Rosy-fingered dawn found our heroine dressed, combing her hair in front of her bedroom mirror, an expression of excitement on her face. She was young, maybe sixteen, and lovely. Her hair was red-gold and curled at the ends, her cheeks soft and round, her body slender yet curved in the appropriate places. She was the picture of youthful innocence; a peasant girl in a long brown skirt, a blue top with maybe a bit more cleavage showing than was totally appropriate. But behind the eyes, the clear blue green gray of them, there was mischief, and something else impossible to describe. She grabbed a leather bag, stuffing scrolls, a jar of ink and some quills into it, and raced out of the room.Though obviously excited, she was quiet as she walked through the hall. She paused outside the kitchen, unable to help listening.

"I still don't understand why I have to do all her chores today. It just isn't fair."

"Lila, I told you, it's your sister's birthday and I told her she could do anything she wanted with her day. You can't blame her for not including her chores in her plans, now can you?"

"But Mother....I know it's her birthday, though I certainly don't understand her urge to go sit in the woods by herself all day, but just because Gabrielle doesn't have to do her chores doesn't mean that I do."

"And who would you suggest in your stead?"

Lila was silent.

"Well then," said their mother, clearly happy with her easy victory.

Gabrielle entered the kitchen quickly, "Good morning Mother, Lila," she said gaily. They both kissed her and wished her a happy birthday. Her mother had packed food and drink for her, which she grabbed as she sped out the door, trailing thanks yous and see you laters as she fled. Once Gabrielle was at the edge of the woods she spun around in a circle a few times and hugged herself. "Happy Birthday, Gabrielle! Gods what a beautiful day to just be alone and think and write and write and write! Oh, if only...don't even start, Gabrielle, don't even start." She walked quietly through the woods, clearly familiar with her surroundings, kicking a stone along in front of her.

"Once, a very long time ago, the Titans ruled the earth," she declaimed as she walked towards the river, "but their reign was not to last forever..." she trailed off in a whisper as she noticed something on the edge of the water, partially hidden under a bush. Curiosity of course getting the better of her, Gabrielle approached cautiously. Just because the sky was cloudless and it was her birthday and nothing terrible had ever happened to her, didn't mean there weren't dangers out there. It was clearly a person, and they were not in good shape.

"Are you okay?" Gabrielle called out once she was a few feet from the figure. There was no response and Gabrielle continued to move forward and soon saw it was a woman, with wild dark hair and a shift that had been white before she'd started bleeding. And she'd bled a lot; she was covered in blood. Gabrielle could see very little of her for the blood and the hair, but she could tell the woman was tall and muscular. Gabrielle got down on her knees and shook her a little. She was warm, but she did not respond. Gabrielle put her face close to that of the fallen woman's and felt her breath on her cheek. She felt relieved, more relieved that she could have explained.

"Gods, will you just look at this," Gabrielle whispered to the air around her, "She's beautiful." She started washing the blood off the woman's face with her water and the edge of her skirt; her hair was hard with dried blood and Gabrielle pulled it away from her face. She found herself caressing the face as she cleaned it and somehow in that moment she knew she was not taking her to the village. She knew they wouldn't understand whatever it was she instinctively understood about this woman.

"Which is what, Gabrielle? What do you know about this woman?" She asked herself as she began slowly pulling her towards the nearby cave she and Lila used to camp out in back when they were children. The woman was big and strong, maybe dangerous. The woman was injured, maybe badly. The woman was in trouble, and alone, and she needed help. "And she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Soon Gabriellehad set up a little campsite in the cave. There was a fire in the fire pit they had dug all those years ago when they'd dreamed about having adventures. She'd found an old blanket and laid the woman out on it. Slowly and carefully she examined all her wounds and cleaned them. Some of them looked terrible, but they were soon clean and bandaged in bandages Gabrielle had made out of her own shift--she'd figure out what to tell her mother later. And she'd have to get thread, because it looked like some of the wounds would need stitches. She couldn't tell if any bones were broken. She sat near her where she lay on her back, unmoving, on the blanket, and talked to her.

"I hope I've done the right thing. I hope you don't need a healer. I just...I just don't feel like the healer in my village would know what to do with you...and I...I guess I thought you might be in trouble, that someone might be after you or something, and if I brought you here they wouldn't find you. Or maybe you're just the most incredible creature I've ever seen and I wanted to keep you for myself."

Gabrielle went to the lake to get more water, and came back to sit near the woman who still showed no signs of getting either worse or better. Gabrielle took out a scroll, quill, and ink. As she wrote her eyes constantly moved from her paper to the woman who lay so still nearby. She would will her awake somehow. She would make her live. She wrote a little tale about a frog with the power to heal, which she read out loud to the woman as she wrote it. She came to the end of her story.

"Who are you?" were the first words the woman spoke; she was incredulous.

Gabrielle was flustered. She was looking down into eyes so blue and so lovely that suddenly the quest for speech seemed almost futile.

"Gabrielle. Gabrielle of Poteidaia, daughter of Herodotus and Hecuba. I'm a bard."

"I assumed," said the woman.

"Who are you?" Gabrielle asked, suddenly realizing that the woman couldn't see.

"It's better that you don't know who I am. Where are we?"

"A cave just outside my village. Poteidaia. I found you by the river and brought you here."

"Why?"

"Because you were hurt. Because you needed help."

"I don't need anyone's help," she said angrily, "You've put yourself in danger by bringing me here. Did anyone see you with me?"

"No one," said Gabrielle, "You do need help. You're wounded badly and you can't see, can you?"

"I said I don't need help!" the woman yelled, "Leave me alone!" But the woman didn't move. She was blind. Gabrielle hoped temporarily. She moved a little farther away from her, but she could not leave. For a few moments all was quiet.

"I know you're still there," whispered the woman bitterly.

"I'm sorry. I want to help you."

"You're just a kid; you can't help me. No one can help me."

"In fact, it's my 16th birthday today and I have many skills. I know I can help you."

"Many skills, huh? Happy birthday. I don't want your help."

"How about some water or some food, I have that at least to give."

"No."

"Not even water?"

"No."

"Please tell me why you don't want help."

The woman continued to lie there and closed her eyes. She held her hands in shaking fists at her sides and a tear dripped out of the edge of her eye.

"Leave me alone," she whispered angrily, "Go!"

"I'm gonna put the food and the water here next to you and I'm gonna go sit outside the cave for a little while, okay?"

The woman didn't answer.

Gabrielle went and sat just outside the edge of the cave and wrote in her scroll. She thought about how people said you should be careful what you wish for because you might well get it. She smiled to herself and wondered if, somehow, this woman, so full of pain and confusion, was one of her wishes come true. She'd made so many wishes over the years, she wasn't sure which
one this woman answered, but she would find out. She could not deny that this woman's pain and her beauty had infected her heart. She knew this should have scared her, she knew the woman herself should have scared her, but it seemed as if, suddenly, nothing scared her anymore. She gave the woman an hour; it was all she could bear.

"I'm back," Gabrielle said quietly as she entered the cave. The woman was sitting up, leaning against the rock wall, facing the entrance. She was a sight, still in her bloody shift, long hair tangled hard with dried blood. Gabrielle went over to sit next to her against the wall and took a drink from the water skin, then casually touched it to the woman's fingers. She took it and drank from it and handed it back to Gabrielle. Gabrielle grinned, glad the woman couldn't see her.

"How bad do you think your injuries are?" Gabrielle asked.

"If I could see, and I got a good rest, I could be on my way by morning. But again, that's if I could see. You dressed my wounds, didn't you? I have no choice but to thank you."

"I had no choice but to do it."

The woman almost smiled. Gabrielle almost clapped.

"What happened to your sight, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I must've gotten hit on the head in the wrong way," said the woman.

"It's probably temporary."

"I hope so."

"Why do you care, Gabrielle?"

"I just do. Please tell me your name."

"Will you then know why you care?" said the woman, "I think quite the opposite."

Gabrielle turned her head to look at the woman and suddenly it clicked. She took a breath and declaimed, "She was a mighty warrior, forged in the heat of battle. She stood near six feet tall, hair black as night, eyes blue as an icy lake. She had the strength of ten men, she did, and facility with any weapon and all known fighting styles. Merely the look in her eye could bring a great warrior to his knees, and t'was said that as a lover she was beyond compare. Tales tell that no man has ever crossed swords with Xena, Warrior Princess, and left the field alive."

"If only that were the end of the story," said the woman.

Gabrielle was stunned. Xena of Corinth in her childhood hide-out! Gods she had been right not to bring her to the village.

"What is the end of the story?"

"I might know that now, if not for you...I went to my army in disguise, unarmed, and hoping I could goad them into beating me to death. They left me for dead, near Poteidaia. I guess my body had plans of it's own; it dragged me here. Then there was you."

Gabrielle found herself with tears in her eyes. "Why?"

"I couldn't do it anymore," Xena said with resignation, "I can't explain, Gabrielle, it was like I was burning to death inside my own skin...poisoning myself. I was speeding along the path that I had turned down years before, the path that there is no going back from. I was beyond cruel, beyond treacherous," Xena's voice cracked, "I had become no one I wanted to know anymore. There was nothing inside of me that I recognized as who I was before I became a warrior. I can't explain. You can't imagine what it's like to kill thousands of people. That's only the first thing I've known that you can't imagine, that I would never wish on anybody. There were no other options; if I did not get out while I could I would be trapped forever; hurting myself was still acceptable to me, but I could no longer justify hurting others. So I went to my own men, knowing they would take pleasure in beating a defenseless peasant woman, and I let them beat me. It's only the least bit of what I deserve. My shame is unending. I deserve to die."

"I understand why you don't want me to help you," whispered Gabrielle. She found that she had inched closer to Xena as she had been talking; they sat next to each other, leaning against the wall, their shoulders almost touching. Gabrielle slowly reached her right hand out and rested it on the back of Xena's hand where it lay on her thigh. Xena turned instinctively to look at her, found she could not see her, and let her chin sink to her chest. Gabrielle felt Xena's hand shift under hers and gently close around it. She exhaled.

"Who are you, Gabrielle?" whispered Xena. She was shaking.

Gabrielle moved closer, so her whole arm was lightly touching Xena's, her mouth an inch from Xena's ear.
"I'm your wish come true," whispered Gabrielle.

"The one where I rule the known world?" Xena whispered.

"No," said Gabrielle, giggling, then sobering quickly, and whispering so softly into Xena's ear she could barely hear herself say, "The one where you're happy."

Xena started to cry silently. She let go of Gabrielle's hand and turned her back to her, pulling her knees up and hugging them to her chest, leaning into the wall. Gabrielle felt as if her own heart was being squeezed far too tightly. This woman was in more pain than she had ever seen anyone have to bear, and it was pain she inflicted on herself. She was so raw, so vulnerable; Gabrielle realized how much power it gave her and hoped that she would use it wisely. She pressed her body against Xena's back and rested her head against Xena's shoulder blade. She felt Xena shiver but did not dare put her arms around her. She could smell Xena's blood, and it reminded her of the strangeness of the situation. Somehow it all seemed to make sense; she was with Xena, taking care of her. But it reality this made little sense, as she had only found her bloodied body a few hours before, and here she was, debating whether or not to control her urge to wrap her arms around her. Very strange indeed.So they sat there while Xena cried. Gabrielle could feel warmth radiating out of Xena's body where it touched hers; the heat felt solid against her skin. Xena was solid, even if she didn't know it. After a while Xena's weeping calmed and her breathing came back near normal. Gabrielle couldn't move away.

"What do you want from me?" Xena whispered.

"For you to have some food, and some more water."

Gabrielle felt the tension leave Xena's body at her words. She handed Xena the water skin and she drank from it, and a hunk of fresh bread, which she pulled bits off of and ate slowly, still leaning against the wall with Gabrielle's body pressed against her back.

"What do you look like?"

Gabrielle blushed.

"You're blushing, aren't you?"

"Are you sure you're still blind?"

"Yes. Answer my question. Tell the truth."

Gabrielle smiled and pressed her cheek against Xena's back. "Well, I'm not as tall as you are. I have pale skin and light eyes that sometimes look gray or green or blue. I have long red-blonde hair, it's straight and not always well taken care of."

"And?"

"And...what do you want me to tell you?"

"The truth."

"I'm pretty? Is that what you want to hear? That I have curves in just the right places?" Xena nodded, the hint of a smile playing along the corner of her mouth. Though she couldn't see Xena's face, Gabrielle blushed more deeply, "I would say that I am not ungentle on the eyes."

"There you go. I have a picture now. Thank you. If I regain my sight I'll know which one is you."

"Guess that means you're gonna be among the living a while longer?"

"Well, as you're obviously going to force your care-taking on me, I guess I will be around for a little while yet."

"Good."

"Gabrielle, I'm going to try to sleep."

"Great idea. Promise me, if while you're sleeping, I go get some things from home, you won't go before I get back?"

"I'll be here."

Xena curled up on her side on the blanket. Gabrielle waited for her to get settled and then she lay down next to her. She knew she was insane but she had to and she couldn't ask; she just curled up around Xena's body, put her arm around her waist and pretended to fall asleep. Her embrace was accepted and it was not long before Xena slept. Gabrielle relaxed into the feeling of her arm around Xena's waist, her breasts against her back; it was almost like a fairy tale it seemed so meant to be, like a story she herself had written. She held her for a while, but though Gabrielle wanted nothing more than to lie there holding Xena forever, she knew there were things she needed to get for her. She would come back soon and she would find an excuse to touch her--there were stitches to be sewn, after all. She gently extricated herself and checked her outfit for blood. Not too bad. She made sure everything Xena might need was within her reach and that the fire was going strong, then exited the cave.

Gabrielle walked quickly through the woods towards the village talking to herself, "Mother, I need a needle and thread and some bandages...Why? I found a legendarily ruthless warlord lying blinded by the river in the forest and I'm nursing her back to health and falling in love with her. You can understand why I need the bandages." Gabrielle shook her head, "Gods, I heard
that too. Falling in love with her. Haven't even seen her without dried blood in her hair. Gods help me." But Gabrielle's smile told a different story. For a bard, lying was a trick of the trade. She gave her mother some story about being inspired to write the great epic poem of all time and needing to spend the night out there in her inspiration. Her mother was busy so she didn't notice as Gabrielle collected a strange assortment of items, some of which she threw out her window so as to lessen the chance of her mother seeing how much stuff she was taking into the woods with her. She was back at the cave in less than two hours and Xena was still asleep. Gabrielle took the time to make the cave a little more cozy, though Xena could not see it somehow she thought she would know that there were thick, cream colored candles lit throughout the cave. She brought more blankets, and a clean, brown shift for Xena to change into. She put a small pot of stew near the fire to keep it warm, and she curled back up around Xena, pulling clean blankets over them.

The sun had just set outside the cave when Xena awoke. Gabrielle was half asleep and sensed the movement.

"Gabrielle?" asked Xena tentatively.

"Yeah," whispered Gabrielle.

"Didn't your parents tell you anything about strangers?"

"Somehow I imagine you disregarded a great many of your parents warnings in your day."

"I think I dreamt of you just now. The red hair and all."

"What did I do?"

"I can't tell. Sorry."

"That's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair; soon you'll know."

"Oh, I already know."

"So aren't Herodotus and Hecuba expecting you?"

"You remembered. I went home to pick up some things and I told my mother I was sleeping in the forest because I was working on this great poem. How can I tell if you need stitches?"

"I've checked. There's a few spots."

"Would it be okay if I stitched them up and washed the blood out of your hair?"

"I didn't have anything else planned."

So Gabrielle washed Xena's hair in a big bucket she'd brought with her from home. It took a long time, but the proximity to Xena was wonderful. Xena's face was basically perfect, like the most beautiful statue. The fact that she kept it virtually expressionless added to the effect, but still, Gabrielle was entranced. As she rinsed Xena's hair her eyes paused to consider the sensuality of the line where her upper lip met her skin, the incongruity of the slight imperfection of the bridge of her nose, which only one particular angle of light revealed. She wrung out Xena's hair and began to comb it, doing her best to avoid the places on her scalp that had bled so recently.

"Here, let me comb it," Xena said, taking the comb from Gabrielle's hand.

"What is it? Did I hurt you"

" No...no. There was a time...a woman who...tried to help me. She saved my life and washed and combed my hair and not long after, I betrayed her. I betrayed her knowingly, loving her and hating myself all the while. The things I did, Gabrielle. The memories. It seems like just yesterday and it was."

Gabrielle raised Xena's hand to her mouth and kissed it. "I'm sorry. But don't worry, you won't betray me," she said, sterilizing
the needle in the flame of the campfire and examining the first wound closely, "Want some wine? For the pain, or whatever?"

"Thanks," said Xena, taking a sip from the proffered flask and wincing as Gabrielle pulled the needle through her flesh, "Why won't I betray you?"Xena finished combing her hair and squinted at the pain of the needle penetrating her skin.

"Because I won't let you," she said.

"Simple as that?"

"Pretty much."

Xena drank as Gabrielle sewed her back together.

"Some way to spend your birthday," Xena said, after a while.

"I've had worse," said Gabrielle.

Xena paused and then said, "Come to think of it, so have I. You seem to be practiced at this," gesturing to the wound Gabrielle was stitching.

"I am, I mean, but not, you know, on skin."

When Gabrielle finished with the last wound, they ate stew together, and drank more wine. Gabrielle was having trouble coming up with another excuse to touch her. She didn't want to bring up the subject of the next day, of the chores she was expected to do, of her fear that Xena would leave. Anything further than two hours into the future was too far to think.

"Let me make the bed. I brought more blankets. Here, I'll do it just next to you, you don't have to get up." Gabrielle lay a few thick blankets out on the floor of the cave, told Xena to move onto them, and covered her with a few blankets more. "Warm enough?"

"Almost," said Xena with the slightest smile.

Gabrielle got in between the blankets next to Xena and felt Xena open her arms wide to enfold her. She rested her head on Xena's shoulder as they slowly and gently wrapped their arms around each other. Xena was clean and her hair, now dry, smelled like the lavender soap Gabrielle had used to wash it. Gabrielle drank it in along with all the other sensations, most
particularly the way her stomach and breasts were pressed against Xena's side.

"Thank you," whispered Gabrielle.

"For what?" whispered Xena.

"For everything."

"What have I given you?" asked Xena.

"You accepted me," she whispered in a very small voice.

Xena pulled Gabrielle's face away from her shoulder as if to look at her but still she could not see. She turned so she was on her side facing Gabrielle, put her hands on either side of Gabrielle's face and pulled her into a kiss. The firm and gentle pressure of Xena's lips conveyed to Gabrielle what her eyes could not, and there was no longer any question in Gabrielle's mind about what she wanted.

"You are an extraordinary person, Gabrielle, and worthy of far, far more than acceptance. I have never met anyone anything like you. I wish I could see you."

"I hope you will be able to soon."

They lay there under the blankets, on their sides, arms and legs wrapped around each other.

"Xena, promise you'll be here in the morning?"

"I promise."

"Even if you regain your sight?"

"I said I promise. I don't want to go anywhere right now. I don't know what I'm going to do, I can't conceive of any other life than what I've known for so long."

"Are you tired?"

"Yeah. Let's rest a while. Promise you won't go anywhere? Promise you're not a dream, Gabrielle? Or at least not just a dream?"

"Not a dream," Gabrielle whispered, yawning. As she fell asleep she felt Xena's arms tighten their grip on her.


It was a few hours later when Gabrielle awoke slowly to the sound of almost silent weeping. She felt Xena's body shaking in her arms and her heart went out to her yet again.

"Who hurt you so badly?" she whispered, tightening her hold on Xena's body.

"At first," she whispered, "it was the people I loved. I saved them and they didn't see; they needed to place blame and there I was with a bloody sword in my hand. But then...then it was me. For a long time it was just me." She smiled in a ironic sort of way and it gave Gabrielle an idea of the kind of expressions Xena made when she could see. It was a charming smile; she could make self-hate seem charming. She could make anything seem charming. No wonder she had been such a powerful and feared warrior. Gabrielle held Xena's head to her breast, and the rest of her body even more tightly.

Gabrielle whispered, "All of that is over now, Xena. Everything is different. I feel it in you, I feel the hope. Tell me; prove me right."

Xena whispered back, "You're right. You give me hope."

They lay entwined, under the pile of blankets, and it was very warm. Gabrielle could feel the sweat dripping along her back. Her skirt had gotten stuck halfway up her thighs and she wanted to take off her clothes. And then she saw that if she took off her clothes, and Xena took of her clothes, they would be lying in each other's arms naked. And the image sent a jolt down her
spine through all her limbs that scorched her veins and finally settled between her legs. She shifted just slightly and felt her thigh, slick with sweat, slide along Xena's, pushing her skirt just a little bit higher.

"It's the middle of the night," she whispered, "the exact middle."

"How do you know?" asked Xena, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"I can feel it on my skin, it's dark blue and liquid. Like a dream remembered from childhood, a scent without a name. The middle of the night. I can tell."

"Hmmmm," muttered Xena.

Gabrielle shifted and pressed her entire body closer into Xena's, resting her face against Xena's neck, breathing her in. She pressed her lips into Xena's damp skin and the moment she did, everything changed. Xena moaned "Gabrielle," and that was all she needed to hear. Gabrielle's mouth slid along Xena's neck to her jaw, where small, wet kisses lead a path up to Xena's mouth. There, her kisses grew deeper and more passionate, born of youth and strength and desire. She felt Xena's lips open to her tongue and then the heat inside her mouth. She felt Xena's palm at the small of her back, under her top, pressing her even more closely against her.

"Gabrielle, I don't deserve this," Xena whispered into her mouth.

"Yes you do," Gabrielle whispered back.

"Why?"

"Because you think you don't."

The kiss continued forever, Gabrielle reveling in the smooth tingling produced by Xena's fingers as they drew symmetrical patterns on her back under her shirt. Without moving her lips from Xena's, Gabrielle slowly pushed her onto her back, pulling up her own skirt as she did so.

"Am I hurting you?" Gabrielle whispered into Xena's mouth as she settled above her, gently pressing a thigh between Xena's legs. Xena let loose a quiet sound, something between a sigh and a moan. Gabrielle's eyes closed with the pleasure of her damp, naked skin against Xena's under the blankets, of Xena's thigh between her own.

"Gods. Gods no. You're. So beautiful," gasped Xena, and the kiss continued, deepening in intensity.

Gabrielle's hands slowly unbuttoned Xena's shift and slid over Xena's breasts; she bent her neck to pull a nipple into her mouth. Xena gasped. "Wait," Xena whispered, as she lifted her torso slightly and pulled off her shift, "I need to feel you, Gabrielle."

Gabrielle slowly unwrapped her skirt from around her waist and pulled her top over her head, leaving her naked above the passionate dark haired woman. Xena pulled Gabrielle down tightly against her as they kissed, her hands traveled the younger woman's torso, causing Gabrielle to moan. The feeling of their bodies together naked was so intense, Gabrielle had to pull back. She could feel the knots of the coarse thread of Xena's stitches scratching against her skin, and she bent to kiss them. Xena's body arched up into Gabrielle's; the warrior groaned as again the young girl's mouth touched her breast.

"I have never felt anything like this, Gabrielle," whispered Xena, "It's almost scaring me."

"Don't think about that. No reason to be afraid," murmured Gabrielle, slightly increasing the speed of the pressure she was putting between Xena's legs.

"Oh, Gabrielle!" exclaimed Xena.

Gabrielle felt Xena's hands on her butt, pulling her harder against her. "Gods I love you Xena!" It just sprang from her throat and she hastened to apologize, "I'm sorry, I--"

"It's okay. I know." Xena reached up carefully and grabbed her jaw, pulling Gabrielle into another deep kiss, "I love you too, gods help us both."

Eventually they broke the kiss and Gabrielle rested her forehead on the blanket next to Xena's ear as she continued to move her hips in time with her lover's. The contact felt so blissful to Gabrielle that time seemed to slow down, as if there were nothing else in the world but them and the only sound was their ragged breathing. Eventually Gabrielle disengaged her self and slid down Xena's body until her mouth was pressing against her throbbing center.

"Gabrielle, I--unh!" moaned Xena as Gabrielle's tongue made contact.

Having never even imagined doing this before, Gabrielle was amazed at how naturally it seemed to come to her. By simply moving her tongue she had Xena's entire body under her control. She wrapped her arms around Xena's thighs, loving the feel of her muscles straining against her. "Gods, to have muscles like these," she thought. Gabrielle looked up along the planes of
Xena's body and watched her as she came, it was almost as if Xena were floating above herself, she seemed so free. The sound of her name from Xena's mouth at that moment was more beautiful to Gabrielle than anything she had ever heard.
As Xena tried to catch her breath she pulled Gabrielle up so she was lying on top of her.

"Gods, Gabrielle."

"Yes. Gods."

"How can I love you this much?" Xena whispered into Gabrielle's ear as she started moving her thigh in a slow rhythm between Gabrielle's.

"I told you," whispered Gabrielle, tangling her hands in Xena's hair, running her tongue slowly over Xena's neck, "wish come true."

"What was your wish?" asked Xena, her hands holding Gabrielle's butt tight, pressing her throbbing center against her thigh, guiding Gabrielle's body with her own.

"To feel like I do right now," whispered Gabrielle, covering Xena's mouth with her's.

"And how's that?"

"Loved."

Gabrielle's orgasm took her by surprise, the strength as well as the timing. She gasped out Xena's name as she felt the warrior shudder beneath her.

They lay there, hot and damp and painted with smears of blood, holding each other tightly.

"I think you're bleeding," whispered Gabrielle.

"I hope it's me. It doesn't hurt."

"You know you won't be able to get rid of me now," said Gabrielle into Xena's ear.

"I know," answered Xena, "But I wouldn't want to."

"Wow," said Gabrielle.

"Let's leave Greece. Get a ship and just go."

"Sounds wonderful."

They kissed for a while longer.

"How did you know I was in love with you?" Gabrielle asked.

"You couldn't keep your hands off me. Even when you weren't touching me, I could feel how much you wanted to. Like you needed to."

"It was love at first sight," said Gabrielle, "at least I have an excuse."

"You just better not have been lying about being pretty. That's all I have to say."

"Wait and see."

They lay there in silence, then Xena whispered; "You know this isn't easy."

"I know," Gabrielle whispered back, "Don't worry. I will always be with you."

"Always," said Xena.

Soon they fell asleep again.

Xena's sight slowly improved, and eventually they left the cave. They traveled south where they got themselves a boat and sailed away, never to set foot on Greece's shores again.

And Xena and Gabrielle lived happily ever after.

The End

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