TLFENH2
Change In the Air
By Lori Bush
Disclaimer: Xena, Eve, Joxer and Gabrielle do not belong to me – they are the property of Renaissance Pictures and Universal/USA Studios. Profit neither intended nor expected from this. Please – don't get the lawyers involved.
Rating: PG
Violence: None
Sex: None – although the subject is broached.
Notes: Okay – people screamed for the sequel, here it is. Some of my GJRS friends questioned my loyalty to the "cause". Hehee. I hope everyone finds this satisfactory. Anyway, this one takes place about fifteen years after "Kindred Spirits" (repeat after me, "the last episode in Season Five"), and about seven years after the original "TLFENH".
Thanks, again to Rebecca. The title and the beta – both from her.
~**~
She saw him, slumped against the tree, eyes closed, his expression one of despair.
"Dad?"
His eyes flew open in shock, but he straightened up right away, and schooled his features carefully. "Hi, Evie," he answered with forced casualness, "What's up?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? I mean, all I said was that I wanted Mom to start training me with the chakram, and you went all pale and Mom Gabs burst into tears. Both of you took off in different directions right afterwards."
He shrugged, obviously still straining to look casual. "I don't know what Gabby was thinking. I never have. But I just wasn't prepared for you to be grown up so soon." He wouldn't look at her; instead he broke a dead twig off the tree and studied it carefully.
"Why does my wanting to learn to use the chakram mean I'm grown up?"
"Because your mom agreed to it. She told us a long time ago she wasn't going to teach you until she thought you were ready to take her place."
Eve snorted, crossing her arms across her chest. "I'm not ready to take her place. Nobody ever could."
"Someday, you will. Besides, you're more than ready to take my place, or even Gab's, by her side. You've learned so much."
"Well, I've had some pretty good teachers," the girl said with a grin. "Between you guys and the Amazons, it'd be pretty sad if I hadn't learned *something*."
He pouted. "I don't know that I taught you much. How to fall down, maybe."
"Dad!" She punched him in the arm. "You hold your own just fine!" Her frown faded to a serious expression that unconsciously mirrored his. "And you've taught me so many things about stuff besides fighting. There really is so much more to life than fighting."
Joxer finally looked the daughter of his heart in the eye. "If you've learned that from me, I guess I have taught you something valuable." He smiled gently, brushing her hair from her face. His smile slipped away again, and he looked back at the stick in his hands. "I'm thinking it might be time for me to settle down somewhere." He looked at Eve again earnestly. "I'm getting too old for all this."
She pouted, again looking like the man before her. "You aren't too much more than forty. You're close to Mom's age, and she's still going strong. And Mom Gabby…"
"Mom Gabby is younger," he finished firmly. "And now that you're nearly grown, your moms don't really need me around anymore. The three of you can go save Greece. Just promise me you'll visit once in a while."
She studied him for a minute. "Why didn't you ever tell her how much you love her?" At his look of surprise, she went on, "Mom Gabby. Why didn't you ever tell her?"
Joxer smiled, amazed at just how grown up and observant his little girl was. "I did. The first time, before you were born. She was pretty clear that, although she loved me, it wasn't 'that way.' I learned to live with it." He sighed, and seemed for a moment to be talking just to himself. "After you were born, I told her all the time. She just never heard it the way I was saying it."
The teenager looked incredulous. "So for all these years you've traveled around with the woman you love, living like family, raising me, but getting nothing back?"
Joxer began to pace. "I get plenty back. Gabby loves me, just not the way I do her. It's more than some people have – more than I ever hoped to have. And your mom loves me the same way. I've had the joy and privilege of watching you grow into an incredible young woman, and I can only hope I've had some influence there, too." He stopped pacing and grinned at her, and Eve couldn't resist slipping into his arms for a hug.
"Daddy, you know you have." Resting her head on his chest, she felt for a moment as if she were nine years old again, coming to him for reassurance. But she knew in her heart that it was time she paid back some of the debt she had spent years building with him. He needed reassurance now. She just didn't think she was the one who could give it – not the way he really needed it.
Still, the conversation had emboldened her, and curiosity won out. Peering up at his face, she asked seriously, "But you've gone all these years without sex?"
She thought for a moment she might be holding her father up – anyone that pale was probably about to pass out. When he felt strong enough again, and his mouth had stopped opening and closing soundlessly, she stepped back from his tall form. Clutching his chest, Joxer finally choked out, "Eve! What kind of question is *that*?"
"An honest one." She caught the look forming on his face and rolled her eyes. "Daddy, I'm fifteen years old and I've spent all my life with people older than I am – many of them Amazons. When you guys would leave me with Eris and Rhea and the rest, what do you think we talked about – dolls?"
"I – I – I, uh, I just never –" He leaned back limply against a tree. "I mean – " Those dark eyes narrowed, and his back stiffened. "*You* haven't yet, have you?" he rasped dangerously.
She snorted. "No way."
Joxer relaxed. "Well, you have spent a lot of time with those Amazons –"
"Dad," she explained as if to a five-year old, "Why do you think they talk about it so much? Few opportunities to actually *do* it." She grinned wickedly. "Although Rhea said to tell you you're welcome to come back *anytime*."
He held up both hands. "Nothing ever happened between us."
"I know. That's why she wants you to come back." The teenaged girl studied her father's blushing face. "It's not like she's kept it a big secret or anything." A few moments of awkward silence fell between them. "You don't think how she feels about you is anything like what you feel for Mom Gabby?"
"Rhea hardly knows me, sweetheart. I've spent close to half my life with Gabby. She's not some ideal – she's real. Love is about loving *real* people; people who let you down, who hurt you, but who love you back, even though you've done the same thing to them."
"See? That's why I haven't done it yet." At his questioning gaze, she elaborated. "Loved anybody. Had sex. I can't till I find someone as good as my Dad. There just aren't a lot of people like you out there." Tears filled his eyes, but none escaped down his face. She touched his cheek, and he covered her hand with his larger one. "I love you, Daddy."
"She's right. There really aren't a lot of people like you out there, Joxer."
Eve jumped back and responded for both of them, shock in her voice. "Mom Gabby?"
"Mmm-hmm. Can I talk to your dad alone for a little bit?" Still wide-eyed, the girl nodded at the blonde Amazon, then turned and scurried off towards the campsite.
Joxer groped for a delicate intro, quickly abandoning it as a hopeless cause. "So how much did you hear?"
"Enough." The green eyes glinted as she grinned. "You've got a pretty serious growl, there, Papa Bear."
"I just don't think she's ready for that yet, and I want to meet any guy she'd even consider getting that involved with, anyway. I never thought that, with two moms, though, I'd have to be the one to talk to her about it."
"HA! You think we wanted to? Why do you think we left her with the Amazons so much?"
His eyes bugged. "You mean, you *knew* they were talking about sex with our daughter? And you wanted them to? You, you – " He calmed down and then mock scowled at her. "You *wimp*!"
Gabrielle made a face back. "It never even occurred to you. Somebody had to do it. She *is* fifteen."
"So there are certain advantages to being the Amazon Queen beyond the obvious, huh?"
The bard gave a short, ironic laugh, and her face grew serious. "Speaking of the Amazons – You know what we talked about, about when Xena started training Eve?"
He nodded. They had sat down years ago and made a pact that when this day came, it would be time for them to leave Xena and her daughter together, to have the chance to spend some time alone for a while before Eve set out on her own. It had been the reason they'd both reacted so strongly to this evening's events. It signaled the end of an era.
"I talked to Cyane last time we were there. I'm going to go back, serve as Queen Regent. Cyane would still rule, but I'd be sort of a figurehead. That way I can write, and do some of the things I've wanted to, but put off. My parents are gone, Lila's married – besides you and Xena and Eve, they're pretty much all the family I've got left." She looked at her feet, glancing up at his face and then down again. "You made any plans yet?"
Joxer found he was still holding the stick from earlier, and he twisted it nervously. "No. I think I was afraid that if I planned for it, it would come sooner. It came too soon, anyway."
"Would you like to come with me?" She was still looking down.
"With you? To the Amazon Village? I couldn't, you know that. I mean, like, I'm a guy and all, and –"
"As Queen's Consort?"
"And they don't like guys, and – Huh? As what? You don't mean – "
Gabrielle finally looked at him. "Consort, Joxer. You know, you and me. Together." She jumped at the sharp snap, almost pulling her sais. Then she noticed the two broken pieces of stick in Joxer's hands. He didn't seem to have anything more to say, so she went on. "I thought about it a long time – I even talked about it with Xena. She's pretty much one of your biggest fans, you know. I've been stupid for a long time, but mostly it's been on purpose. I'm not scared of much, and I guess after all these years, the excuse that I'm afraid you might go away doesn't hold water anymore, does it?" Her eyes pled with him for forgiveness, and for understanding.
Dropping the stick, he grabbed her shoulders, looking intently into her eyes. "Are you *sure*?"
The Amazon couldn't help herself – she rolled her eyes. "Joxer, I haven't hurt you enough over the years? I wouldn't even ask if I weren't sure." She paused. "Unless you're not interested?" Suddenly she looked supremely *unsure*.
She found herself crushed roughly against Joxer's chest, his hands patting her back and head. "I-I-interested? I-I –I, you, I mean, really? Honest?"
She snaked her arms around his waist and turned her head so she could *breathe*. After a few moments of being petted like an Egyptian feline goddess, she asked, "Is that a yes?"
He pushed her to arms length, his eyes almost wild. "Yes, oh yes. Absolutely. Uh- HUH! Affirmative. Ummm, - "
Gabrielle laughed and leaned back into him. "I get it. Good." As Joxer's arms went back around her, she sighed. "I only wish, having seen you in action as a dad, I had done this sooner. You deserve to have kids of your own."
Her future Consort took her chin in his hand and tilted her face to look him in the eye. "You aren't too old yet," he said, assuredly.
"Maybe." Leaning her face into his palm, she smiled invitingly. "I guess we'll have to experiment, to find out." Joxer stroked her cheekbone with a rough thumb and looked completely blissful in spite of the slight blush. "Shall we go tell Xena you said yes?"
"As if there was ever any doubt?" he snorted, taking her hand as they started towards the camp.
"Mmmmm," Gabrielle hummed noncommittally, "Oh! By the way, Xena says she'll join us there when she finishes training Eve."
"See?" he crowed, "You knew all along! Admit it!" They were fairly deep in the woods, invisible to human eyes. Still, his sudden silence, punctuated by a moan of contentment, gave evidence that the argument was over. And other things were just beginning.