Title: A Mother's Heart in a Warrior

Author: Videl: Warrior Princess

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: "The Gauntlet", from the Xena trilogy in the Hercules series, and "Orphan of War" in Xena.

Category: Xena angst

Summary: Xena saves the little boy, who is the lone survivor of a village, and remembers about her son Solan, whom no one in her army knows about. 

Disclaimer: I do not own Xena or any of the characters in this fic; they're from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and/or Xena: Warrior Princess.  Both shows belong to MGM studios. 

Author's Notes: Well, I'm Xena's BIGGEST fan from where I live, and I've ALWAYS wanted to do a Xena fic, but I never could seem to write a very good one…until now.  If I get enough good reviews for this one, I'll write some more. *sigh* OK, I made this longer than what I had planned or meant to, so, on with the fic!  Oh, and before I forget, please review!

A Mother's Heart in a Warrior

Xena's glare and anger at Darphus vanished, or more like was put on the back of her mind, being stored for later, when she heard a wail rang out, bringing back a memory from her past... 

She turned to her right, looking for the source of the cry.  The sound seemed to be coming from the corpse of a brunt, dead woman, and she crept over there, wondering still about the noise.  A orange silk rag, bright against the black remains of the fire, caught her eye, and she tossed it aside, and what she saw made her gasp in shock: a baby boy. 

She carefully picked up the child and held it out from her.  Shock and fear and a mixture of feelings filled her head and froze her in place.  A…a baby boy just like…

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??!  KILL IT!" Darphus bellowed, snapping Xena out of her daze.  The guard nodded and walked over to the two, sword drawn.  Xena growled and held the child away from him and pointed at the warrior with her left hand as she glared at him coldly. 

"STOP!!" Xena ordered, making the man almost jump back in confusion and shock.  "You kill this baby…you die next."  She held the child closer with both hands.  "Despite what some think," she started, then brought her deadly stare back to Darphus, "*I* still lead this army."  And with that said, she walked off back to their camp. 

Xena looked down at the young child with a mixture of emotions as she walked to a secluded cave.  Memories flooded her mind, memories she wanted to keep hidden… Memories she wanted destroy… Memories… Memories that she wished she had more of. 

She stopped just short of the cave's entrance and held him up in front of her and looked the tiny babe in the eye.  A baby…this was the first time she held a baby since…

Her mind snapped out of its train of thought when she heard some of her men muttering behind her.  She scowled, cursing herself for letting her past get to her.  She walked away from that path a long time ago.  There was no turning back now. 

But still…  She wondered where he was now… Solan…

She wondered if he was being fed right, if he was being tucked in at night, if he was being sung to when he was sad, if he was…happy…  How old would he be now?  Eight?  Nine?  Had it really been almost nine years since that fateful night?… Since the night she gave her son away?

Her arms shifted the baby boy's position slightly to make him easier to hold.  She snapped out of her daze as she began to walk inside the cave.  It was so stupid of her to even WONDER about that… For who ever heard of a mother's heart in a warrior?…