I just wanted to say, when you read the flashback, you're welcome; I just felt like I beat the system. And, in case your skeptical about the tennis thing, it is possible. How do I know? Let's just say I have personal experience AKA it happened to me.

Chapter 4

Xena

I punched the red bag hard again and again. Alicia was at school and Eli was being baby sat by none other than Mrs. Ethan's Mom so I shut down the Dojo for the day. I was angry; which really isn't the best mind set to have when teaching people to defend themselves. How could Eli just demand that we suddenly just give up everything we have and go save a world we no longer belonged to? Gabrielle and I had moved on. Greece was no longer our home. Our farm house was our home. This beautiful country side was our home. And if Eli or Joxer thought for one second we'd give that up without a fight-I kicked the bag hard enough to send it swinging.

A soft rasp on the closed door caught my attention and I sighed, couldn't people realize the bright red "sorry we're CLOSED" sign wasn't there for decoration?

"we're closed!" I hollered "all lessons will resume tomorrow."

"I thought I could get a private lesson" I turned towards the door and found my favorite blonde outside the glass with a picnic basket. She gave me a little wave "Hey"

I couldn't stop the stupid grin that twisted my lips as I jogged towards the door and unlocked it. I opened it just enough to get my head through and keep her out "depends on the type of private lesson" I purred seductively. She rolled her eyes and flashed me her sais under the blanket in the basket. I sighed in faux remorse. "what's the password?" she pulled me down and whispered something in my ear that made even me blush. "that works" I said and pulled the door open for her. She brought my face down to her and kissed my lips softly. I rested my hands against her stomach, feeling the non-existent bump. "How's the parasite?" I asked, teasingly of course. I could practically taste the love I had for my unborn child on my words. She rested her hands over mine but slapped my arm gently

"Don't talk about your baby like that" she growled "and he or she is perfectly fine thank you very much." I Eskimo kissed her before taking the picnic basket and setting it in the middle of the hard wood flooring. I set up the targets for Gabrielle, lining up the bulls-eyes on the farthest wall. "How's your writing coming along?" I asked, sitting down on the blanket she spread out and popped a grape into my mouth. "Gabrielle...?" I said when she didn't answer me. She stared off into space, lost in her own little world. "you who" I said waving a hand in front her face "pilot to co-pilot, anyone in there?" she blinked a few times then focused in on me.

"huh?" was her intelligent answer. Seeing the look in her eyes, I gently squeezed her shoulder. Instantly I knew what she'd been thinking about.

"Gabrielle, I thought we had agreed not to dwell on the whole going home thing." I murmured and she gave me a look. No, not A look. THE look.

"yeah, I guess that's why you started beating the crap out of the bag right?" she snarled, her voice rising slightly as she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at the still swinging punching bag. I put my hands out in front of me in a 'don't shoot gesture

"alright Gabrielle, I'm sorry. I just don't want you to worry yourself sick over this." she pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaling slowly.

"no I'm sorry" she said softly and picked up her weapons, twirling one and launching it across the dojo and into the target. It hit just a little off center. "I just...I know we can't leave Eli and Alicia...I won't, but can we really doom the rest of the world to be thrown back into the time of Greek gods?" A cold sliver of guilt lodge itself in my heart. She had a valid point. Now, it wasn't only a choice between leaving our family or staying. Now it was a choice between staying, betraying Eve and dooming the rest of the world to the mercy of the Greek gods or leaving and dooming our children to death or worse, thinking their parents abandoned them.

"We'll figure it out Gabrielle." I promised her, hoping I sounded more assured than I felt. "If we can cheat death we should be able to save everyone, right?" she threw the second weapon and missed completely, a knock on the door distracting her. I groaned, how many times did I need to fix the wall before people would stop breaking it?

Joxer stood at the door, giving Gabrielle and me a sheepish wave. Hesitantly, I stood up and opened the door for him.

"Hey Xena, Gabby..." he said nervously "I uh...picked some apples from a tree in your yard" he said, holding three big bright green granny smiths in his arms "I hope you don't mind" Gabrielle stood up and, expecting her to blow up at him, I took a step back.

"Join us?" she asked, motioning to the blanket. He gave her a small smile before awkwardly sitting down with us. Things seemed to be getting back on track. Almost.

Gabrielle

Xena and I drove at an easy pace to the school. Joxer was pretty much passed out in the back seat, which Xena wasn't very appreciative about as his snoring drowned out the radio. I gently brushed the stray lock of raven coloured hair behind her ear. She looked over at me, her impossibly icy-blue eyes were hard for a brief moment before melting into soft water. She smiled slightly at me before turning back to the window. In that moment, I knew I'd made the right choice in bringing her back from the spirit realm.

When she sacrificed herself in Japan…my entire world was crashing down around me. Everything seemed dark. Food had no taste, I'd go to sleep and only wake up more exhausted, alcohol had no effect. I had begun giving up on life all together. That was, at least, until I went to Egypt. In the temple of Osiris, the Egyptian priestess had preformed some ritual to give her back her life using the ashes I'd brought along. I, of course, was not allowed in the temple as if went on. Only when they needed my blood was I allowed to enter. They needed something to ground her to the earth with. My life essence, AKA blood, was taken to mix with her ashes. I admit, they'd scared me a little. They didn't ask very nicely, they'd grabbed me roughly and pushed me to my knees in front of the sandstone slab in which they'd sprinkled her on. One was on the opposite side of me and held my right wrist tightly in his strong hands but strangely satin smooth skin. He wore the mask of Anubis, the guardian of the dead, which was the only mask there I recognized. The cold eyes of the Jackal stared easily into mine as sudden fear and panic flooded my body. Two strong, bronzed skin men pushed down on my shoulders to keep me on my knees, the Jackal still gripped my wrist. I could hear my heart pounding ruthlessly in my ears and painfully slamming against my ribs.

Two young girls walked out from behind pillars concealed in the shadows and stepping into the light. They gently removed the chakram from my hip holster and Xena's sword from the sheath on my back. They laid them beside the ashes and disappeared again, coming back with what I had learned was an ankh; a symbol of the "breath of life." The Priestess took it from the girl and pressed its handle into the palm of my hand, wrapping my fingers around it tightly, telling me without words that I wasn't to let go, no matter what happened. The beautiful woman nodded to another strong man who reached over the stone altar and grasped my other wrist, stretching my arm out palm up, a mirror image of my right. In that hand she laid a gold scarab beetle, a symbol of spontaneous creation. The two young girls each lifted one of Xena's weapons and walk over to either end of the stone, holding the blades dangerously close to my wrists. It was extremely difficult to keep calm when my instincts told me to get the hell out of there. There was the restraints keeping me both pinned to the flood and stretched across the altar, the chanting of the priestess in a language I could barely understand and the two angelic children holding two gleaming blades a hairs breath from my skin. I was almost certain everyone else in the room could hear the ridiculously loud pounding of my heart in my chest. Adrenaline coursed through my veins and I fought to keep my breath rate normal and relaxed. Whatever was about to happen, I was sure, would be agonizing.

The priestess raised her hands up to the sky and began murmuring words that flew from her lips so fast they seemed to blur together. Drummers that were situated in the corner of the temple began beat a heavy rhythm, forcing my heart to pound faster than I had ever believed possible. It felt like it would punch a hole through my ribs. Soon enough the pressure of my heart beat in my ears drowned out everything else around me. Swirling black smoke fogged my vision though I was sure I was the only one to see it. I was blinded within minutes. What had to be wet paint brushed were drawn across my palms until I felt nothing at all. They were taking my senses away, leaving me in the dark with nothing. It felt like oblivion. Only when the chakram and sword touched my skin did I see and feel a white hot light sink into me. The light started as a small orb a far distance away, its heat just barely brushing my skin. Then the blades dug in and sliced deep. Agony shot through my body and I convulsed the sound to leave my mouth was a long, throat burning scream of Xena's name. I screamed out the physical pain of the knives slicing through my flesh and the agony I'd buried deep into my soul that came with facing everyday without my love beside me. It felt like every nerve ending in my body was set on fire. I couldn't tell how long I'd screamed out for before the blackness took me again and the pain disappeared. I was floating in oblivion.

I didn't remember much after I woke up. I remembered feeling something beside me, warm and soft. I remember waking up slightly with blurry vision and seeing just a bright out line and a dark silhouette of a body beside me. My entire body screamed. I lifted my hands to try and shield my eyes from the light only to find they were wrapped in silk around my wrists and hands, preventing movement of my fingers. The white cloth had been stained a dull shade of pink where my wrists were. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision. The warm sun bathed my skin from the door way of the temple, which was now empty besides me and the body next to me. It felt like it had been years since the slicing of my wrists but it couldn't have been more than hours or a day or two at the most. I felt oddly serene even after the torture I'd endured, so long as I didn't move.

"Gabrielle." A weak voice said from beside me. Still in my strange, placid state, I couldn't exactly process the feeling of seeing my now alive Warrior Princess laying next to me.

"Xena" I said softly, but couldn't move to touch her.

"It hurts" she whimpered, but didn't move from what I could see.

"I know" I whispered gently, "I know."

I leaned my head against Xena's shoulder as she drove, looking at the long scars across my forearms. At a stop light she gently raised one to her lips and laid a butterfly light kiss against my skin. "Do they hurt still?" she asked, brushing her thumbs over the slight indent. I shrugged

"Not much." She kissed my left temple before continuing towards the school. We pulled into the parking lot and stopped. This was where Alicia was supposed to meet us. Eli was still at home being watched. Where was Alicia? It'd been only five minutes since the kids had been dismissed. Xena was out of the car within seconds of us arriving. The only other time Alicia hadn't been waiting at the usual spot at the usual time was when she'd gotten hit under the eye with a tennis racket in her gym class. Xena and I freaked out when we saw her, me more panicky and her more heads-will-roll esc. But Alicia was fine, she was confused as to why the teacher was freaking out and just kept asking if she could have a lollipop.

This time felt different. I could feel in my bones that something was wrong. It wasn't any kind of logical fear that made Xena and me on edge like we were. It was more of a primal instinct of a mother bear. "Where's Alicia?" Xena demanded from the Substitute Teacher who was waiting there watching as all the students left. He turned to look at her and jumped at the fierce expression on her face. I followed behind her quickly.

"Xena" I said warningly and put my hand on her upper arm, easing her back from her intimidating position. "Our daughter, Alicia Nightingale-Hunter…?" He couldn't keep his eyes off of Xena's cold expression for more than a few seconds at a time. I could understand though, when Xena and I had first started adventuring together it took a while to get used to her anger and sudden coldness. I think it took her a while to get used to being good and learning that I didn't want to be her enemy.

"She-she…a man came to pick her up." My heart stopped cold.

"What?" Xena stepped forward and this time I didn't stop her. "You let her go with some man?"

"H-he said he was her-her uncle!" Xena and I paused for a moment before taking off in a sprint towards the truck. No, no, no, no!

Soon, Xena, Joxer and I were barreling down the street at a speed well over the limit. "How could he just hand our daughter off to a man who claimed to be related to us?" I demanded.

"He's a complete and total idiotic moron! If Alicia isn't alright…" she drove faster "There will be no place in heaven or earth that TOC will be safe." We took the corner hard as we turned onto our road. "Xena!" I yelped as we passed the house. Alicia, Eli and a tall man were in the front yard, his back turned to us. She hit the brakes and slammed into reverse. Before the car had even come to a complete stop Xena and I were out of the car, leaving Joxer in the back seat.

"Mommy! Momma!" Eli and Alicia whooped and ran around the man and to us. I kneeled down and wrapped my arms around my children. Xena stepped in front of us. "Mr. Knightly was playin' tag with us! Wanna play too?" The man turned slowly until he faced us. If my blood froze before, it was now boiling in my body.

"Hello Xena, Blondie." I stood up slowly and Xena narrowed her eyes, a low growl echoing from her throat.

"Ares."