Fixin' Up
Portrait # 5
By Lori Bush
Disclaimer: Most of these characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and USA/Universal Studios, and no money will be made here. Does this irritate you as much as it does me?
Rating: PG
Sex: None, although there is one "fade-to-black" scene…
Violence: No.
This story is the fifth in a series that assumes that "it" happened. The first story is "I'd Be Better Off…" and the second is "Stuck In The Middle". The third was "A Matter of Trust". Previous to this one came "A Delicate Balance". Now that Gabby and Joxer are together, what are the issues and incidents they have to deal with?
Chris did the icky picky stuff, and did it wonderfully, as always. Thanks to Rebecca Littlehales, Melissa Flores and Findle for helping me convince him one scene should stay as it was. *g * Believe it or not, my vision for this series is nearing the end. Sigh.
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Gabrielle was so intent on her project, she didn't hear the footsteps until they were right behind her. Xena, she thought, panicking, and threw herself bodily atop the scroll spread out on the flat rock before her.
"Gabby?" asked the familiar voice, and she relaxed slightly.
"Is Xena with you?" she asked Joxer cautiously, trying to turn her head and look without moving her body. She smiled in spite of her concern. There was a time he would have been constitutionally incapable of approaching unheard. He clattered and clanked if he so much as took a deep breath. But for his last birthday she had given him new leather armor, with a nice brass breastplate, and he no longer rattled with every step. Besides, ever since the beginning of their now long-time love affair, he had gained confidence, and now moved more gracefully than he ever had before.
He stepped forward slowly. "Nope, just me. Whatcha hiding?"
She sat up quickly, rolling the scroll into her lap. "Nothing."
"Yeah, right." He began playing with her long blonde hair, moving his hands down to her shoulders, and soon lovingly massaging the knots she always got in her neck and back when she bent over her work.
"Joxer, don't. Stop." He hit a particularly tight spot and probed it skillfully. She moaned, "Oh, Joxer, don't stop." The bard was putty in his hands, and he knew it. He snaked a hand around into her lap, snagging the scroll and holding it up triumphantly.
"Got it!" She sat straight up, turning to glare at him. He looked somewhat intimidated. "Is it something I really shouldn't see?" he asked, hesitantly.
Gabrielle slumped in defeat. "No, you can look at it."
Joxer unrolled the document and began reading out loud. "Hercules. Iolaus. Autolycus. Rafe." He looked at his lover. "Gabby, what exactly is this?"
She blushed, studying her toes. "Some ideas of guys Xena might like." She looked at his face.
He seemed to be trying to get a handle on the thought. "Like? As in – 'be friends with'? Or like as in – 'you and me' kinda like? Like, a date kinda like?" His face wore a stunned expression as he grasped the magnitude of this concept. "You want to fix Xena up?" His voice has rose to a squeak. "Are you out of your mind?"
"Shhhh!" she gestured wildly, "She'll hear you. And," she went on thoughtfully, "Maybe." Reaching for his hand, she pulled the tall man down to sit on the log beside her. "You and I have been so happy since we've been together, and Xena's been so all alone. She acts like she doesn't mind, but it can't be easy for her. I just want her to have a chance to be as content as you've made me." He smiled warmly and pulled her under his arm, where she rested her head on his chest and sighed blissfully.
His heartbeat had slowed, and he began to seriously consider what Gabrielle had suggested. "Even if you do find the perfect guy for Xena, how are you going to get them together? It's not like most of these people have permanent addresses, any more than we do. And," he unrolled the list again with his free hand, "Rafe? Excuse me, but he's a conman, Gabby. A conman who helped almost get me killed. A conman who we haven't seen hide nor hair of in, what, four years? He could be in prison for all we know."
"He did help us get even with those guys who beat you up," she pouted, defensively, then sighed and took out her quill. "Okay, no Rafe." She grabbed the scroll and crossed out the name. "Any suggestions, then?"
He pointed to another name. "Autolycus? Aren't you worried about the safety of your stuff if he starts hanging around?"
The bard shook her head. "No, he doesn't steal from friends. Anyway, there's just something about him and Xena when they're together – a kind of tension. Makes me think there's something going on we don't see."
"Why Iolaus?"
"Well, he's single, and he and Xena did have a brief relationship at one time…"
"Look, if what I've heard is correct, she slept with him to try to get him to kill his best friend. That hardly qualifies as a relationship. I assume he's forgiven her, but I wouldn't push it." Joxer watched as she scratched the name off.
She frowned at her list of two names, then at her dark-eyed love. "You're real good at eliminating people. How about some other ideas to replace them?"
Joxer tapped his fingers on his lower lip, thinking. "Who was that king you told me she had a thing for?"
"Ulysses. Married, remember?" Gabrielle's eyes widened as an idea struck her. "But Iphicles isn't – he'd be great!" She scribbled the name on the parchment.
Joxer tried again. "Salmoneous?" He and Gabrielle stared into one another's eyes in mutual consideration. "Nawww," they said in unison.
"How 'bout that guy that was so nuts about you – Stavros?"
"Did I tell you I got a scroll from home yesterday while you were in town?" Joxer looked lost, wondering where the change in subject had been introduced. He shook his head. "Stavros has been visiting Lila. A lot!" Suddenly he got the connection.
"My brother, Jett?" he offered, hopefully. She slapped him on the arm, and he pouted. "It was just a thought."
She rolled up the scroll and tied it tight. "We'll have to keep thinking about it – these three aren't too bad." She poked him in the chest and said with a menacing gaze, "Don't you dare say anything to her." He snickered, and she realized that she really couldn't do menacing very well when it came to Joxer.
They had a lot to do that day, and it was late before they reached their bedrolls. Xena laid her pelts out on one side of the fire, while Joxer set up his and Gabrielle's on the other, as they usually did. When his bard returned from the woods, she slid in beside him, curling up with her head on his shoulder. Suddenly, Joxer was struck by inspiration. "Hey, Gabby, how about D…" She cut off his voice, clamping her mouth over his in a passionate kiss.
When he surfaced for air, she hissed, "Shhhh!" He however, had forgotten his previous thought, and pulled her into his arms for another kiss.
Xena sighed, and rolled away from the fire to face the woods. She could hear the quiet sounds of rising passion on the other side of the camp, and would do her best to fall asleep without thinking about what was going on over there. But she was aware of the serious melancholy that often overtook her when she heard or saw the evidence of the deep love shared by her two best friends. She was happy for them, no doubt. No one could be happier. But their obvious bond, their overt couple status, made her painfully aware of how long she had been, at least when it came to those kind of feelings, alone.
Joxer awoke before Gabby, which didn't surprise him, and after Xena, which surprised him even less. What did alarm him was that the Warrior Princess wasn't still in the camp. Usually she stayed at least fairly close by until one or the other of the lovers awoke, but she was nowhere to be found. Hoping nothing was seriously wrong, he pulled on his outerwear and headed into the woods.
He finally found her in a small clearing quite a distance away. Of course, Xena had heard him coming and done her best to prepare, but he could tell she had gone there because she was upset about something. The red rims to her eyes couldn't possibly mean what they would on another woman, though. The Warrior Princess never cried.
He waited for her to say something, but finally he decided she wasn't going to. "Mind if I sit down?" he asked her. All the times she had helped and comforted and counseled him, he would be amiss if he didn't at least make an effort at helping her. She shrugged, and he took that as an affirmative answer, settling on the ground beside her.
"Wanna talk?" the warrior wanna-be asked the Warrior Princess.
"Not really." Her voice was without emotion.
"Wanna friend?" he tried again.
Xena smiled sadly. "I do have a couple of good ones, don't I?" she reached over and patted Joxer's knee. "You and Gabrielle are the best friends anyone could ever want. And since…" Her voice trailed off. "You two almost seem like a single person to me, just walking around in two different bodies. Does that sound stupid?"
He had to smile at the thought of this woman ever sounding stupid. "That sounds like a pretty good description of how I feel, and how I hope Gabby does too." Joxer thought of his talk with the bard just yesterday. "Is it hard for you, having us around all the time, so together?"
The automatic denial died on her lips as she paused and considered the thought. "Yeah," she admitted, "sometimes." Seeing his face fall, she hurried on. "It's not like I'd ever want it to go back to the way it was before, when you mooned around all the time and Gabrielle was always on your case, I just wish, well…" She fell silent. This really would sound stupid.
"There were four of us instead of just three?"
She gazed at him. "I can't believe we used to think you were an idiot," she smiled.
He smiled back. "I still am, sometimes."
They sat quietly, both absorbed in thought. Finally, Joxer stood up. Bending over, he planted a tender kiss on top of the Warrior Princess' head, startling her out of her reverie. As she watched him wide-eyed, he walked away. Finally, her upper lip curled in a sardonic smile. Either he's gotten braver, or I've gotten soft.
Back in the camp, Joxer saw evidence that Gabrielle was stirring. Their pelts had been rolled up and the water kettle was gone. He followed the path down to the stream. His heart still leapt when he caught sight of her – he hoped that feeling never went away. She was kneeling by the stream, filling the kettle. Damp cloths gave evidence that she had finished her morning washing already.
She turned as he approached. "Mornin'." The bard grinned as he combed his fingers through her hair.
"Gabby?" he asked thoughtfully. "You still have that scroll we were looking at yesterday?" She nodded, her brow knit in a questioning look. "Can we go back and get it, and talk about it some more?"
"Why? Yesterday I got the feeling you didn't think it was such a good idea. What changed your mind?"
He took her hand, pulling her back to camp. "Let's just say it was something a friend told me."