"Wait, what are you talking about, Herc? Since when didn't you take me along on a mission?" Hercules had just broken the news to his best friend, and the hunter wasn't taking it lightly.
"It's not a big one, and they specifically asked for Xena and me. Gabrielle's not going either."
"Yeah but we always said - wait, she's not?" His eyes perked up.
"Nope. Xena and I are gonna handle this one alone. You and Gabrielle are on vacation, how's that sound?"
"I think I'll survive," he smiled. With that the hunter turned and went down to the house to say goodbye to Xena.
Hercules watched him go. He hoped he was doing the right thing. In a flash of pink Aphrodite appeared in front of the demigod.
"Good thinking, bro," the goddess nodded. "Just let the two little lovebirds alone, and who knows what'll happen."
"Thanks, that was the idea."
"Yeah. I was watching yesterday when you and your big mouth nearly spoiled the whole thing."
"I wasn't going to say anything really bad, Aphrodite, it's just that it could have been interpreted-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'd be for the Fates to decide, and you know how understanding they can be," she rolled her eyes. Hercules had to admit she was right. Any tiny slip he or Xena made the Fates would jump on. "Anyhoos," she continued, "I just thought I'd pop in and let you know we're watching."
"Thanks Aphrodite."
"So where are you and Xena going, have you decided?"
"I don't know. Away."
"You wanna come chill with Heph and me for a couple of days?" she looked really proud of herself for thinking of it.
"Oh, Aphrodite, I don't know -" he loved his sister, it was very hard not to, but staying at her house always required a lot of patience. It was so... pink.
"Come on. You can still see what's happening, we got front row seats!"
Hercules thought for a minute. This might be a good idea. He and Xena would both be out of the way of their friends running into them, but they could still keep an eye on them. "Actually, yeah, I think I'd like that."
"Cool. Grab your accessory thingys and I'll meet you guys in a few. See ya!" she orbed out.
"Later," he answered, immitating his baby sister perfectly. He went down to the house and got Xena. She gave him an ice-cold stare when he whispered who they were staying with, but nodded her agreement. She said a quick goodbye to Gabrielle and followed Hercules out. Two steps outside the house, they were zapped away.
Iolaus hadn't seen the heroes sudden departure, he was busy looking for something to eat. He went to the kitchen and smiled at what he saw. "So I guess it's just us," he said to Gabrielle. She was cooking something that smelled delicious. She turned around, somewhat startled.
"Oh, did Hercules leave?"
"Yep. Said he didn't need me on this one, so I'm kind of on vacation. What about you?"
"Yeah, Xena left too."
"She do that often?" Iolaus asked as he came into the room.
"What?" the bard asked, honestly puzzled.
"Leave you behind," Iolaus was truly surprised at her calm manner. He really didn't like being left out of anything, but Gabrielle seemed totally at peace with it.
"Oh. Sometimes," she shrugged and turned back to the food she was preparing. "I've learned not to ask too many questions. She always comes back." She smiled and motioned for Iolaus to sit. "You want lunch?"
"Are you kidding?" he laughed and sat down.
Later that afternoon Iolaus went outside to find Gabrielle in the garden, humming to herself as she picked some flowers.
Oh sweet mother of Zeus, he thought. Does she have to look that amazing? It was getting very late in the day and the sunset was catching the red in her hair, making her glow in the early evening light. The errand he'd meant to run was completely forgotten now, he could just stand there and watch her forever.
But moments like this have to end sometime. A bird made a loud noise overhead and she looked up to see it. She stood up when she noticed Iolaus. "Hey!" she grinned, shielding her eyes from the sun. "What's going on?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing," he stammered, hoping she wouldn't notice he'd been staring at her. "It's just, really beautiful out here, isn't it?" Gods, that's so corny!
"Yeah," she smiled and looked back over the yard. "It really is. Hercules is very lucky." She turned towards Iolaus and her smile fell a little. "Are you going somewhere?" She noticed his bag strung over one arm and didn't like the idea of staying by herself at someone else's house, even if it was Hercules's.
"Huh?" the question caught him off guard. It took him a good minute to remember what he came outside for. "Oh, yeah. I was thinking of going over to my old farm - it's just over the hills there - gonna go see if the house is still standing."
"I didn't know you had a farm," she said, suddenly interested. She put down her flowers and came over to where he was standing.
"Well, I did, once upon a time. But it's been so long since I've been back there, I don't know what kind of shape it's in. Uh..." he realized how awkward this was. "Would you care to see it?" It was the only polite thing for him to do.
"I'd love to," she answered honestly. She ran into the house and grabbed her things. Iolaus stood by the gate and waited. What had he just gotten himself into, he wondered. Well, I couldn't very well just leave her here by herself. Herc and Xena shouldn't have just gone off and left her here. I'm fine, I know the area – I used to live here afterall, just over the ridge from Hercules and Deianeira. But Gabrielle… they should have been more considerate about her.
"All set," she said, returning with her staff and a small bag. He grinned and they headed off.
Iolaus had to admit that he was glad of Gabrielle's company. They never seemed to have enough time together as either Xena or Hercules was always pulling one of them away. And, on top of it, she looked so danged beautiful.
However, Iolaus had been around long enough to know that spending some one-on-one time with a gorgeous girl was not always a good idea. Iolaus, don't fall in love again, he told himself. Everytime you fall for a pretty girl something always goes wrong. It never works, usually Hercules has to bail you out of it. Don't do it!
For her part, Gabrielle was very happy with the prospect of spending some time alone with Iolaus. She was cheerfully making conversation as they started down the road. Although the sun was starting to set, they knew they could make it pretty far before nightfall. "So why did you leave the farm?" she asked.
"Well you know," Iolaus smiled, "once Hercules started traveling again I sold off the livestock and boarded up the house. I keep meaning to go back there... Just figured now's as good a time as any."
"But you didn't sell it or anything? You just left it unattended?" Gabrielle was genuinely surprised. It seemed like such a careless thing to do, especially for someone as contientious as Iolaus.
"I couldn't sell it. I have too many memories there. And it's kind of my retirement plan, you know?" he grinned. "So I'll have somewhere to go when Herc stops roaming the country."
"If that ever happens," Gabrielle smiled. Iolaus laughed. She understands perfectly.
