They know that, even if they haven't talked about it yet, they know everything about each others and they know that they've crossed the border of the friendship a long time ago.
But they're still living everyday denying it.

Xena thinks that her soulmate is too young to be affected by such a deep form of whatever their relationship is, she is also afraid, because every time she decides to open her heart to someone, this one seems to slip away, to disappear from her sight for good. Maybe this is due to the disastrous past she had lived.

"Gods, this is my punishment, isn't it? I'd rather die if something ever happened to my favourite green eyes. If this means living in denyal, I can handle it. I would do anything for love, I would do anything for her"

Gabrielle thinks that her soulmate is too worried about the redemption of her soul, she has no time to think about love. Even if she can see that what they share is special, she's too afraid to talk to her about that.

"Gods, if only she could see herself through my eyes, she would see what I can see and she could understand why I am deeply in love with her. But I'd rather die if I had to live without her. If this means living in denyal, I can handle it. I would do anything for love, I would do anything for her"

So different but so connected. Two faces of the same coin: where Xena ends, Gabrielle begins, where Gabrielle lacks, Xena fills up. They're so opposite but so complete, they can't live without each others.

Maybe they can manage to hide all of this in the daylight, but during the night, when they're both sleeping, they're connected again. One in the others' arms, they can't hide, they can't deny, they have to face the thruth. Here their hearts speak, when their mouths shut and their eyes are closed.

The night is when Xena pulls Gabrielle closer, when they share the same bedroll, when they fall asleep one on the opposite side of the other and in the morning they wake up one in the arms of the other.
The night is also when Xena wakes up because Gabrielle is having a nightmare or is talking while dreaming.
The night is when both of them listen to their heartbeats, both of them pretend to sleep, only to stare at the other.

It's now, during this night, that everything changes.
Gabrielle is staring at her soulmate, believing that she is asleep, she begins her monologue:

"If only you knew it, what I feel for you, I'm scared, I'm afraid you wouldn't let me in your heart. No matter what you did in the past, I know the real you, and you are the mighty person I saw the first time my eyes have met yours. Just don't be afraid, just be with me Xena, I know you want it too and maybe one day I will find the strenght to look into your eyes and tell you what it feels like to be in Heaven, because it is how I feel whenever I'm with you, I love you. This is a promise. I will never let you go, because I would do anything for love, but I won't do that"

When the Bard closes her eyes, counting on the fact that her soulmate was sleeping, the Warrior Princess opens hers. She wasn't sleeping, she listened every single word her soulmate said.

"Gabrielle, I'm so afraid, I don't want to push you, don't want to decide for you. What you've just said it's so clear to me, I can feel it, I can feel the same that you feel, I can see it too, in every gaze, every smile and every touch we share. If only I could find the courage not to be afraid, you'll always be the best part of me. We are bounded, we are meant to be together. I will find the courage to tell you that I love you. This is a promise. I will never let you go because I would do anything for love but I won't do that.

The Bardturns herself to face the Warrior'sbeautiful blue eyes, that's when both realize that nobody was sleeping, they couldn't sleep because they were too busy to listen to their heartbeats and to think about what to say, how to say it.
In that moment they share their first kiss, so soft but at the same time so deep, like them: two faces of the same coin, two hearts beating together in the same soul.