Flowers for Gabrielle

Post-Episode 33

By Jinxie

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters; I just made up the stories. The beginning and ends of episodes are quoted from the actual TV series.

Content Warning: This is a series that takes place between episodes. The stories build upon the TV series and it is advised that you watch the episodes then read the post-episode (this story) in between. Many references by the characters are very specific to the episodes, so you may not get everything unless you watch at the same time or have the episodes memorized. The series does lead to a romantic relationship between two women, so if you don't like it don't read it.

Goal: To fill in the rest of the story of Xena and Gabrielle that I felt the series left out. This is more how I would have wished the show to go. I strive to make it a realistic love story of how the two get together and share their lives together. Please feel free to email me with constructive feedback Jinxie2013

End of Episode 33 (S2,E9):

"That was a nice thing you did back there." Xena said.

"What would I do with a silly old donkey anyway?"

"Uh huh." Xena smiles.

"They needed him more than me. Besides they seem pretty nice. After all it is solstice." Gabrielle mused.

"Oh that's right! Happy Solstice." Xena hands Gabrielle a gift wrapped in a blanket. Xena keeps walking.

Gabrielle stops and unwraps it. It's a wooden sheep, just like the one she had as a child. She smiles, then walks up to Xena, "I don't have a gift for you."

Xena puts her hand on her shoulder, "Gabrielle, you ARE a gift to me." She smiles and they continue walking.

5 days later…

A warlord and his army have been sweeping through the western coast of Greece. The most recent village they tore apart had refused to give them the loot they desired. Most homes have been destroyed. The main street of the village is housing most of the residents because the army happened to leave it standing.

Xena appears in the center of town, eyeing the damage carefully. She walks around town and spots the residential area. One man is directing all the men as they attempt to rebuild a home; there is only 3 men. Deciding she would like to help, she approaches them and lends a hand in holding up a weight bearing log.

After they get it secure, the men brush off their hands and look at her. The man that was directing says, "Thanks for your help. You didn't have to help us. I'm Dorian." He reaches out his hand.

She takes his hand and shakes it firmly. "I'm Xena. What happened here?"

"A warlord named Pythes came through here with his army. We refused to meet his demands. This is what happened. We had no way to defend ourselves." The man just shook his head. "So now we are trying to rebuild what we can."

"Looks like a lot of homes were destroyed. Where is everyone living?"

"Right now we have a lot of people staying at the inn, or what's left of it. Also, we have some staying in what barns we have left standing. The rest of the town is camping out near their homes. It's all we can do until we rebuild."

Xena shakes her head. "Would you accept some help? I'm pretty handy when it comes to this type of stuff. I also think I might be able to help train you guys to defend yourselves some."

The men all look at each other, then reply in unison, "Yes!"

Xena smiles, "So which way did the army go?"

Dorian points the direction that Xena left Gabrielle. Xena's smile immediately falls, her face stern and worried. She whistles for Argo and runs towards her. She somersaults onto the horse and takes off as fast as she can, all the while yelling, "Aiyayayayayayay!"

Gabrielle is sitting next to a river, washing the dishes that she had used for breakfast. She had been camping alone last night. Xena had left a few hours before sunset because they had heard rumors of a warlord terrorizing the towns near the coast.

After she is done cleaning up, she grabs her scroll and sits next to the stream. Staring off into the distance, she is lost in thought for a moment. Then she readies her quill and begins to write on a brand new fresh scroll. I'm camping alone. Xena is off saving a town. I don't like it when she isn't with me. I'm a little worried that she hasn't returned; she left yesterday. I know she can take care of herself, but I still worry.

Suddenly there is the sound of horses in the distance; a lot of horses. Gabrielle looks up from her scroll but cannot see where the sound is coming from. She puts her scroll down and walks away from the river so she can hear better. The sound is growing louder. Then she spots it; an army marching right towards her. She jumps into action and gathers her things, not forgetting her staff. She has a pretty good idea of what direction to run, but she looks back one more time just to make sure. Suddenly she sees a horse break through the army heading right towards her. They are so far away she cannot tell who is on the horse.

Breaking out in a sprint, she decides to leave behind everything except her staff. She makes a break directly for a nearby forest, hoping she can lose the rider in the trees. She hears the horse gaining on her. She doesn't look back, knowing that if she does she will probably trip and fall. She hears someone yelling her name from behind her, "Gabrielle!" A pause, "Gabrielle!" that sounds like Xena. She decides to take a risk and look back, hoping that Xena was close and could keep this rider from catching her. Before she looks back she is grabbed from behind and pulled onto the horse. She is lying flat on her belly across the front of the horse. She can't see who has her. Those boots look familiar. Gabrielle feels a hand on the small of her back holding her there. She now knows it's Xena. Thank the gods! "Xena?!"

"What? You ok?"

"Yeah, but can we stop now so I can sit behind you?"

"Not yet, just hold on until we get to those trees ok?"

Gabrielle pinches Xena behind the knee to let her know that she is not happy. Xena responds by smacking her butt and saying "Bad bard!"

Once they arrived to the tree line, they got off the horse and continued into the forest for a little while. Xena's senses were on full alert, so Gabrielle knew not to say anything. Finally they stopped walking, when suddenly Xena grabbed Gabrielle by the arm and brought her into a hug. "I'm so glad you are ok! I thought maybe they had gotten to you by now."

Gabrielle squeezed her back, glad to be in safe arms. "I just heard them coming a few minutes before I saw you break through their line. Of course I had no clue it was you! I thought someone spotted me and was trying to kill me."

Xena let out a nervous smile, "Sorry, I was trying to yell for you so that you knew it was me."

They released their hug and smiled shyly at each other. "Gabrielle, that town needs our help. This army went through there two days ago and destroyed a lot of homes. They need help rebuilding and they need to learn how to defend themselves. You up for it?" The smile and glint in Gabrielle's eyes gives Xena her answer.

Back at Gabrielle's campsite, they start collecting things that were left behind in the frenzy. Xena comes upon an open scroll. She doesn't mean to read it but she is a quick reader so her eyes automatically scanned it and knew what it said. Doesn't like it when I'm gone and she worries, huh? Hmm. Sounds like my thoughts about her. I still can't figure out why I haven't told her I love her. Every time I get close to doing it, I back down. I would have been devastated today if something had happened to her. I don't exactly like feeling so dependent on someone else for my sanity, but I am hopeless when it comes to her. She rolls the scroll up and takes it to Gabrielle. "Here, I found this." Xena smiles sweetly at her.

Gabrielle knows that she left the scroll unrolled. She figures that Xena probably saw it. A blush rises to her face, she cannot help it. "Oh. Thanks." She hastily grabs the scroll and starts putting stuff back into her backpack.

"In a hurry?" Xena skirt around the issue, but still wants to tease a little.

Gabrielle looks up, "Huh? Yeah I guess. I just want to get to that village. Come on, let's go."

"Yes ma'am." Xena says with a wink.

They arrive in the village at nightfall. There is a large fire burning in the center of town, many families are gathered around to keep warm and cook food. When they arrive, Dorian greets them. "Xena! We didn't know why you took off like that. Is everything ok? Who is this?" he motions to Gabrielle.

"This is my friend, Gabrielle. She was camping in the direction that Pythes' army was headed. I had to make sure she was ok." Xena looked over at Gabrielle and gave a comforting smile. "Do you mind if we make camp around here somewhere?"

"Not at all. It's nice to meet you Gabrielle, please both of you make yourself at home. We don't have much to eat, the army took all our livestock. But you are welcome to share what we have."

"Thanks, but we'd hate to take from your rations. In fact," Xena looked at Gabrielle then winked, "I think we can help add to the rations. We both can hunt pretty well."

Dorian looked at them both, "What can't you do Xena?"

Gabrielle answers for her, "She has many skills." They all laugh.

That night after they brought back a deer and some rabbit for the village, they ate then settled into a somewhat secluded camp spot. Xena was laying on her bedroll doing nothing (for once), while Gabrielle was still at the central campfire telling stories. The town folk were having a great time. Story must be a funny one with all that laughter. Wonder which one she is telling? Xena thought to herself. After a few minutes the laughter died down and the crowd disassembled.

Gabrielle sauntered in to their home for the next few days, which actually had a little bit of privacy with the bushes surrounding it. "That was a good crowd! They needed a story or two."

"Yes they did. That was very sweet of you to do that." Xena is attempting to flirt.

Gabrielle blushed so bad that Xena could see it even in faint fire light. "Well, I'm here to help any way I can, whether that's a story or teaching them to use staves."

"That's a good idea. Is that what you want to do; teach them to defend themselves?" Xena asked, knowing that Gabrielle would be a great teacher and that the staff would be a great first defensive weapon for the men in this town.

Gabrielle thought for a moment while staring at the fire, then looked up to meet Xena's eyes, "Yeah, I think I do. Maybe I could even teach some of the women so that they aren't defenseless when the men aren't around. What do you think of that?"

"I think you'd be very good at it. Great idea Gabrielle." Xena reaches out and touches her shoulder. "I'll help the men rebuild some of the homes." Gabrielle smiled then lay down next to Xena. She sighed but remained quiet. "Dinar for your thoughts?"
"Nah. You don't want to hear these thoughts." She smiled at Xena then said, "Night." She turned over and closed her eyes, praying that Xena didn't dig further. Her thoughts were about Xena and the uncontrollable feelings that were getting more and more intense inside of her.

The next morning Gabrielle awoke to hammers pounding and men hollering. Xena's team had already erected the framing of one home; from the ground up to the roofing. She got up out of her bedroll and found a single flower sitting on top of her pillow. She smiled and wondered who would do that. She looked around and didn't see anyone nearby. She put the flower behind her ear and got dressed.

Walking into town she observed the devastation that had been caused. There were very few fully intact structures. Her face grew somber. She saw a little girl getting water from the well, but the bucket was too heavy for her to lift. Gabrielle ran over to help the little girl. "Here let me get that for you, sweetie." She grabbed the bucket then said, "Where are we headed with this water?" The little girl smiled shyly then pointed. They started walking and the little girl reached up and held Gabrielle's hand. Gabrielle's heart swelled. She looked down at the little girl, then up towards the house Xena was working on. Catching her friend's eye, Xena gave her a dazzling smile and wave. Gabrielle's heart swelled even more than she thought possible at the moment.

Around lunch time Xena and the men all took a break for a meal. They headed toward the well to get a drink and on the way were greeted with the site of food. The women, along with Gabrielle, had prepared a very hearty meal for them from the venison that they brought back last night. Xena resumed getting a drink of water from the well, but as she drank she watched Gabrielle from over the top of her cup. She's so beautiful and kind. Seeing her with that little girl today just made me fall even more in love with her. Gabrielle was helping an elder couple get their food. Sensing that she was being watched, she looked up and saw Xena. Xena put her cup down and walked over to Gabrielle. "Hi." She said.

Gabrielle smiled, "Hi yourself. You hungry?" Xena nodded. "Good, I already made you a plate. It's over here." Gabrielle grabbed Xena's hand and led her to a couple of tree stumps, away from the crowds of people. She knew that Xena hated crowds.

"Nice touch." Xena indicated the flower in Gabrielle's hair.

"Oh yeah! Someone left it on my pillow. It's beautiful. It smells great too. I can't figure out who did it. I think it might be a little boy that I caught staring at me today." Gabrielle chuckled.

Xena originally thought that Gabrielle would automatically know it was her. Then scolding herself she thought, Why would she think that? She probably doesn't think you can be romantic in any way. Not to mention you still haven't told her how you feel for her! Xena's face was a little sad as she frowned and looked down at her food, then started picking at it.

Gabrielle noticed this. Now what did I do wrong? "Xena? You ok?" Xena nodded.

Later that night, Gabrielle told another campfire story. Xena sat around the campfire this time, listening intently. The children were enraptured with the tale. Who wouldn't be? She tells an exciting story. When it was over, Gabrielle sat next to Xena. Two little boys approached and one was right in front of the bard. "Gabrielle, that was the best story ever!" he began to talk to Gabrielle all about it.

The second little boy, the one who had eyed the bard earlier that day, was just gawking at her. Xena noticed this, because he was standing right in front of her. "See something you like?" Xena said, cocking her eyebrow.

He looked over quickly as if he'd been caught. "Yeah." He looked back at Gabrielle. "She's beautiful. I wish I could give her a kiss."

Xena smiled at this, "She is, isn't she? I know the feeling." They both stared at Gabrielle.

Even though she was talking to the small boy, Gabrielle heard everything that was said. Her heart leapt to hear those words out of Xena's mouth.

Bed time came quickly. Gabrielle laid down, her throat a bit hoarse from all the talking. "Xena? Do you think that little boy you were talking to is the one that put the flower on my pillow? I heard him say he thought I was beautiful."

Xena's first thought was, that means she hear me too. Do I tell her it was me? Nah, we'll let it be a mystery. "I don't know, maybe. He is awfully smitten with you."

Under her breath, Gabrielle said quietly "I don't think he's the only one."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Goodnight."

The next four mornings Gabrielle awoke in the same fashion as the day before: Hammering, men hollering, and a flower on her pillow. For Giaus sakes! Who is doing this?! For the last few days of helping the village get put back together, she also had been trying to figure out who her secret admirer was. She put it in her hair again and marched over to Xena. "Xena!"

Xena stopped what she was doing, "Yeeesss?"

"Notice anything the same as… EVERY day since we've been here?" Gabrielle said impatiently.

Xena looks around the village, "People are working hard?" Gabrielle grunts. Xena looks around again, but her chin is pulled down so she is looking into Gabrielle's face. "Oh I see…You have another pretty flower in your hair. I don't know why you are upset about this." Xena shrugged then went back to work.

Gabrielle stomped off and went to the training ground she set up. She had been training the women how to use a staff. The little girl from the first day has made fast friends of Gabrielle. "Hi Gabby! Why do you look so mad?"

"Oh sorry. I'm not mad, just frustrated. Someone keeps leaving flowers on my pillow, but I can't figure out whom."

The girl jumps in front of Gabrielle's path, stopping her. "I know who it is!" She said proudly.

Gabrielle quickly gets down to her level. "Who?!"

The little girl looks around the village then spots the person she is looking for. She points her little finger. Gabrielle follows the imaginary line the girl is drawing. It's Xena. Gabriele's jaw drops. "Are you certain?" The girl nods.

Over the course of the next week, the town is back to near normal. Almost all the houses were reconstructed; at least enough to live under. It was time for Xena and Gabrielle to leave. The villagers gathered around them to wish them fair well. After handshakes, hugs and tears, they left the village.

Outside of town, Gabrielle began to hum happily. She had not let Xena know that she knew about the flowers. Xena, walking beside Gabrielle, said, "What are you so happy about?"

Smiling she replied, "Lots of things. I'm going to miss those people. I'm glad we were able to help them so much."

"Me too. Hey let's stop for a second, I need to use the bushes." Xena takes off for the side of the road.

Gabrielle sees some wildflowers nearby. She grabs one. When Xena returns, Gabrielle says, "Come here." She pulls Xena down to her height and puts the flower in her hair behind her ear. "There. Now YOU have a pretty flower." She turns to leave and finishes with, "there may be more to come." She walks off leaving Xena shell shocked with her jaw hanging open.

Beginning of Episode 34:

Xena Scrolls – no story here.