"Gabrielle?" Xena called inside the house as Gabriel pulled on her hand.
"Right here," the bard called back. She was bent over with her hands on the table trying to take a full breath.
Xena moved quickly behind her lover and steadied her. "Are you all right?"
Gabrielle chuckled. "I feel like your chakram is inside my stomach."
"Did you break your…." Before the warrior could finish her question she felt Gabrielle reach for her and squeeze her hand hard. Xena pulled the bard to her and held her gently. Gabrielle nodded yes as her face contorted from the contraction ripping through her. "Okay…let's get you to the bed." Gabrielle tried to move and stopped again wincing in pain. "Close together already," Xena scooped up the smaller woman in her arms.
The bard smiled as the pain subsided, "I'm not sure I'm in that kind of mood," Gabrielle joked.
Xena raised an eyebrow and shook her head, making her way to the bed. Within what seemed like seconds she felt Gabrielle's body tense again. The bard tried to smile but Xena could see the contractions were gripping her tightly. "Gabrielle, when did these start?" She asked as she laid her bard on the bed and propped pillows behind her back.
"Just a little bit ago…"
Another raise of the eyebrow and Gabrielle shrugged. Xena rolled her eyes. "I don't mean THESE…when did you start feeling the cramps?" The bard gave an innocent smile and Xena's face tightened slightly.
"Earlier…"
"How much earlier?" Xena asked. Before she could answer another wave of pain overcame the woman in the bed. Xena looked over to the small boy that was standing in the corner as the door opened. "Gabriel, go tell your mother Auntie Gabby is close." He stood still for a moment and then turned and ran to the other room. "Gabrielle," Xena said as she checked the bard's progress. "You're close to pushing."
"Yeah? Not close enough," the bard managed through another contraction as Eve entered the room.
"How's it going?" Eve asked noting that Xena was looking a bit pale and uncharacteristically shaky. "Mother," she called to her. The warrior shook her head slightly. "Why don't you let me do that?"
"No…Eve…"
Gabrielle looked to Xena and extended her hand. The warrior looked to their daughter and was met with a peaceful smile. She accepted the bard's hand and moved beside her. "Eve," Xena began tentatively. Eve just nodded her reassurance.
Xena was torn between wanting to care for Gabrielle and wanting to be beside her for the delivery. The warrior felt the warmth of her bard's hand holding tightly to her own and she heard the sound in the room, but somehow momentarily nothing seemed to register. It was as if she were walking in a dream, surrounded by a thick foggy mist. It was odd, she silently admitted to herself. They had done this before. Gabrielle, after all, had delivered Eve. And, as both recalled vividly, Xena had delivered Hope. But then there had been no time to think nor any time to prepare. In both cases life had been quick paced and chaotic. Not to mention Gabrielle's pregnancy had manifested and matured in what really amounted to hours. Her heart was racing now with excitement, curiosity and fear. Emotions swirled through the warrior as images played before her. It was as if she could see their children all there; all standing as children. She wasn't certain if it was dreaming or some sort of vision. Right near Eve, through the veil of mist that seemed to cover her eyes, there they stood. Solon and Hope were at the center. Gabriel was standing beside Solon. Holding her grandson's hand was an adorable little dark haired girl that she immediately understood to be Grace. A young Eve stood holding the hand of her older sister. Xena held her breath for a moment as the two girls seemed to turn to one another and released it when she saw Eve smile broadly and look to her right. Holding her other hand was a little girl with blonde hair and bright green eyes that twinkled. She looked directly at the warrior and Xena felt her knees grow weak. "Faith," she whispered."
There was nothing, nothing that Xena loved more than the woman holding her hand now. And no one else's voice that could have pulled her from her current haze. "Xena?" Gabrielle called to the warrior with concern.
As Xena moved to face her bard again she head Eve give the command, "PUSH."
"Xena!" Gabrielle's grip tightened and Xena immediately returned to the present, still misty eyed.
"It's all right, Gabrielle," Xena encouraged as Gabrielle caught her breath.
"Where did you go?" The bard asked still squinting and receiving a nod to continue from their daughter.
"Ask me later," the warrior answered. "Come on. Your daughter is waiting to meet you," Xena smiled.
"Yeah?" Gabrielle barked. Xena had been teasing Gabrielle mercilessly when they were alone that this baby might just turn out to be a boy after all and THEN the warrior would laugh that Argo would be the name. It made no difference what gender Xena's beloved horse had been. Anything that would get a little rise without any danger to her bard was fair game. "I thought I was having YOUR SON!" Gabrielle hissed through another push.
Eve tried to stifle a laugh and concentrate as a small head came into view. Her parents, as always, amused her. Gabrielle had told her that Xena had been a bit touchy during her delivery and just wanted the bard to "BE QUIET." The messenger let out a slight chuckle as she looked up to the glassy eyes of her taller mother and offered the trademark eyebrow raise.
"Almost there, Gabrielle," Xena bent over and kissed the bard's head.
"Come on, Mother…. Another push – a couple more and…"
"Xena! This may actually BE Argo I am giving birth to here!" Gabrielle screamed through another breathless effort. The bard's declaration eased Xena's tension and she smiled. All the warrior could see now were the green eyes of that little girl at the foot of the bed and her smile widened seeing the same hue, albeit glaring, looking up at her. Gabrielle ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek as she tried to catch a breath and looked into the warrior's blue eyes. "I'm serious," she panted as she readied herself for another push. "Aphrodite was a joker you know." The bard's brow tightened and she took in as full of a breath as she could. "If this is a centaur…"she pushed hard.
"Not a centaur," Eve exclaimed as a cry erupted. Xena looked down at their daughter as Gabrielle's head hit the pillow. "She's beautiful," Eve said softly.
Immediately, Xena turned to Gabrielle who was trying to pull herself to a sitting position. "Whoa," Xena warned. "Just wait."
It was only seconds but Xena felt as if it had been long hours until Eve set the baby in her arms. "Well, Faith," the messenger said as she felt the warrior take hold. "Welcome to the family." Eve looked at Gabrielle who seemed mesmerized by the warrior holding the baby. Tears were silently streaking across Xena's cheeks as she stared at the small package in her arms. Gabrielle just smiled and looked at their older daughter signaling that it was all right to go and check on her own children.
"She looks like you," Xena whispered faintly as she sat on the edge of the bed and peeled back the small blanket for Gabrielle to see and went to place the baby in her arms.
Gabrielle just looked at Xena and put her hand on the strong warrior's arm. The tears were spilling over the warrior's face more quickly than Gabrielle had ever seen and she could tell that Xena was not ready to let go yet. "It's all right, love. Just hold her," Gabrielle smiled.
"But you…."
The bard rested her head against her warrior's shoulder and gazed at the small face that wrinkled and twisted its expression, struggling for a way to open her eyes. She sighed in contentment. "I love you, Xena," she said as her own tears began to fall.
The warrior was taking stock of all of Faith's fingers and toes and running her long finger over the baby's nose and tiny eyelids. "She's perfect, Gabrielle."
Gabrielle ran her fingers now gently over the baby feeling Faith's softness. She struggled to catch her breath from the emotions of the moment as she watched their new daughter's hand reflexively take hold of the warrior's finger. Xena's expression was unlike any Gabrielle had ever seen; even when Eve was born. She was completely lost in the small form in her arms. She was not sobbing but her tears had not even begun to slow. The bard reached up and cupped her lover's face, directing the warrior's attention toward her. "Where did you go?"
A smile crept onto Xena's face. She searched Gabrielle's eyes and placed a tender kiss on her lips, feeling the bard wipe the wetness from her tear stained cheeks. As she pulled back she carefully positioned the baby in the bard's arms and finagled her way behind them both. Gabrielle felt the warrior's arms wrap around her; gently and securely holding mother and daughter. "I saw our children," Xena said softly.
"Our children?" Gabrielle asked.
"Mmm…all of them. I don't know, Gabrielle… they were all there. Faith and Grace, Gabriel and Eve… Solon and Hope." Gabrielle took in a sharp breath. "No," Xena calmed the bard immediately. "No, they were all smiling. All of them. I don't know. I think in these two little girls. I think there is a piece of them all."
Gabrielle nodded. It would not make sense to anyone outside of this family. To Xena and Gabrielle it made perfect sense. It was something they understood intrinsically from the moment they met. They were connected in a way that few would ever experience. It had, at times, felt like a curse but in the end it always proved a blessing. The warrior's strong hand took hold of the bard's smaller one as it rested on their sleeping daughter. "Xena?"
"Yeah?"
"She IS perfect."
The warrior smiled. "Do you know how much I love you?" She asked as her tears began to flow again.
Gabrielle's touch gently played over the warrior's grasp. "I do."
"She has your eyes," Xena offered.
The bard giggled. "She hasn't even opened them yet."
"Mmm… She does. I'm glad. I could look into those eyes forever," the warrior confessed almost absentmindedly.
Gabrielle sighed with understanding. It was a moment she would think about for the rest of their lives. It reminded her of the first time her eye's had met with Eve's. Gabrielle saw Xena there. The pools of blue were almost the exact same hue as the warrior's. She could lose herself there and never return. In fact, she had. Instantly she lost her heart to Eve just as she had to the warrior. It took so many years for her to see what she knew she would recognize immediately in Faith. Eve had Xena's eyes, but they twinkled with Gabrielle's passions. In her heart, Eve was always truly the messenger, a poet; a bard. "We might be in for quite the adventure then, my love."
Xena chuckled. "Why is that?"
"Something tells me we are looking at a little warrior princess in the making here," Gabrielle beamed.
"Nah… she's like her mom."
Gabrielle laughed. "That's exactly what I just said," she lightly slapped the warrior's hand.
"Thank you," Xena closed her eyes and kissed the top of Gabrielle's head.
As she opened them she heard Gabrielle's voice softly say her name. "Do you…." Gabrielle whispered.
"Yeah, I see them." It was faint, but this time Xena was certain the message was clear. Aphrodite and Eshmun had helped them, but these children, Faith and Grace, they carried within them a piece of the two children both women hardly knew, lost and would forever carry in their hearts. It was not a replacement. It was another chance. Xena took a deep breath and looked directly at the young boy and girl. Both smiled and were gone.
"You will always love your children. They….they will always love you both."
The voice was unmistakable. Gabrielle and Xena both looked at Faith. "Thank you, Eli," Xena said aloud. "Gabrielle?"
"Yes, love?"
"I think you picked a good name."
"I'm glad you feel that way," Gabrielle chuckled as the baby began to fuss for the first time.
"You are?" Xena asked.
"Yep," the bard bit her lip trying to suppress a smile as she set out to give their new daughter her first meal. "I have a feeling you are going to be saying it A LOT."