Present Tense
By Lori Bush
Disclaimer: Joxer, Gabrielle, Xena and the personalities of the Olympians portrayed are the property of RenPics and Universal/USA Studios. Andy and Debbie are mine. If I intended to profit from this, I would write something besides Fan Fic.
Rating: PG – Some physical intimacy suggested, none of it actually portrayed.
Violence: None
Sex: Suggested only.
Time travel stories fascinate me. There are minefields all over them, more ways to make them not work properly than you can shake a stick at. Still, they were always my favorite Star Trek episodes, and I've enjoyed the few Xena and Herc have tried to do. I wanted to try one myself. I just had this vision of Joxer driving through Atlanta traffic one day, and this emerged.
BTW, this is set, not in my hometown of Atlanta, but in a non-specific urban area. There are bits of Columbia, Missouri, where I once lived, as well as my very first apartment in Macon, Georgia, mixed with Atlanta in my mental picture of this place.
I want to thank everybody who Beta-read this one. I'm almost afraid to make a list for fear I'll miss someone, but I think Raye, Kawy, Xebbie and of course Chris all did. Chris did the clean up, as always. He wanted to argue about some of the time-travel details, but I can be stubborn, at times. Thanks for everything, Chris. You're a great editor.
"Joxer, watch out!" Gabrielle cringed and covered her eyes. When she peered out again, they had crossed four lanes of traffic. "Didn't you see that truck? You drive as badly as you fight!"
Joxer squeezed the Toyota between two cars in the next lane. "You mean as well as I fight, don't you? We haven't had an accident yet!"
Gabrielle wondered why not. But, just like his fighting, Joxer seemed to be a lucky driver. He took chances he never should have been able to get away with, but as yet hadn't had the first accident. Since he did all the driving for the two of them, she didn't want him to start by having one now, either.
She pulled nervously on the seatbelt strap, wondering again why Aphrodite had brought them here. They had been in this place and time now for over six months, and she still hadn't done anything outstanding, nor had Joxer. Although mere survival would probably qualify as pretty amazing.
When they woke up behind the dumpster after falling asleep in the woods with Xena, they were both dazed. Without their weapons and in a strange place, they naturally clung to each other. When the people approached, speaking some strange tongue, they were afraid, and pulled back. Eventually, through the use of a kind of sign language, they were convinced that these people meant them no harm. They were taken to a large building, brightly lit in spite of the dark outside. She still hadn't figured out how they managed to harness the light of fire without the heat, but it was called "electricity", and it was everywhere. She quickly realized how foolish it made her look to gawk at the electric lights, and she now took them for granted. She winced as a minivan tried fruitlessly to occupy the same lane they were already filling. She took this mode of transportation for granted now, too, even if Joxer and the other drivers never allowed it to become mundane.
"Shit!" her friend hollered, leaning on his horn. "Watch where you're going you stupid…" Gabrielle tuned him out. Joxer had an amazing aptitude for languages, as the bard had quickly discovered. Unfortunately, his early vocabulary came primarily from the truckers who delivered to the homeless shelter where they had been taken, and consisted mostly of four-letter words. The volunteers at the shelter soon taught him other, better ways to express himself, but under pressure, he still often reverted to his first words. Gabrielle glared at him. He looked over at her and shrugged, glancing up just in time to see the rear end of the slow moving garbage truck that they were approaching much too rapidly. "Damn," he said, almost conversationally, as he slid the Toyota seamlessly into the next lane.
"Joxer," Gabrielle yelled, "this is our exit." Without blinking, he crossed three lanes of rush hour traffic, gliding to a stop at the light at the top of the ramp. The bard sank bonelessly into the vinyl seat, letting out her held breath in a hiss. She really needed to learn to drive herself.
Turning her thoughts back to their arrival at the shelter, she now realized how lucky they had been to be found by the volunteers. Every day, the news carried stories about the less fortunate; those who were mugged or killed in the streets. Although Gabrielle could fight with the best of them, arriving without her sais, dazed and confused, she still probably wouldn't have survived that first night without the comforting safety of the shelter. And now that they were away from all that was familiar, she realized how often Joxer had tried in the past to save her from attack; he probably would have done so again and managed to get them both killed. She smiled at him affectionately. For the longest time, he had been the only person she could talk to, the only one who knew how hard this was. It was only natural that they had gradually become much closer since coming here.
He was taking her to work right now – his friend Andy had helped her find a job at the gym he belonged to, where she instructed kickboxing and step aerobics classes. It wasn't the greatest job in terms of pay or intellectual challenges, but it did allow her to keep in shape and contribute something to their living expenses. Surprisingly, Joxer made the bulk of the money they took in. She had realized he was a good cook while they were in Chin, but until he got a job as a chef while they were still living in the shelter, she hadn't realized how useful a skill that could be. Now that he had proved himself valuable to the small Greek restaurant where he was employed ("You wouldn't believe what they think Greek food is, Gabby!" he complained one day, "Everything is made with lamb and garlic."), he had received an increase in pay, and they had been able to move out of the shelter and into a small apartment.
Joxer had met Andy at the restaurant. He was a waiter, and had immediately taken a liking to the tall awkward chef. He knew that Jox and Gabby were from another country, which explained their cultural difficulties, but he wasn't aware that they were from another time entirely. That was one secret they swore early on they would never share with anyone, no matter how close they might become to them. Andy had taught Joxer to drive, coached them on their English and helped them find their apartment. He had been a lifesaver for them both. He was also one of the few people who understood that, although the couple shared an apartment, they didn't share a bed. Early in their stay here they had discovered that the rest of the world didn't really believe that could happen, so Joxer's co-workers knew Gabrielle as his "significant other", and vice-versa. She wasn't blind, though, and she knew her roommate's feelings for her still simmered just below the surface. Perhaps the emotion he carried was the reason so few believed they were just friends. She certainly couldn't be contributing to that impression.
"Since Andy and I are working lunch today, we thought we'd come by the gym after we get off. You have any afternoon classes?" She had been so lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't register the question.
"Yeah – kickboxing at two, then I have to man the desk 'til four." Her English still wasn't as good as Joxer's, but she was finally conversant enough to handle customer contact. She loved working the desk, though. Many of the regulars knew her now, and the friendly comments and jokes helped her not miss Xena so much.
Gods, how she missed Xena when she was alone. She wondered what the Warrior Princess thought when her two best friends up and disappeared, never to be seen again. She must have thought they had run off together – Gabrielle stifled a giggle at the image of Xena coping with that idea. Still, it was better than Xena having to watch her die yet again, she supposed. She just wished her friend could be here with them. Even Joxer had admitted that everything felt somehow incomplete without the third member of their "family" present. The bard looked down at her loose tee shirt over tights and knit shorts rolled at the waistband. Xena would probably love the comfortable clothes of this day and time. Having worn the warrior's metal breastplate once, Gabrielle knew how uncomfortable that was. Here, no one wore armor, or gauntlets, or weapons. At least, almost no one.
She snuck a glance at Joxer again. He was whistling along to the radio as he drove, seeming far more comfortable with his body than she ever remembered him being when they were with Xena. He had been coming to the gym regularly with Andy, and although she knew it was partly to see her, he had been working out, and it showed. In his tight black t-shirt and jeans, he really looked kind of sexy. She shook her head – where had that thought come from? Still, she had seen the looks the women at the gym would give him when he came in to see her, and at least one of her co-workers flirted with him shamelessly. When the warrior chef would come in to work out dressed in his muscle tee and shorts, a good number of the patrons, both male and female, gave him a second glance. She smiled again – maybe it was also his transparent innocence that made him so appealing to so many.
"So, Gabby, you getting out?" It was with a start that she realized that they were sitting at the curb in front of her workplace. She grabbed her bag, flustered and blushing, although she wasn't sure why.
"Sorry – daydreaming." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, a habit she had recently picked up. "See you when you get here." Gabrielle hopped out of the car and scurried in through the big glass revolving door. He sat for a minute, touching his face where she had kissed him, as he always did. Then, turning the radio up loud, he pulled away from the curb and headed back to their apartment to change for work.
Neither he nor Gabby could figure out why they had been brought here. They weren't completely sure even how they had been transported, although the bard swore up and down that this whole thing had "Aphrodite" written all over it. Joxer tended to agree with her, although he couldn't understand what the flighty goddess could hope to accomplish with this little stunt. Gabby was far more dependant on others here than she had been in their proper time and place, and he, except for the skills of driving and speaking English, seemed just as helpless. He knew how despondent his sweet friend was about leaving Xena behind, and he had no doubt that he was a poor substitute. There just didn't appear to be any possible positive outcome to this whole situation.
Joxer swung the car into their designated parking spot, unclipped his seatbelt and hopped out. He looked back at the Toyota, snickering at the view. It was all they could afford and had been advertised as "basic transportation". It had no real color to speak of, the body a mishmash of rust spots, primer and its original, though now faded, metallic blue. But it ran beautifully, and they never had to worry about locking the doors, even in the rundown neighborhood in which they lived. No one in their right mind would ever want to steal it.
Stopping at the mailboxes in the lobby, he peered into the window of theirs, seeing nothing. Outside of bills and advertisements, they rarely got mail. He snickered again at the names on the box. When they bought the car, they were asked for their last names, and so became "Jox d'Mitey" and "Gabrielle Bard". It was the only place his former existence seemed to still touch him, now. He didn't need to pretend to be a mighty warrior here – he was too busy pretending to be so many other things.
As he pulled on the khaki pants and navy golf shirt that was his uniform for work, he continued to ponder their existence in this place. They had fallen into an easy routine since taking the apartment – they would return from work, eat dinner if they hadn't already, watch a little TV on the tiny black and white set they had bought at the Salvation Army, and one of them would shower while the other made up the couch for Joxer to sleep on. In the morning, the other would shower while the one who had done so the night before would brew coffee, strip the couch and put away the linens. Some mornings Gabrielle would have the early class, but the gym manager had quickly figured out that she was no morning person, so usually he scheduled her classes to begin after ten. Joxer never had to be to work before eleven. So there were days when they went grocery shopping before work, or scoured the second-hand shops for useful items. Their daily pattern only changed when Andy would call and ask them to go somewhere with him. Sometimes Gabby was tired though, and just Joxer would go out. There were days it seemed they had never lived any other way, while other days thoughts of the missing Warrior Princess hung over their lives like a suffocating blanket.
He ran the electric shaver over his face – a gift from Andy, and such a marvelous invention! Running the comb through his hair, he glanced at his watch and noting the time, raced out the door and to the car. He could still be on time if he hurried.
Gabrielle glanced at the clock for the third time in the last fifteen minutes, wondering again why her friend was late. Usually, when he worked lunch, he got off by three and came right to the gym, arriving by three-twenty at the latest. It was after three-thirty, and he still hadn't shown up. She smiled, remembering how he would come and go for days at a time when they traveled together in Greece, and she rarely worried about where he was and what he was doing. Now she couldn't imagine a day going by without him around, and she worried if he was fifteen minutes late. How soft she had become – not physically, but emotionally. She used to be made of tougher stuff than that.
Just then, the tall figure in his uniform breezed through the revolving door, followed closely by a shorter blonde man in identical clothing. His brown eyes twinkled at her welcoming grin. "Hey, babe." He loved using slang phrases, and his casual intimacy raised her smile a notch.
"Hi, Jox. Hey, Andy. Why are you guys late?"
"Big business meeting luncheon ran late," Andy volunteered in his velvet tones. Gabrielle liked the man well enough – he'd been a great deal of help to her and Joxer – but she absolutely adored his voice. "Jox waited for me, and helped me clean up." He beamed at the taller man, who just shrugged. The bard couldn't figure out why, in spite of all Andy had done for them, he acted as if he was awed that they were his friends. He was a handsome man – several of the girls at the gym had asked her about him as well – with a nice car and a nice apartment. She wasn't sure why he seemed to need the friendship of the two lost Greeks so much. They would have liked him even if he hadn't taken them under his wing.
Joxer was nudging the other man along. "We need to go change," he explained. Looking back at Gabrielle, he raised an eyebrow. "You joining us after you get off the desk?" She nodded, and they started to the locker room.
As they moved out of her line of sight, she heard a sultry voice call out, "Oh, Joxer!" Gabrielle peered around the corner, and sure enough, standing way too far inside the chef's personal space and resting her hand casually on his chest was Debbie, the nutritional consultant. Now, that was a girl with no shame. All her clothing appeared to be at least two sizes too small, and she seemed to have her feelers out for any client that used the men's locker room. But she seemed to have a special affinity for Joxer, and teased Gabrielle mercilessly and cruelly about him. He, however, seemed immune to her charms, always politely but firmly brushing her off. From what the bard could see from this angle, he was in the process of doing so again. She saw Debbie pout, and Joxer move away, and she quickly pulled her head back and pretended she had been reading a new notice on the bulletin board.
"That boyfriend of yours sure can be dense sometimes. I don't care how attached you two are, you'd think he'd pay me a little attention." This was a common theme for Debbie to harp on, so Gabrielle came back with her usual response.
"He's not my boyfriend."
Debbie actually seemed to hear her, for once. "Well," she mused, "Maybe he's gay. He always has the pretty little blonde guy in tow."
Gabrielle turned angrily on the other woman. "Has it ever occurred to you that he likes women, just not you?" The nutritionist narrowed her eyes, apparently considering a cutting response. Changing her mind, she sniffed, turned on her heel and stalked away, ignoring the other woman's comments. She wouldn't have understood what Gabrielle called her as she left anyway, since it was in Greek.
After Gabrielle got off the desk, she changed into her leotard and looked in the weight room for the guys. She finally noticed them on the far side of the room, Joxer doing bench presses while Andy spotted for him. He was pushing extra reps, and every muscle in his arms and chest strained as he lifted the barbell. Gods, he was gorgeous! The bard realized that she had been staring, and combined with the unbidden thought she just had, it made her blush furiously and turn away. She closed her eyes and took several deep swigs from her water bottle, trying to regain control. When she opened her eyes again, Joxer was standing, wiping the sweat off his face. She went over to speak to them, and he grinned at her. "Hey, Gabby," he greeted her happily, "We were just going to get on the treadmills. Wanna join us?" Perhaps a run would be just the thing to get her back into focus, so she nodded.
The steady pace allowed her mind to wander, and she found herself gaining some measure of control over her own feelings. Of course she was paying far more attention to Joxer than she ever had before – he was her only link with what she still considered her "real" life. He was now as much a part of her existence as breathing, but if they ever returned to Xena, he would once again take his proper place in the order of things. The rational part of her mind had worked it all out, but there was a stubborn little part of her that kept saying, "Yeah, right!" When the manager appeared before her treadmill to talk to her, she actually sighed in relief at the opportunity to silence her thoughts. Somehow she didn't feel like dinner and a night out with Joxer and Andy, which had been proposed, was exactly what she needed right now, so she gladly agreed to take the seven o'clock kickboxing class for Sheila, who wasn't feeling well. Hollering her apologies to the two running men, she went off to pull her music together.
When she arrived home at the apartment at nine-thirty, Gabrielle was totally exhausted, physically and emotionally. She hated public transportation, but was always thankful the bus stop was only a block away on the rare occasions that Joxer wasn't available to drive her home. She foraged in the refrigerator; finally deciding all she really wanted to eat was a container of fruited yogurt. Once that was finished, she showered and curled up on the couch in the big tee shirt she always slept in, the TV on but not really holding her attention. She still needed to make up the couch for Joxer, she thought sleepily, as her eyes slid shut.
The sound of the door crashing open woke her completely, her heart pounding out of control until she realized that it was her roommate. "Joxer?" He ignored her, going straight into the bathroom and slamming the door. She waited a few minutes, then crept to the hallway and listened at the door. She thought he might be crying. "Joxer - let me in."
"Go 'way." Yeah – he was definitely crying.
"C'mon, talk to me. What happened?"
He opened the door, refusing to look at her. She could see he had tried to wipe his face, but the evidence of his distress was still visible. She took his hand, and led him over to the couch, switching off the TV as they passed by. "What happened?" she repeated. She tried to keep a hold of his hand, but he pulled it forcibly from hers and hugged himself as if he were cold.
He stared into space for a few minutes, finally breaking the silence. "Andy…" he stopped, unable for a minute to go on. "Andy told me he loved me tonight."
Her stomach hit rock bottom. She had known men who loved other men before, and didn't have any problem with it, but she knew that wasn't what Joxer thought of when he was around Andy. He was just a good friend, almost a brother to him, and now everything had changed. She was aware that Joxer had more to say.
"I told him I was flattered, but that I loved you. Then I realized that was just what I had done to you. Told you I loved you, and changed what was a perfectly good friendship into something uncomfortable for you. I know I'll never feel at ease with him now, knowing he thinks of me in that way, and I don't share his feelings. Is that what it's like when you're around me, Gabrielle?" His brown eyes met hers, and she knew that she had to be honest with him, for once. And with herself.
"At first, it was. I had no idea, and all the times I could have seen the evidence, there were other things that had stood in the way, blocking my view. Even when you told me – I mean, we were under attack, Xena was half gone, and two war gods had their sights on us. I couldn't really think very much about what you said." She took his hand, planning her next words very carefully. "I've had a lot of time to think since we've been here, Joxer. You told me 'no strings', but we've tied a bunch of knots since we came to this place. I don't think I could live without you anymore. What I'm trying to say," she hurried on, seeing him about to speak and needing to get this out before he did, "is, I think I do love you too."
He cupped her face in his hand, running his thumb along her cheekbone and giving her chills. "You don't have to say that just because you feel sorry for me, Gabby. I know right now I'm your only friend, and now you're mine, too. I thought my friendship with Andy would give you some time away from me, since we've been kind of forced together by circumstances. But I screwed that up, too, I guess. I know how much you miss Xena – I miss her too. But being with you has been enough for me. I know I don't come close to taking her place with you."
"Please don't say that. I love Xena, but I love you too, and it's a whole different thing. Why can't you believe me?" She was crying now, all the pent-up emotion of recent days pouring out of her in waves. He took her in his arms, stroking her hair and cooing to her.
"It's okay, Gabby, it's okay. I believe you. You love me. It's okay." He really didn't believe her. He thought the stress of being in this strange place and time had finally broken her, and once she cried it out, she would be herself again. He wanted it to be true, but he knew better.
"You have to believe me, Joxer. It's true! Stop humoring me, and believe me." She was angry now, and pulled away to begin beating on his chest with her fists. He grabbed her wrists to stop her, and she wrenched her arms away and threw them around his neck, pulling him to her and kissing him hard. And as quickly as it had started, the anger faded into hunger, and he was kissing her hungrily back. She ran her fingers through his hair, and his hands kneaded at her back and shoulders. Finally coming up for air, she laid her head on his chest and whispered, "Don't sleep on the couch tonight, Joxer. Come stay with me. I don't want to be alone anymore." She stood, taking his hand, and led him into the bedroom.
The next day, she moved through work as if in a fog. She hadn't wanted to leave him, and she almost cried when she thought of how much time she had wasted, denying her feelings the way she had. The fog burned away and the whole world became crystal clear when he came through the revolving door that afternoon. "Hi," he smiled, almost shyly.
"Hi," she beamed, feeling suddenly breathless.
"Meet me upstairs when you're done?" he asked.
"Of course," she answered. As he walked away, she nearly giggled. They'd had that very same conversation countless times before – why was it so fraught with meaning now? Someone approached her from behind, but she didn't turn.
"Sorry that I didn't believe you before when you said you two weren't lovers – it just seemed so unlikely. Now that you are, I can see you had been telling the truth." Gabrielle turned, shaken by the sadness in Debbie's voice. "He's pretty special, you know. Treat him right, or I'll give it another try." The nutritionist walked away, as the bard stood watching, speechless.
"Andy came in and quit today. He apologized, but I told him it was okay. I told him about us, too." Gabrielle sat with Joxer in the pizza shop, playing with the straw in her drink as he talked. "I tried to be gentle, but he needed to hear it from me, not somebody at the gym or something." She reached across the table and squeezed his hand in sympathy. "He said he was happy for us, and I think in a way, he was." He looked up at her helplessly. "What if we're stuck here, Gabby? What if whoever dumped us here never comes back for us? Could you live the rest of your life teaching aerobics and loving me, never seeing Xena again, or your family?"
"First off," she smiled at him, "I intend to live the rest of my life loving you, no matter where we end up. I still miss Xena – don't you?" He nodded. "But if this is the place the gods have chosen for us, it's here we stay. I've barely seen my family in the past few years, anyway." Shaking off the sadness this realization brought about, she released his hand and began stroking his arm with her fingers. "If you'd have asked me the same question yesterday morning, I'm not sure what my answer would have been." She stood and moved over to sit on the bench beside him, tucking herself under his arm. "You done with your pizza?" He picked up the crust, looked at it, and threw it back on the plate. "Let's go home, then."
Joxer didn't know what woke him, but peering at the clock, he saw it was almost three a.m. He sighed happily at the warm body tucked into the curve of his own, reaching his arm around her waist. Finally, he knew what happiness felt like, he thought. If only Aphrodite wouldn't have brought them here – he knew how much Gabrielle missed home, in spite of her brave words earlier. He jumped when a voice rang out in the darkness. "Why do you always blame me?" the love goddess asked petulantly. "Although, this has worked out well enough for me to wish it had all been my idea."
"Gabby," he called, shaking her shoulder, "Wake up. Aphrodite's here."
"Hmmpf," she groaned sleepily, "Wha? Who's here?" she sat bolt upright, looking down and then pulling the sheet over her bare upper body in embarrassment.
The goddess laughed. "Nothin' there I haven't seen before, doll. Nice choice though, studmuffin." The blonde bombshell walked over to the bed, running a finger across Joxer's shoulders. "Oooh, you've bulked up. I like."
"What do you want? You're not here to admire our bodies, I'm assuming." Gabrielle didn't like being awakened in the middle of the night by anyone, mortal or immortal. Her patience was a bit thin.
"Oh, yeah," the love goddess went on, absently. "First off, sorry about being so late. I never can get that time zone thing right. I did think you'd be happy to hear I've come to take you home."
Joxer glared at her. "Why did you bring us here in the first place? And why the hell did you leave us here for this long? What if we'd been killed or something?"
"Temper, temper, big boy. I didn't bring you here. My brother, Ares, did that. I just left you here."
Gabrielle thought perhaps she was still a bit asleep. "Huh?"
"Ar thought if he took you guys away, especially just before the baby was born when she's all emotional and everything, Xena would freak and come back to him. He made an agreement with Daddy that he wouldn't kill either of you, a long time ago. Actually, he's not supposed to ever kill any mortals himself, but he's played fast and loose with that one a few times. So Daddy made him sign on the dotted line with you two. He wanted to hide you someplace, and he finally decided the future was as good a place as any. He wanted a time that was violent and dangerous, so maybe he could get rid of you both permanently, so he dumped you here. But he forgot that the Big Guy also has some hard and fast rules about time travel. Since I've had my eye on both of you for a while, I saw what he did, and went and tattled." She looked proud of herself. "I convinced Daddy to let me come find you before Xena noticed you were gone. But when I got here, I saw how Blondie here was finally starting to realize how good my studmuffin treated her, and I went back and asked him if I could leave you for a while and see what happened." The goddess hugged herself in pleasure. "I love it when I'm right!"
"But how is Xena handling us being gone?" Gabrielle asked, hesitantly.
"Well, I couldn't let her get all psycho and start killing people, or let Ares have his way with her, so I put her in a deep sleep. I plan to take you guys back to just after you first left, then wake her up. She'll never know."
"So Xena doesn't know were missing?" The hope in Gabrielle's voice was unmistakable.
Joxer looked at her sadly, sensing the beginning of the end. They would go back, she would become Xena's right hand again, and he would be relegated to less than second place in her life, just like before. Why did it have to end so soon? Nothing had really changed, after all. He did miss home, and Xena for that matter, but he just didn't want to give Gabrielle up after waiting so long to have her. He slumped in dejection. Life stunk.
The bard felt the air go out of Joxer, and turned to see the despair on his face. "No," she said softly, then more forcefully, "NO, NO! Things won't change between us. I meant it when I said I intend to live the rest of my life loving you. Xena's just going to have to understand. I know she will."
He caught her hands in his, causing the sheet to fall back to her waist, although neither seemed to notice. "You mean that?" he asked huskily.
"With all my heart." She held his eyes with hers, and saw him accept her statement, then smile and reach for her.
"Before you two celebrate this little epiphany by jumping each other's bones again, I've got a few details to go over," Aphrodite offered, amused. "Since time is not an issue here, at least on the other end, Daddy thinks you ought to leave the right way, not just disappear. Give notice at your jobs, sell your stuff, and sublease the apartment, or whatever. You've got a week, and I'll be back." She sparkled away.
Joxer pulled Gabrielle into a passionate kiss. She surrendered for a moment, then pulled back. "Are you sure she's gone?" the bard asked, suspiciously.
"I am!" answered the disembodied voice, then they heard a sigh. "Now."
The week was up, and they sat on the floor in the apartment. The van from the homeless shelter had come and taken the last of the furniture this morning, and they had both said their final goodbyes to their friends and co-workers the day before. The owner of the restaurant had offered Joxer a generous raise if he would just stay, but understood the call of home, being only a naturalized citizen himself. Gabrielle had almost choked at her own going away party when Debbie had given her a hug.
They had gone together to Andy's apartment. He was truly happy to see them, although he was sorry they were leaving. He wanted them to promise they would write, but they shook their heads sadly, unable to explain to him why they couldn't. He told them excitedly about his new job, hinting that there was someone special there showing interest in him. "Don't be afraid to take a chance, Andy," Joxer advised him. "Just because it didn't work out for you and me doesn't mean it won't this time. I haven't regretted telling Gabby how I felt." The young man nodded, and when they finally left, he hugged them both with tears in his eyes.
Joxer pulled Gabby into his lap, as they took one long last look at the place that had been their home during this time. He was beginning to realize that he held home in his arms, and it really didn't matter where he actually was, as long as they were together. "Aphrodite," he called, "We're ready." The empty apartment swirled around them, and the next thing they knew, Xena was shaking them awake.
Mild amusement mixed with the surprise on her face. "Joxer? Gabrielle?" They sat up, still wrapped around one another, but back in their usual clothes and in front of the same campfire they had fallen asleep before, separately, so many months before. "Are you two," Xena searched for the right word, "okay?"
The bard laughed joyfully. "We have never been better, Xena!" She looked at her friend, wondering why she looked even more confused.
Joxer pulled her closer and whispered in her ear. "Try Greek, Gabby. She doesn't understand English."
Gabrielle giggled, and switched back to her native tongue. "We have so much to tell you, and you aren't going to believe it. This has been even weirder than our usual weird experiences."
Xena sat back on her haunches in disbelief. "This from a woman who's been dead twice, maybe three times, not to mention some of the other bizarre things we've been through. This I've got to hear."
The happy bard snuggled back into Joxer's arms, turning to look at him. "You want to go first, or should I?"