muscular figure silouetted by the moonlight. "Xena!"

"Gabrielle! Where in Tartarus have you been?", the warrior's voice full of irritation.

"Xena, i'm sorry but...".

The warrior cut her off in mid sentence. "I've been looking all over for you. When it started to get dark and you weren't at the inn yet, I went back to the market to look for you. Of course, it was closed up tight. So I headed back to the inn, thinking that maybe you slipped by me somehow. You weren't there either. I was just on my way back to the market area to search EVERY hut if that's what I needed to do to find you. Gabrielle, don't ever do that to me again!"

The bard could hear the aggitation and worry in her warrior's voice. "Xena, I won't...I promise. After I got the things that we needed at the market, I decided to visit an oracle to see if we could get some help with your dreams."

Xena winced at the thought. "I've told you not to worry about my dreams. Nothing is wrong. I'm fine. Just leave it alone Gabrielle."

"Xena, the old woman can help you. She fears that you are going to drive yourself mad if you don't find some kind of release. Please go to see her tonight. If not for yourself Xena, then do it for me...please!", Gabrielle pleaded.

Xena couldn't resist anything that Gabrielle asked of her. Although she didn't relish the thought of airing her most private feelings to this woman, she reluctantly agreed to go...for Gabrielle. "Thank you Xena. I know we won't be sorry. I'll go back to the inn and prepare supper while you go talk to the old woman."

Xena was not looking forward to what was about to happen. As she lifted her hand to rap on the
door of the oracle's hut, a voice came from within, "Come in Xena. We have much to talk about."

She entered the hut and as the old woman had done with Gabrielle...she beckoned Xena to sit at the chair across the table from her. Xena lowered herself to the chair and the old woman began to
speak. "Unlike you and I, your lovely bard has no idea how to interpret the dreams that you have
been having. I have seen your DREAMS Xena." Xena shifted nervously in her chair. To think, this
woman seemed to know her most private thoughts already. "Xena, you must find the strength and
courage within you. All that you have ever wanted or needed has become yours with the exception of this young bard. I know that you are fearful...you are not alone in that fear. The gods will frown on me for what I am about to show you, but I will take my chances with them because the love that I feel here is so strong that it should not be kept apart any longer."

With that, the old woman reached under the table and pulled out a bowl and a flask. She put the empty bowl on the center of the table and shoved the flask toward the warrior. "Pour the water into the bowl Xena, then dip your finger into the water, stir and watch."

Xena picked up the flask and poured it's contents into the bowl. She gently dipped her finger into the bowl and gave it one quick swirl. Suddenly she saw an image begin to appear in the water. It was Gabrielle. She stared intently as she saw Gabrielle back in the room at the inn. She watched her preparing their supper then she watched as Gabrielle went to lie down on the soft bed. She realized, as she was watching the scene unfold, that she could hear the bard's thoughts. "Gods, I love her. Please let the old woman help Xena to find a way to release her torment." Then the bard drifted off to sleep. Xena could see her dreams. There was something very familiar about the dream she was seeing. It was HER dream. The dream that had left her spent and quivering for so many nights now. Gabrielle was having the same dream. She heard the bard scream, "By the Gods, Xena!" and then the image in the bowl was gone. Tears were streaming down the mighty warrior's face as she thanked the old woman and got up to leave.

Gabrielle awoke from her dream with a new realization. Could it be? The tone of her own voice and the tone in Xena's voice when they had both been dreaming...was it really the same? Where was Xena? She had been gone so long, it seemed like an eternity to the bard.

Xena ran all the way back to the inn. She couldn't wait to see her bard...to tell her everything. When she entered their room, Gabrielle threw herself into her warrior's arms. "Gabrielle, I love you.", Xena blurted out. "I've never felt this way about anyone. When you kept asking me about my dreams...I didn't think that you would understand. I didn't know how to explain it to you. The old woman...she somehow allowed me to see YOUR dream...the one you had tonight, in this room. Gabrielle, my darling, it was amazing. You had the same dream that I have been having all these nights. Do you understand now?"

"Yes! Xena, I love you too. I have ALWAYS loved you. I didn't know how you felt...I was always afraid...", the bard's words faded as the warrior covered her mouth with her own.
There seemed to be an urgency between them that both understood.

Gabrielle moaned with pleasure as her warrior parted her lips with her tongue. Their tongues began to explore wildly as the passion between them was making both of them weak in the knees. Xena scooped her bard into her arms and gently laid her down on the bed. "Gabrielle...I want you more than life itself but are you sure this is what you want? You have to tell me now or I won't be able to stop myself."

"Yes Xena...take me...please. I want you to...I need you to." Xena frantically started removing Gabrielle's clothes and the bard tore wildly at the warrior's leathers. When both women were totally naked, Xena lowered herself on top of the bard. She knew it would be Gabrielle's first time and she wanted to be very gentle with her. She could feel the bard's heart racing, her body stiffening and her hot breath on her neck. "Xena...I've never..."

"I know Gabrielle. I promise to be gentle my love. I want this to be very special for you." Xena began softly kissing the bard's neck, shoulders, ears. With each tiny movement, she heard a gracious moan emerge from the bard's throat. She began trailing her tongue down the valley between her bard's breasts.

"Don't stop Xena...please don't stop!" She paused to take the bard's already hard nipple into her mouth and moved her hand to the unattended breast. She could feel the bard arching her back and trying to become one with her. Xena knew that Gabrielle's love was well on it's way so she gently parted the bard's willing legs with her knee. She lifted her head from the bard's breast and began working her way down to the curly mound that anxiously awaited her. Gabrielle raised her arms above her head and grabbed onto the bedpost as her lover reached her swollen nub. Xena began probing the bard's opening with her tongue. She knew it wouldn't be long now. She could feel the volcano about to erupt in her lover. She withdrew her tongue and inserted one finger, then two into the bard's wetness. She began with a slow, rhythmic movement and brought her mouth back to the bard's hard nipples. Gabrielle's hips began to keep the rhythm as she uttered the warrior's name. "Xena...oh, yes Xena...faster, harder.", she said between the gasps for breath. Xena complied with the bard's wishes and moved her fingers faster and with more force. One last arch of the bard's hips and she screamed, "By the Gods, Xena!". Xena's fingers worked frantically to bring her lover to the highest apex of her orgasm before the bard's body went limp. The warrior raised herself from atop her bard to lay beside her and hold her spent lover.

When she looked at Gabrielle's face, she noticed tears streaming down the bard's cheeks. "Gabrielle, what's wrong? Did I hurt you?", the warrior asked with concern.

"Oh no my love. Nothing is wrong. I have never in my life felt that everything was THIS right. I'm just afraid that I won't be able to please you as much as you have pleased me."

"Gabrielle...do what you feel. Do what comes natural. Who should know better how to please me than you?", the warrior said with confidence and a heart full of love.

Gabrielle moved to her knees and straddled the warrior's hips. She lowered her head and brushed
her lips lightly against the warrior's neck. She planted soft kisses on every inch of the warrior's chest
before taking the dark, firm nipple gently into her mouth. Xena let out a muffled groan from deep in
the back of her throat. The bard instantly knew that she was getting this right. She sucked and lightly bit the nipple before moving downward on the warrior's naked body. "Lower Gabrielle...go lower", Xena moaned. Gabrielle obliged and moved her tongue to the wet place between Xena's legs. The bard was surprised by the sweet taste she found there. Gabrielle explored all of the warrior's mound with her tongue before stopping to suck on her swollen nub. "Yes, my love...that's it. You've found my most sensual spot." Gabrielle lingered there for another moment before forcing her tongue into the warrior's opening. Xena immediately began to arch her hips to get the full effect of what her precious bard was doing to her. She knew that she was getting very close and her lover could sense it too. Gabrielle slowly removed her tongue from Xena's opening and replaced it with one finger...then two. "One more Gabrielle...give me one more." The bard inserted a third finger and began to thrust in and out vehemently. With every downward thrust the bard made, Xena matched it with an upward arch. The two lovers were in perfect rhythm. Xena could hold her love no longer. She felt her body burst into flames as waves and waves rolled and crashed upon the beach. "By the Gods, Gabrielle", she screamed before she was totally exhausted.

The bard rolled over to lay beside her mighty warrior. They held each other tightly as the warrior's
quivers subsided and her breathing returned to normal. Gabrielle looked into her lover's blue eyes
and saw nothing but love and peace at that moment. "Xena, I never knew that it could be this good.
Not even in my dreams could I ever have imagined. I love you my princess."

"By the Gods, Gabrielle...I love you too!"

The end.

This is my first attempt at fan fiction and I would appreciate any and all suggestions on how I might
improve my next story.

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