Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Xena: Warrior Princess Characters (Ares, Eve/Livia, Xena, Gab, etc)…. But I do own this story and the character Daniel.

Intro: What if Xena had accepted Ares' offer to save Eve? What if she had agreed to give him a child, in order to save her own from the Gods? Here is this author's idea of what may have happened.

Intro scene: A small house located deep in the woods, all is still, then, a scream fills the air.

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Xena lay screaming on her bed, sweat pouring from her face, eyes wide and hair askew. Her large belly heaved as she struggled to catch her breath.

"It's okay Xena, breathe." Gabrielle said calmingly. "It's going to be okay."

"Where's Ares? He needs to be here." Xena asked between ragged breaths.

"He'll be here Xena, don't worry." Gabrielle had barely finished her sentence when Ares appeared beside her.

"What's going on?" Ares asked, looking worried, taking Xena's hand in his.

"She's going into labor, she's having the baby!" Gabrielle said, trying to sound calm. "Where's Eve? You were supposed to be watching her!"

"She's fine, she's sleeping."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Although, how she can sleep through that is a mystery." Ares chuckled.

"You'd scream too, if you were in, my position." Xena panted, releasing another bloodcurdling scream shortly after.

"Is this normal?" Ares asked, glancing at Xena, looking worried.

"Yes Ares." Gabrielle answered impatiently, he wasn't helping the situation. "Okay, this is it Xena, big push."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Silence followed the scream. Then, slowly, another cry rose into the air. "It's a boy Xena, you did it." Gabrielle whispered as she handed the swaddled baby to her best friend. Both Xena and Ares leaned over to look at their creation.

"He's beautiful." Ares whispered.

"He's yours." Xena whispered back.

"He's ours."

As the three stared at the little red bundle, the bedroom door pushed inward, and standing there was little Eve, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, dragging her blanket in one hand, and her teddy in the other.

"Come here Eve," Xena said motioning with her one free hand, "come and meet your brother." Eve crawled into her mother's lap and looked at the baby curiously. Then she put her teddy next to him, and started sucking her thumb, looking up at her mother.

"Aww, she wants him to have her teddy, how cute." Gabrielle said, smiling, then her smile faded, and she seemed to go into deep thought.

"What?" Xena asked, troubled by the bard.

"Well, it's just, he needs a name."

"Oh yeah, I guess he does…."

"Daniel! Get back here!" Screamed Eve, chasing her brother, who was, at the moment, running with one of her scrolls in his hand, stopping to read it aloud ever so often.

"'Some days I imagine I'm a princess, because if I was a princess, everyone would look up to me' oh no, here comes Eve the Princess!" Daniel quoted, laughing and running away as soon his sister got close. "I didn't realize I was sleeping in the same room as royalty." Just then, Eve caught up to him. Knocking him to the ground, she screamed, "I'll show you!" Then she began punching him in the face and chest. She remained punching and kicking the air even as her mother pulled her off of him.

"What the Hades is going on?" Xena asked with alarm, struggling to hold her daughter back, for being only eight, she sure was strong.

"Daniel stole my journal and was reading it!" Eve yelled, still trying to free herself from her mother's grip.

"Even so Eve," Xena said setting her down and looking her in the eyes, "you shouldn't be hitting, you know that." Eve's eyes began to fill with tears, she hated it when her mother was mad at her.

"I'm sorry mommy, it's just, I didn't want him to read it."

"It's okay honey. As for you young man, you shouldn't be taking your sister's journal, and you know that." Xena said sternly, picking her son off the ground and setting him so he was facing Eve, "Now I want you both to apologize, and tell each other you love each other."

"I'm sorry, I love you." The two chorused.

"That's better, now-"

"Princess." Whispered Daniel, taking off running.

"I hate you!" Screamed Eve, running after him. Xena sighed and stood up, it was going to be a long day.

Later in the day, Xena slumped into her chair, exhausted. She had just put the kids to bed, and was never so grateful for the night. Moment's later; Ares appeared next to her, looking disgustingly well rested and vibrant.

"Ahhh…" the god sighed. "It's good to be home." He then noticed Xena's haggard expression. "Rough day?" He smirked.

"The usual." Xena sighed. "Daniel stole Eve's journal and was teasing her about it, then she caught him and started punching him. I swear, I don't know how she does it, she always manages to hurt him before I even know what's going on."

"Well, she is your daughter."

"And Daniel is our son; however, I'm surprised he knows that, seeing as you're never here." Xena said, her eye's flashing.

"Now, that's not fair, you know I was working today. I was "assisting" in the hunt to find Eve, more like sabotaging. You know that I had to be there, not only to lead them the wrong way, but to stifle suspicions."

Xena sighed. "I know, I know, it's just…I need help. Those kids are impossible, and since Gabrielle and Joxer got married, I'm all alone."

"Oh, Xena, you'll always have me. Besides, they're seven and eight; they'll grow out of it."

Eight Years Later

"Haha! You can't catch me!." Daniel yelled, quickly darting just out of his sister's grasp. As he ran, he held a familiar looking scroll in the air, waving it dauntingly.

"Give that back!" Eve screamed, chasing her brother around the house. She was so sick of him! As soon as he rounded the corner Eve stopped, waiting for him to come around the other side. Sure enough, around the corner he came, looking backwards, not seeing her until she grabbed him and threw him on the hard earth.

"Ow!" He yipped, barely getting up as she tried to pin him down. "What's the matter Eve? What's in here that you don't want me to read?" He asked tauntingly.

The two circled each other, his face broad and grinning, hers full of rage. "Give it back." She said, her voice low. "Now." Daniel just smiled and opened the scroll to the most recent entry. "Don't you dare." Eve said, her voice shaking with anger.

Just as Daniel began to read, Eve spotted her mother's sword on the porch. Not thinking twice she grabbed it and pointed it at Daniel, his eyes bugging with surprise and fear. He hadn't realized he had made her so angry.

"Hey, take it easy. I was just playing." He said warily, eying the sharp sword, his was on his belt, but he knew she'd see him reach for it. "Take it." He dropped her journal to the ground in front of her. As soon as she let her guard down to grab it, he pulled his sword from it's hilt and held it toward his sister. Eve raised her sword as soon as she saw movement, but now it was her turn to be wary.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Daniel asked. He was, after all, the son of the god of war, who had been personally training him over the years. Eve on the other hand, had never wielded as sword, her mother had forbidden it. Just then, Xena came outside, and flew into outrage.

"What is going on here?" Her eyes darting between her two children, Daniel put his sword away immediately, Eve dropped hers as well. "Eve, you know that using swords is forbidden, not just by me, but by Eli! What were you thinking? And Daniel! The nerve of you using yours on your sister. How could you two?"

"But mom!" Eve whined, "He stole my journal."

"I don't care! That is no excuse."

"But he's allowed to use one, why not me?" Xena had battled her daughter about this subject time and time again.

"Because I said so, now go to your room!" Eve stood rooted in place, her eyes filling with tears, then she covered her face and ran crying into her room.

"I hate you!" She sobbed.

"Daniel, you too.'

"But mom! She pulled the sword on me, it was self defense."

"Be that as it may, you have been trained, she hasn't, you could have really hurt her, now go." Xena said harshly. "I'll have your father deal with you later." After Daniel was in the house, Xena sat down on the porch steps, holding her head between her hands. As she contemplated what to tell Ares, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. It was Eve's journal, forgotten in the excitement, left lying open and rumpled in the dirt. Xena slowly stood and went over to it, picking it up gingerly. So this is what all this commotion was about? Xena couldn't believe what she was about to do, she never would, but it was already open...