Chapter Three
"Hey I never asked where's Argo?" Xena asked. She was still in her dress rather than her leathers, Achilles had taught her to enjoy more time outside of them and be comfortable.
"Oh in Amphipolis, we walked all the way back together."
"Hard to believe she wasn't tempted to let you ride for the sake of getting there three weeks quicker." They laughed.
"I think she tried, but I wouldn't have it."
"I'm amazed you two even got along without me." Xena unsheathed her new sword.
"What happen to your sword?" Gabrielle asked.
"Its with Poseidon now, so Achilles ordered a new one made for me, I should probably break it in before we get to Greece." Gabrielle nodded.
"Daion spar with me." He pulled out his sword and picked up his shield leaving his partner to keep watch. Xena picked up her shield. Gabrielle sucked in a breath when she saw Xena prowess in sparring. In her opinion she was more lethal than ever. But she also noted Xena was holding back.
"Xena why are you holding back."
"I don't want to break his shield we're not in a position to get a new one."
"Oh."
"Would you really be that sad if she drowned?" Daion asked her. Xena shrugged.
"More or less, I'd be upset if it were actual murder." Daion nodded.
"Noted."
"And I'd know."
"Also noted." It was a while before they reached Amphipolis actually passing the fleet of ships headed to Troy. Achilles ship however was at the front of the line so she didn't see him. Xena finally had it with Gabrielle's chattering mouth when she told her mother she was sleeping with Achilles in front of a room full of people. So by dinner everyone knew about it naturally. So by the time her prisoner had been convicted and sentenced to death she had Gabrielle on her way to the Amazons for good. Or at least she would have had Ephiny not made it clear that in retrospect they didn't want Gabrielle as their princess and Ephiny had already embraced her ideas of peace and taken her place. So that had only left her parents. It had not been hard at all to work out a plan with Herodotus he loved his daughter, it was Lila who was truly sad.
"I hear the Amazons are taking new members," Xena had told her when she had rode Argo to Gabrielle's childhood home.
"No, I got a job offer down in Thebes, I'm gonna be a Thesbian."
"Ah well good for you, they do very well in life," Xena told her with a hint of sarcasm before leaving.
"I'm so glad you finally got rid of her."
"You, you seemed to love her," Xena told her mother.
"Yes, well so did you," Cyrene shot back. "So what's this relationship between you and Achilles?"
"We love each other and we plan on spending the rest of our lives together."
"Well I for one am glad the plans don't include Gabrielle, I do hope they include grandchildren."
"We figure that children will come in their own time perhaps now or later."
"Is it now?" Cyrene asked hopeful for more children, you never guess she used to sing until men jumped to their deaths.
"I don't know, everything still seems normal. We'll just have to wait and see." Xena bit down on her apple before helping her mother out as usual. It wasn't until she could feel life inside of her that any symptoms actually showed up.
"I'm so sorry," Daion told her when she told him why they would no longer be sparring.
"Why are you sorry?" Xena asked.
"Because I sparred with you while you were pregnant."
"Its okay, Daion neither of us knew and I'm still pregnant, don't worry." He nodded. The other soldier apologized as well. "Don't worry look I still plan on sparring with you, we just can't go all out anymore." They nodded knowing that for now they would mostly be on the defensive.
"Shall we send word to him?" Daion asked. Xena shook her head.
"He told me to send word when it was born."
"Achilles will have a son this is such a blessed day," The other said happily.
"Keep it to yourselves, I don't need everyone knowing who's the father Gods know what enemies will come." They nodded. Xena had just talked everyone into believing that they weren't Achilles men and she hadn't slept with him. "We'll be returning to the island soon, I want to have the baby there." They nodded.
"My first grandchild how oddly exciting," Cyrene told her.
"Life time as an immortal and even as her daughter gets older she still has new mortal experiences," Xena commented to her mother, who frowned.
"Well being mortal has turned out to be a much better existence you know."
"I know," Xena told her as they boarded the ship. "Are you sure you can leave the tavern." Cyrene nodded.
"For my grandchild anything. It was a long ride back to the island, but they rejoiced at her return. There were still a few men who guarded the island. They were all happy to know of the pregnancy and agreed not to write to Achilles.
"Not long now," Cyrene commented as she breathed hard.
"Oh," Xena moaned in pain. "Gods!"
"Yep not long now." Cyrene wiped her forehead as she took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down. She was sweating a lot and her eyes were wide from the pain. She was seriously pale that Cyrene and the other women in the room wondered if she would die in childbirth. The labor was long and tough, but finally Xena delivered a large baby boy.
"Oh he's a large one my lady, looks about ten pounds." Xena nearly fainted at the thought. She didn't even know her hips had widened that much to even get him out. Of course when she looked at him she found him to be just a pound heavier than any normal baby and she was by no means fat except for her stomach.
"Oh he's so beautiful," Xena whispered holding him to her breast to suckle. Cyrene nodded.
"He's got your beauty," Cyrene commented. "He so handsome." He stared up at her with blue eyes that mirrored his father rather than his mother, but he had a mixture of their hair.
"He's going to look like his father except with my hair," Xena commented. Cyrene nodded. The next day once she was more rested she sent Achilles a message of the birth of his son. She would not name him until he had arrived. Their son had been born a month and Achilles did not even send a message back.
"Are you sure you don't want to come back with me?" Cyrene asked. She had to get back to the tavern.
"Yes, I'm sure he has a perfectly good reason for not honoring his promise." Cyrene nodded and kissed her grandson's head. He cooed in happiness before turning to suckle. Xena covered him again and exposed her breast for him.
"All right be good and bring my grandson to visit soon." Xena nodded. Before they kissed each other's cheek and parted ways. Xena took her son fishing a little later with Daion and the other soldier rowing the boat. He enjoyed the sun and putting his little feet in the water. He grew bigger everyday and he smiled every time he looked at her face. The days passed in motherly bliss, but it saddened her greatly when every morning they looked to the horizon and no Achilles and every night. They sent numerous messages and still nothing.
"Daion would you be willing to go find Achilles in Troy?"
"My son is older, but at least I've spent time with him, Achilles deserves the same for Peleus." She had finally relented and named him Peleus after Achilles father. He had a full head of ash blond hair.
"Thank you, I would go, but my son needs me." He nodded. He set off that very day for Troy.
"Come on Peleus I have some place special to take you today." She took him to the place where Achilles' mother use to take him where they had probably conceived their son. She took him out in a small rowboat, so she wouldn't have to bring someone extra. For a moment they floated around the cove before she rowed the boat ashore and allowed him to walk in the sand. They climbed on the rocks and rested in the grass where they had lunch before they looked for seashells.
"Come on let's go home," Xena told him as he closed his eyes in sleep. He usually napped around the end of noon waking up late for his last feeding before sleeping again. She lay him carefully in the boat before pushing it into the water and getting in. She rowed out and made it home just before the sunset and she watched it from the balcony before taking her son to their bedroom. She lowered him lovingly in the crib and covered him. She kissed his forehead.
"Oh look at him he's walking on his own already," the women commented. Xena smiled down at her son walking on bare unsteady feet as they walked through town. He had a cold and hadn't been for a walk in awhile. Now they were returning home.
"Up," Xena said. He nodded, but she wouldn't lift him until he repeated her. He tried to lift his foot, but the step was too big.
"Up," He repeated finally. Xena smiled and lifted him up the first step.
"Up?" Xena asked.
"Up," He repeated in his cute baby voice. Soon he was saying up before his feet barely touched the warm stone, so that she was bouncing him. They were both laughing when they got to the top.
"Okay let's see if Daddy's on his way back." She lifted him up into her arms and walked along the length of the wall. They both looked out to sea and immediately spotted a black sail in the distance.
"Boat!" Peleus exclaimed clapping his hands and smiling. Xena was so happy that Peleus would finally get to see his father. She was angry at him for just returning to see his son, and he would catch hell for it he could be sure of that.
"Come on let's go get cleaned up." Xena ordered food prepared for the men after she took out a spyglass to make sure it was not just Daion returning alone. It was not just Daion, she spotted Eudorus as well. She freshened up and changed Peleus soon everyone went to greet the men returning from war.
"Just think today you're going to meet your daddy." They didn't have long to wait as the men began to pick up speed in anticipation. As they drew nearer they began to cheer. Peleus smiled and clapped his hands. The boat docked and men dropped weapons hurrying to get to their wives and children. Achilles didn't spot her immediately and she saw him hunch his shoulders as he sighed, but smiled at the men greeting their wives.
"Achilles!" Xena exclaimed. He looked up and his smile became real at the sight of her and his son. He ran to her the crowd separating for him easily. His eyes drank her before he kissed her and than his son.
"My son," He whispered. He took Peleus into his arms. Peleus smiled at him and didn't cry Xena had pointed him out. He turned to his men. "I have a son!" His men cheered the loudest.
"Come on there's food and wine to be drank in celebration for your victorious return, I hope."
"It all came down to a battle between me and their best fighter, we were victorious." Xena nodded. They had some wounded, but not too bad. They split up the spoils of war and took part in the food and wine prepared for their return. Peleus found it strange to be around warriors drinking and laughing being sloppy in the long run. He hadn't even experienced this in his grandmother's tavern the one time he had been. Xena had taken him there to stay for a week.
"Come on move the party to your homes, go home and love your woman!" Achilles told them when he saw his son yawn after finishing another piece of mutton and his goblet of goat's milk. They all nodded and headed for home grateful to be home with their wives and mothers.
"Come on Peleus time for bed," Xena told him. She carried him to their room and undressed him. He slept only in his cloth diaper. She sang to him and Achilles would have jumped to his death were she beckoning him towards a cliff or rocks while they rowed home. Once her son was asleep she tucked him in his cradle at the end of their bed. Achilles kissed him goodnight before he followed Xena out. When he found her again she was finishing her dinner. She hadn't eaten as much as she socialized and watched her son making sure he did not choke.
"You're angry with me aren't you?" Achilles asked.
"I would like to know why you never at least answered my message back."
"I never got it until Daion came to me. They poisoned our supplies and I spent months recovering. Your messenger was killed every time you notice that he never returned."
"I did, but who killed them?"
"Agamemnon ordering them into battle with his own men. They would refuse knowing that they took their command from me, but what could they do with unfinished training and no weapons."
"When Daion showed up I was in the middle of a battle that had already lasted three days we were at a near stand still as we fought only a few men falling for once. I was preparing to leave when Agamemnon made the deal me against their best. Odysseus told me I could send the other men home to their wives and families with just a stroke of my sword and I knew I could. I thought of you and I knew that you would stay and save as many Greeks and Trojans from losing their lives in a senseless war as you could. You think I liked knowing that all this time my son was growing up without me?"
"I had hoped that was not the case," Xena told him. "I would have understood if you had decided to stay and finish out the war, what I did not understand was why you never replied and now I do."
"You never feared death for me?" Achilles asked.
"I could never doubt your skills in battle. I know that for your son you will protect yourself now more than ever."
"I'm sorry I caused you any pain." Xena shook her head.
"Don't be sorry you had no control over it." They kissed and he pulled her up to her feet to head for their bedroom.
"No, Peleus is sleeping in there. We'll leave him with a woman from the village and go sailing tomorrow or something."
"Or we could do it right here." Xena raised an eyebrow at him in thought and than grinned before she indulged his fantasy. The servants walked in and Xena lifted up covered in food just like Achilles.
"Um...why don't you go home ladies we'll clean up in here," Xena told them. They blushed and nodded before hurrying on. Once they were out the door Xena stopped paying attention to them.