Standing near the water's edge Gabrielle looked out over the lake. The early morning air caused the light wrap she had on over her shoulder to dance and flutter. She couldn't tear her mind away from what the healer had said the day before. He had confirmed it, she was pregnant, but she still had no idea how she'd gotten that way. Her mind played her memories over and over again looking for something, anything that would explain how she'd gotten this way. So far there were two possibilities, one she wanted to be true more then anything and the other scared her down to her core. There had been a moment just after she'd kissed Xena with the fountain water on her lips that it felt as if Xena's spirit had passed through her body; that was the one she was hoping to be true. The other possibility was the blast of energy by Yodoshi; it wouldn't be the first time she'd gotten pregnant through a fire ball.

Stripping off her clothes Gabrielle eased into the water. It was surprisingly warm so she submerged herself, letting the water swirl around her until her lungs burned for air. When she finally broke the surface she gasped for air.

"Hey Gabby!"

Gabrielle turned back towards the bank to see Aphrodite sitting on the same log she and Eve had shared the week before. She frowned at the pink wearing blonde goddess, what the hell was she so happy about? "What do you want?"

Aphrodite pouted. "Nice to see you too." She scanned the water waiting for the second figure to emerge but then looked back at Gabrielle. "Did I interrupt something juicy? Should I leave so Xena doesn't drown?"

She didn't know? How the hell did she not known, she was a goddess.

"What?" The blonde goddess asked as she caught the look she was getting.

"Xena's dead, Aphrodite." Gabrielle said bluntly as she made her way out of the water. She walked over to the towel she'd left near her clothes and dried off.

"What?" Aphrodite looked confused and even a little sad. "No way, she can't be, for real?

Gabrielle nodded.

Wow, the goddess thought as she blinked in surprise.

"You didn't know?" Gabrielle asked as she stared at the look on her friend's face. She really shouldn't be that surprised.

Tight blonde curls bounced as Aphrodite shook her head. "I had no idea. I've been away, girls weekend with the Valkyries, man do those Norse babes know how to party."

Gabrielle rolled her eyes as she got dressed. There really wasn't any point in acting shy around the goddess of love, especially after all the trouble they'd managed to get into together. At one point Xena has even teasingly told Gabrielle she wasn't allowed to play with the goddess anymore cause she was tired of saving their butts. "So you wouldn't know if she were in the Elysian fields?"

"Not without checking." Aphrodite replied. "Big brother's taken over management of the underworld. Totally hate what he's done to the place, all dark and creepy."

"It's the underworld Aphrodite, it's meant to be dark and creepy." The blonde warrior bard replied.

There was a worried tightness around her friend's eyes that made Aphrodite get up and go over to her. She put an arm around her and gave her a one armed hug. "I'm sure she's there with her kid. I'll check if you'd like."

Gabrielle nodded, "Thanks."

"Anytime," The blonde goddess replied. "But why hasn't she come back? Why aren't you on some quest to bring her back? Isn't that what the two of you do?"

She sighed again. Gabrielle knew that she'd have to explain this over and over, but she was sick of it already. She went into the story yet again and then explained that Xena had to stay dead this time in order for those souls to be at rest.

Aphrodite blinked. "So let me get this straight, she died so she could take on an evil entity that was sucking up dying souls and trapping them. She could only kill it as a spirit herself so she took on an army by herself, which she'd done before and won, only this time she ended up dead. She killed the big bad, set the souls free, and then wouldn't let you bring her back cause she said she had to stay dead so they could be at peace?"

Gabrielle nodded. "That's about it."

Aphrodite huffed at that. She thought it over for a moment then opened her mouth to ask something else but was cut off by Gabrielle asking a question of her own.

"Aphrodite, I need to see Xena, I need to talk to her." Gabrielle said as she looked at the goddess with the frowned brow. "I need to ask her something, it's important, can you take me to the Elysian fields?"

"You're not dead." She replied to her friend. "But I guess I could, why?"

"Because." Gabrielle replied.

Aphrodite crossed her arms and looked at the warrior bard with concern. "You aren't thinking of offing yourself to be with her are you? Cause I think that might be a little short sighted because I don't think…."

"I don't care what you think," Gabrielle cut in. "I need to talk to Xena, I need to know if she knows about the baby."

That shut the chatty goddess up really quick. She looked long and hard at her friend and then her eyes went wide. "Oh me." She looked Gabrielle over again and smiled, "I thought you were looking a little extra curvy."

Gabrielle blinked and looked down at herself. She wasn't showing or anything but her breasts maybe looked a little bigger and maybe she had a little more fat on her toned frame then she did a month ago. Looking up she glared at the goddess and huffed.

Aphrodite laughed, "If you two keep doing that you're going to give men a terrible complex."

"It's not something we were trying for." Gabrielle huffed again.

"Could have fooled me." The other blonde teased. "You two could go at it like rabbits."

Gabrielle gave her friend the best Xena like death glare she could manage. "Will you take me to her?"

With a more somber face the goddess nodded. "If I can I will, but I have to ask. Are you really going to ask if she knows how that happened, or are you going to ask her to come back because it did?"

"Don't you think she should know?" Gabrielle asked as she came over to sit next to her friend. Of all the people to be sharing with she was baring her soul to the ultimate party girl, but in a way it felt right. For all her faults Aphrodite was a good friend.

"Do you think it would really make a difference?" Aphrodite asked carefully.

Gabrielle sighed, "I don't know. I'd like to think so, but… I'm just not sure" The blonde warrior bard sighed as she put her head in her hands. "It's just, I could have bared being without her when it was just me, but now it's not just me." She grew silent for awhile before finally looking up. "I'm scared." She sighed again. "We haven't had the best of luck with babies and children; Solon, Hope, Eve, we're pretty much zero for three."

"I don't know, the little god killer seems like a good egg, despite the whole little god killer thing." Aphrodite replied and then held her hands up and leaned away from Gabrielle when the shorter blonde gave her an even harder death glare. "Sorry."

"Don't ever call her that again." Gabrielle warned.

"Hey I said I was sorry." The blonde goddess said with a huff and then sighed. She put a hand on Gabrielle's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "Look, no matter what happens with tall dark and ass kicking gorgeous, you're not alone Gabby. You got Eve," She paused and smiled, "And Auntie Aphrodite'll be glad to hang around and keep an eye on the little tyke."

Gabrielle smiled softly, "You'd watch out for my baby?"

"Sure!" Aphrodite replied brightly. "Just don't expect me to do gross stuff, and whatever you do don't name it Xena Junior or something corny like that."

Gabrielle's smile grew a little brighter. "I'll keep that in mind."