Title: Someone please believe in me
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on "Xena Warrior Princess", I'm just borrowing them for the story.
Xena pushed the door open to another tavern than the one Gabrielle and Annie was in, waiting for her return. Salmoneus and Yato were probably there with them too by now and she would join them soon but right now, she was in serious need of a drink, the heat was killing her and she was in an even worse mood than before.
What was going on here? One moment everything was fine, just a usual day in her life with the Bard...and the next, Annie shows up in their lives. She was beginning to think that Hestia and Ares were right, that there was no way to send her home until the right time, when ever that was. But it worried her that she didn't know when that time would come. It could be days, or months or perhaps even years before then and in the mean time Annie was suddenly her responsibility. She seemed like an okay kid but Xena didn't think she was the right person to be taking care of her. She had already lost one child and was not ready to put another one in danger.
She went over to the bar and ordered what ever strong stuff they had and sat down, glad to be out of the sun for a while.
Alright, what am I going to do? I have to think something out´ she thought and buried her face in her hands. Suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned her head to see who it was. There stood a dirty soldier dressed in black leathers, boots and greasy blond hair sticking out from beneath a steel helmet.
"Hi there. Can I buy you a drink, little lady? I'll buy one for you and one for me..." he rambled on. Xena wished she could just close her eyes and make him go up in smoke.
"No thanks, I don't want you to buy me a drink. And I think you've had one too many yourself." She said and hoped he could take a hint. It was obvious he was really drunk and perhaps that made it even harder for him to do that. He came closer to her and grabbed her chin and tried to kiss her in a not very gentleman kind of style. She immediately brought a fist to his face and he pulled away and felt his nose bleeding badly. She had hoped that would make him leave but just as she suspected it only made him angrier, so before he could act on his thought to try to knock her out she stood up and through him through the closest window.
At her surprise she felt another tap on her shoulder. She spun around and expected to see a big drunk warlord or something that would really make her day, but instead she saw the familiar face of a girl. As she stared at her she felt the anger about to boil over inside her.
"WHAT are you doing here!!?" she screamed at Annie's face. The girl's face grew pale and then red. "Come on, answer me!!" she kept on screaming.
Annie took a step back "Ga...Gabrielle sent me. I got so tired of listening to that little man with the beard talking, trying to sell her stuff that when I asked her if I could go see what was keeping you she said yes." She explained in a slightly trembling voice.
Xena took a deep breath to calm herself. She had jumped to conclusions this time and she felt guilty about it too. She had thought Annie had just taken off on her own again after she had told her not to because she wanted to talk to Ares herself. The warrior reached out her hand and caressed the girl's cheek.
"Sorry about that, I'm letting the heat get to me. And I have bad news." She continued against her own will "Ares couldn't help." She said and waited for the tears to come rolling down Annie's face again like last time. But they didn't. Instead she got an answer she hadn't expected.
"Alright then, let's go." She turned around and walked out the door, out of the crowded tavern and out on the street again.
"Not that I'm not happy you're not more upset, but I expected a totally different reaction from you, Annie." Xena said as she stood at her side, watching the people walk by. She out a hand on Annie's shoulder to comfort her since she wasn't sure what else she should do.
"To tell you the truth I was kind of prepared for this, I didn't think he would be able to help either." She said in a disappointed voice.
"Why not?"
"Just a feeling I had I guess." She looked up at the sky and saw the sun high up there in it's place. It was the same sun her family could be watching where ever they were, and the same sky as the one at home. But it didn't feel that way to her. When she was at home and looked up at the sky like that she would wish she could just fly away and leave until what ever had gone wrong that particular day would be forgotten and forgiven. But now...when she looked up at it, she felt free. She actually felt better than she had in a long time.
Of course she missed her parents, but things had been so hectic at home lately, for a long time now actually, that she figured maybe she should take advantage of this opportunity and live the way she had always wanted to live. Like a free person.
Still she could not keep this one little tear from rolling down her face and then fall to the ground she was standing on.
"Xena?"
"Hmm."
"I don't think I have much choice. I think I am supposed to stay here until I have completed what I was sent here to do." She said and held her breath while waiting for the warrior's response, hoping it would be what he was hoping it would, that she could stay with her and Gabrielle while waiting to get sent back home.
Xena looked at the fourteen year old girl standing beside her, dressed like any other villager around. "You know what, I think you're right."
Annie threw herself into Xena's arms. "Thank you."
Xena chuckled and when Annie let go she put an arm around the girl's shoulders and they walked up the street again, heading back to the tavern.
"Unless Gabrielle has some shopping to do, we'll be heading out in a few hours, as soon as I've had a drink."
To be continued
