--VI--

Xena stood at the bus stop swinging her black bag from one shoulder to another. The added weight on Gabrielle's 'The Complete Works of Jane Austen' and several DVD's starring Colin Firth were weighing her down.

She had learnt early on that like a small child, you had to set ground rules with Gabrielle and stick to them or she was never going to behave. Unfortunately even with the ground rules Gabrielle had a nasty habit of ignoring logical advice and running in the completely opposite direction before someone was forced to bail her out.

It didn't make her a bad person, just a little trying at times. Sharing an apartment through university and now in the real world Xena had a few tactics to deal with her best friend. Stashing her obsession of the month at Lyceus' had been working for the last few years and she was sticking with it. She would slowly ransom off Colin Firth to get Gabby to shut up.

The bus arrived and she waited for the rush of people to get off before she made her way inside and out of the heat. A small child to her left was jumping up and down while his mother attempted to block out the noise and breastfeed her youngest wrapped in a blue blanket, another boy maybe.

It was times like this that Xena really wished you never had to have your car serviced. Public transport was not her thing, and neither were screaming toddlers. The stop to Lyceus' place came quickly and she shared a sympathetic smile with the mother as she got up and almost skipped off the bus and down the street.

Cherry blossoms covered the sidewalk as Xena strolled slowly past the old terrace houses and renovated warehouses. It struck her as an odd image of spring-time perfection and she smirked when she saw her brother in his front garden. This action moved into an eyebrow raise as she approached the house that Lyceus and Apollo shared.

Both men were perfectly still doing a brilliant impression of lawn statues. Only there was no lawn in the small area outside the terrace and they looked awfully funny balancing on one foot with both arms in the air.

"Your attempt at spiritual enlightenment or TV reception?"

------------------------------

Apollo, Lyceus and Xena were perched on various boxes around the cramped kitchen table each staring vacantly at a wall.

"Who knew people were going to send gifts," Lyceus broke the silence.

"It's a wedding thing. You register, they buy. It gets wrapped in some generic paper and you get it," Xena shifted on her box.

"Yes, but these aren't from the register. These are frankly, a little weird even for me." Apollo held up a rolling pin.

"It is awfully phallic isn't it?"

Lyceus coughed, "it's from mum."

Silence.

------------------------------

The apartment was dark by the time Xena made it home which struck her as odd, Gabrielle should have been home from work by then. It wasn't until she had walked into the lounge room, turned the light on and almost had a nervous breakdown that she realised Gabrielle was home.

Home, in the dark. Home, sitting on a chair in the dark stroking Alti like some villain in a James Bond film.

TBC