Chapter 2

And that was what brought us to our current predicament. The Goddess knew that the sting of a freshly shattered heart was something that wasn't necessarily easy to remedy. The Warrior Babe didn't even want to hear his name mentioned and getting her to comply with her request, well, she certainly had her work cut out for her, that was for sure. But there was no way that she was going to give up without a fight. Aphrodite knew that they belonged together and if they could just stop being so stubborn when it came to that certain part of their relationship, then they wouldn't have a problem.

Luckily for them, she considered herself to be pretty skilled when it came to this type of things. She wasn't the Goddess of Love just because people thought she looked absolutely amazing in pink. It really was a wonderful color though and her impeccable complexion mixed with that platinum blonde hair and a killer bod to die for was just the perfect, knock out combination. Sure, she liked to stare at herself for hours but she was completely focused to the task she had that she unselfishly decided to put that on hold for the day and by the time she was done with them, they were going to be thanking her big time.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed in an absolutely thrilled voice "Since Ares isn't around, that means you're available."

"For what?" Xena quickly asked her, already not liking what the Goddess was thinking at and if she believed that she was going to go anywhere with her, then she was sadly mistaken.

"Oh, you know… to have a little fun."

"Your kind of fun is not something I want to associate with." she sternly announced, dismissing her yet again.

"How do you know unless you give it a try?" Dite pleaded, materializing in front of her which only managed to get her another dirty look from the Warrior Princess.

"Once was enough." she hissed, pushing passed her annoyed as memories from the last time Ares had dragged her to one of the Goddess' little parties ran through her head.

That was something that she wasn't too keen on repeating and if she was to ever get her hands on the little nymph that had laced her wine, well, suffice it to say that the sneaky sprite would be spending what was left of her life in pieces. The psychotic fairy only managed to get away because Ares was too busy carving up the satyr who had decided to get just a little too physical with his Princess, placing his hands on her in a way that was much too intimate for the War God's liking while that desperate nymph tried to keep his attention elsewhere.

Needless to say, it didn't work of course because the Olympian's eyes were literally glued to his Princess the whole time from the instant she had whispered that she felt a little strange as she subtly nestled herself into the stack of pillows that they were sitting on, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. The room was already filled with way too many eager suitors that had quickly outstayed their welcome as they tried to get alarmingly close to her and she didn't want to give off any false invitations that would have made one think that she was interested as she relaxed there, trying to shake the fog that was rapidly clouding her mind but ultimately succumbing to it in the end.

Despite how determined the woodland creature was with capturing the Olympian's focus though, seductively running her hand along his chest and shamelessly sliding her leg over his lap to keep him from noticing the one that was going to keep the ghastly mortal woman distracted for the rest of the night so they could have some real fun, the moment that worthless goat man had even dared to lay a finger on his darling Xena, Ares made sure to show him just where on his body those horns of his really should have been growing as he ferociously tore them from his head and just as savagely shoved one into his throat and then the other into his chest.

Having brutally made a display of what was surely the fate of anyone who even thought of following in the foolish satyr's footsteps, Ares casually tossed the lifeless body to the side with a slight annoyance and then proceeded to gently lift his precious Princess into his arms. She stirred a small amount, burrowing herself comfortably against his chest as his unmistakable scent encased her warmly and she slipped back into her haze completely contented within the strong arms of the one who held her tightly. One soothing stroke through her hair and a protective kiss against her head later and they had soon vanished from their spot.

"Oh, come on!" came Aphrodite's hurt voice, snapping Xena out of the memory, "You can't hold that against me. You weren't in any real danger."

The Warrior Princess just scoffed at her, not really believing that she actually thought that and she was brushing it off as if it was nothing at all. Some friend she was!

"I wouldn't intentionally cause you harm, you know that… don't you?" she hesitantly asked, hoping that one of the best friendships that she ever had didn't just get destroyed from one tiny mishap that wasn't entirely her fault.

Hearing the distress that was in the Goddess' voice made Xena cease her steps and she let out a low sigh. Although she wouldn't have put all of her faith into Aphrodite, she wasn't exactly the most reliable person after all, she did know where her loyalty lied and Gods knew she wouldn't have purposely done anything to anger her brother either. And let's not forget the fact with the way Dite had been trying to brain wash her with the notion that she and Ares were her power couple, she couldn't really believe that the Goddess would have schemed something up like that. It just wasn't in her nature.

"You know as well as I do that Ares would have never let anything happen to you… He loves you too much to just turn a blind eye…"

Now that little comment made a snarky little chuckle escape from Xena's mouth. Who was the Goddess trying to fool with that line of garbage? He didn't care about her and the only thing he was worried about was that someone else was touching what he thought was his property.

"Trust me Warrior Babe, he doesn't let me forget what happened and I swear, on the head of Zeus, I thought he was going to lose his mind as he tried to figure out what was wrong with you…"

The Goddess had to shake that haunting memory from her head for a second, really not wanting to live through that again. The sight of Ares huddled worriedly over his Princess as he tried to get her coherent enough to figure out what she was given was heartbreaking. Not in a million years could she push out of her mind those vengeful eyes of his turned her way, the feeling of his harsh grip as he slammed her against the wall roughly, demanding to know where that tricky nymph had scampered off to and she really thought that she was going to end up dead and she would have too if it hadn't been for Xena's soft whimper that had captured his attention and just like that, she was the center of his world again.

"At least let me make it up to you." Dite begged, giving the Warrior Babe her best puppy dog face, surely thinking that was going to win her over, and no one was ever able to resist that.

"I'm not interested…" she firmly told her, rolling her eyes at the Goddess' pitiful attempt to try and persuade her.

That look wasn't going to do her any good, it wasn't the Love Goddess who she had a weakness for and Xena's resolve was a lot stronger to repel against it. Though she did wonder why she had such a hard time denying Ares when he would give her that same look. There was just something about the way his auburn eyes would look at her as that irresistible pout would form on his face, just completely annihilating any resolve she might have still had about whatever it was that he was trying to get her to agree to.

Watching the Goddess do it though, it was really rather cringe worthy and Xena really couldn't believe that she thought that actually got her anything. She was trying way too hard and that only brought up the thought that the Love Goddess was definitely up to something and she didn't like it one bit.

"If you keep that up, you'll give yourself more wrinkles." she cunningly stated, a devious chuckle escaping from her mouth with the way the Goddess' face turned to shock.

"You're lying!" Dite quickly shouted out a little too defensively, not believing what she said for a second but the thought was in her mind now and she couldn't fight back the need to check.

Without giving it another thought, the Goddess swiftly made a mirror appear in her hand and started to inspect her flawless visage in it. She anxiously let her fingers run along her face, scrutinizing every little inch of it as if she hadn't just spent hours doing the same thing before coming to visit her all-time favorite mortal. Just as she suspected though, absolutely fabulous!

There wasn't a wrinkle in sight and if she was being completely honest with herself, she was actually a little jealous of her own reflection. She was just so strikingly beautiful, oh how lucky those mortals were to be able to worship and gaze upon such a beauty as she was. It had to be illegal to look this good and Dite just couldn't help herself and she blew her mirror image a small kiss and her reflection blushed considerably from the gesture, giggling softly as she tried to hide her flushed face.

After indulging on herself for a time that seemed totally appropriate for the Love Goddess, she really was undeniably gorgeous, Aphrodite let her dreamy blue eyes look Xena's way for a second, twisting one of her perfect blonde curls around her finger and that was when she finally noticed that she had given her the slip. Her completely overzealous smile soon turned into a small frown when she realized what she did and she huffed out a small breath before quickly vanishing to find her.

The Warrior Princess on the other hand was quite pleased with herself as she headed through the forest. She knew that Aphrodite wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of staring at herself and once she got started it was nearly impossible to pull the Goddess out of her trance. She was just such easy pickings and an amused grin pulled at Xena's lips with thinking that she would probably be standing in that same spot for the rest of the day. Let's hope Gods didn't get frostbite.

As Xena started to head down a small path that would lead her back to the War God's temple, her smirk faded once she caught sight of the Love Goddess once again standing before her with her hands on her hips. That was odd, she thought for sure that she had gotten rid of her, looks like she needed to come up with new ways to get the Goddess out of her hair.

"Nice try, Warrior Babe." Dite nonchalantly stated, gazing at her nails for a few seconds and then turning her focus back to her as if the raven haired warrior's plan hadn't worked out as well as she thought it did. Did she really think she could outsmart her out of all people?!

"Get tired of yourself already, huh?" Xena asked unkindly, she was really getting bored with whatever game she was trying to play and she didn't want any part of it.

The Love Goddess didn't let her words affect her nonetheless, and she wasn't going to let her derail her carefully laid plans either. She knew she was just lashing out because she was hurt and she just cast her brother's flame a chirpy smile, determined more than ever to patch that fractured heart of hers back up.

"Sorry, Sweet Pea, but we're on a deadline." she informed her as she took a step in her direction and swiftly lifted her hand up.

"Don't you dare!" Xena shouted, taking a step back from her in the hopes of being able to eventually distance herself far enough away from the Goddess' powers but it was futile. Before she could even take another step back from the swirling vortex of doom, she was soon surround by pink sparkles and roses as she and the Goddess disappeared from the forest.