"Xena tells me I should see you," Gabrielle said, subconsciously painting Xena in a responsible light to the father she met for the first time that day. "So ... let's talk, shall we?"
Herodotus looked up from his hands and then around to the men who had formed his band of warriors. Two of them stared at his daughter, but he would wait to chastise them later. The rest looked either empathetic or troubled. The situation certainly wasn't simple. And especially with Xena returning at Gabrielle's side, things weren't the simple kind. However, his Gabrielle was alive, and he wasn't about to disappoint her.
"We can talk somewhere privately," he said, lifting to his tired feet to look into the face that looked more woman than child. He had missed her younger years, and at his own fault. Regret was a difficult pain to swallow. "Maybe just there?"
WIth a glance to Xena, Gabrielle made her decision, walking in the direction her father pointed. The dark warrior watched her go, finally walking back and taking a place by the fire. Inevitably, Xena raised a brow to the looks she was receiving over the glowing light between her and the other men in Herodotus's group.
"... What?"
"So ... we heard Gabrielle ... well, that she fancied women instead of men. That was why they tried at killing her."
Xena sighed at the reminder, clasping her hands together - her elbows rested on her knees. "Yeah ... it's a sad world."
Another man chimed in: "So ... you're with Gabrielle, then? You're ... the person she's with?"
"With?" Xena asked, purposefully making the conversation unpleasant for a group of people looking to get sordid details from a love that was more than cheap thrills.
"Yeah, you know ..." one of the men smirked, trying to hide it. "You know - WITH her."
Xena played dumb with the best of them: "I ... don't follow."
"What they mean is if you have sex with her, and I'll remind everyone that Gabrielle is Herodotus's long-lost daughter," Gian said sharply, looking across to the other men with distaste. "I would expect more of you men."
"Sorry to disappoint, but I don't kiss and tell," Xena chuckled, picking up a stick aside the fire to glance at the pointed end. Xena was brought into her thoughts of older days, when kissing and telling was one of her many military tactics among her men. It served to remind her just how different she was with Gabrielle - how Gabrielle had changed her.
"... So you kiss then?" one of the men teased, earning a whack at the back of his head from Gian who was quickly becoming irritated with their line of questioning.
"Don't feel the need to subject yourself to this," Gian instructed, grumbling his apologies for the crew as Xena sighed and looked into the fire.
Xena thought for a long moment of the many other things a large group of warriors might ask her, looking up to the men seated across from her and in her direct line of sight. "I'm surprised you don't want to know other tales of my past ... is it really the love of a woman that has you desperate for answers?"
All of the men stared at her then - excluding Gian, who cast his glance to the crackling fire.
"Well I won't share the details, but I will say this," Xena smirked theatrically, a glimpse of her past self surfacing. With the lure, Xena leaned up onto a knee to make eye contact with the other interested parties: "I am very ... VERY. Protective of my companion. And if any one of you makes her feel uncomfortable - makes an advance on Gabrielle - I will personally see to it that you're one player short of a threesome." With that, her eyes darted down into one of the men's laps and back up with a squinted stare: "You got that?"
With the shock registering on their faces of her threat, Xena grinned and then levelled her expression to that of her earnest care for her companion.
"... Now somebody pass me the burnt hare."
It was a relatively quiet snack she enjoyed, where Gian glanced with a smile of his own at the woman who could hold her place among the men. Tales of her strength and violence were enough to ensure the men she meant every word. Gian nodded his approval of her tactics when she glanced over at him to see he offered her a piece of his bread.
Xena smiled and accepted.
Over at the other side of the camp, Gabrielle sat with her father.
Hungry for answers, Gabrielle sat far from the others, staring at Herodotus. They hunched in a private area of the camp, reading one another.
"I know WHY ... what I mean is ..." Then her eyes shot down and she sighed. "I wanted closure ... and now I'll never have it."
"But Gabrielle - his death is the greatest closure of all. He can't hurt you anymore."
"Why weren't you there when I needed YOU most?" Gabrielle fired at him, glaring. "When I was different and it made all the others so angry they lashed out and chased me away? Where were you then?"
"I was fighting," he answered factually, seeing how his answer hurt his lonely daughter who recoiled at the gesture of a hug.
"No - I don't accept that. You left Hecuba and me ... why? I deserve to know why!"
"Because I didn't know what I had," he whispered, not daring to look up and see the depressing look covering her soft features. "You were right, Gabrielle ... I was young and stupid."
"And Faelchus?"
"I had no idea the way he was making you feel ... I ... in a way, I ... thought he was better for you. That maybe he and your mother could give you a more normal life. With a home and without all the violence."
Gabrielle rolled her eyes at the path her life had taken. "Great - where I could be abandoned and take up the ways of the Amazons. All the good that did ..."
"Don't you think I know I made a mistake?!" his voice boomed, standing quickly to his feet. "Don't you think I know that?!"
Xena had rolled and hurried her way in Gabrielle's direction at the anger in Herodotus's voice - surprising the men around the fire with her speed and stealth in approaching the last tent where the private conversation took place. Peering around the corner to make her presence known with a stern voice, Xena looked to the woman who made her feel more anger, sadness, happiness and confusion than any other person she had known.
"Hey," she said simply.
Both heads turned - Gabrielle's tears wiped away with irritation to face her protective companion's attempt at a smile.
"You know I'm right here if you need me ...?"
"I know," Gabrielle said, making Herodotus realize that after all Gabrielle had been through, he needed to be more understanding than ever. He needed to be softer, finally sitting again to try another approach with the daughter he had never known. A woman among his world of men.
"Gabrielle," he tried, nervously resting his large hand over her smaller shoulder. "I made a choice that makes no sense to me now ... I always wanted to come back and see you, but ... well, Hecuba's made her mistakes, too."
"I'll be outside," Xena said just as sternly - strong when Gabrielle needed her to be.
Herodotus smiled at Gabrielle's hanging head once Xena had left, squeezing the gently-bronzed shoulder: "She looks out for you, doesn't she?"
"I hope that's not meant to be as condescending as it sounds," Gabrielle answered, looking into his eyes. "She's pulled me through hard times I don't think I would have made it through without her. She ... saved my life."
Herodotus dropped his smile when he realized Xena had done more to actually help his daughter than he had done himself. He exhaled in realizing the selfishness of his actions regarding the woman at his side. His daughter. He smiled again on instinct at the reminder of what he had gained just that day.
"You're a special girl, Gabrielle ... I never thought I'd know you, and ... I'm proud that I do. I'm proud to know you."
When Gabrielle's red eyes teared up once more, she kept her lip steady for Herodotus to see that she could be strong when she wanted to be, too.
In the face of his daughter's stubborn strength, Herodotus squeezed her shoulder a little tighter and prepared himself. He would say something he had said to the gods when he heard of the tales - heard of the miseries Gabrielle had suffered without him. He would say it to her then, since he finally could.
"I hope you know, too, Gabrielle ..." he started shakily, "That you never deserved the way you were treated ... and that NOTHING ... is wrong with you. That you deserve to ... be loved just the way you are ... and that no one has the right to ... to tell you any different."
Gabrielle's tears fell freely from her eyes down into the dirt. She stared at him, emotionally speechless as the drops spilled over her cheeks while she listened.
"And I love you as you are, Gabrielle. I want to be here for you, even if you're not ready for the way I choose to protect you ... I always will. I'm your father, and I ... I love you regardless of how you feel."
"Even if I hate you?" Gabrielle asked with a look of uncertainty and curiosity that had Herodotus smiling in return.
"Yeah. Even then."
"Even though I fought you?"
"ESPECIALLY because you fought me," Herodotus laughed, giving Gabrielle a gentle shove. "You were really good."
"... Herodotus ...?"
"Yes, Gabrielle?"
"It hurts," she answered, wiping the tears from her face to blink up at him as if she had scraped her knee for the first time. "It hurts to feel this way."
The voice - as womanly as it sounded to his ears - plucked a fatherly chord at his heart. "I will prove to you I'm not that man anymore, Gabrielle ... it will only be a matter of time."
"You'll meet me back in Potidaea to prove your word?"
Herodotus bit his cheek to internalize the many reactions waiting to spill out, into their conversation. "If ... that's what will prove to you what you mean to me ... then yes."
Gabrielle exhaled - her true father much more caring than her first.
"Hey, Gabrielle ... about Xena ...?"
"Yes?" Gabrielle asked curtly, prepared for an insulting question when Herodotus surprised her most of all.
"When did you two meet?"
Gabrielle smiled naturally at the memory. The crease in her eyebrow relaxed to show the youthful look of her features as she thought to the memory: "When I was still Amazon Queen ... when I was with another woman. It's a long story."
"Maybe ... one day you'll tell it to me," Herodotus replied with interest, watching his daughter closely to see that she wasn't in the sharing mood. However, there was something he couldn't ignore: "... Amazon Queen, hey?"
"Yeah ... it was a moment in time. Now here I am ... with a thousand problems to face. So, all the good it did me ..."
"One day you'll need my help, Gabrielle. And I'll do what I need to do. You'll see."
"Hopefully nothing too drastic," Gabrielle joked uneasily, thinking of others who had been hurt because of her. Ephiny and Xena both came to mind - Ephiny giving her life, and Xena giving her happiness for Gabrielle's. "Now if you'll excuse me for the evening ... I have someone else I have to talk to."
"Will you be back tomorrow?"
"I'll meet you in seven days back home."
Herodotus blinked at the word: home. He had never titled any place as such, and hadn't thought Gabrielle would use the term as loosely, either. "Why seven days? ... It's only two days' travel from here."
"I have something to take care of first along the way," Gabrielle answered, without the smirk she would have tossed at her companion. Her father didn't need to know she planned on spending a few extra days with Xena to build on their intimacy.
"I'll be there," he promised, nodding his head to the daughter he had mourned - thankful to the gods for her presence before him then.
Gabrielle nodded back, and took her exit to the fire where her love sat with five men - holding her own as she always did. From the distance, Gabrielle smirked at the temptation that washed over her. Even Xena's back could fill her with a rush of excitement.
Xena sat with her forearms balanced on her knees, looking into the fire with a smile as one of the other men told a crude joke. She had had to ignore the part of her heart that worried she and Gabrielle would never consummate their relationship. The mens' questions earlier had caused her to reflect and worry, but the concern lay at the back of her thoughts while the other men slapped their knees and tumbled with hilarity.
The sight brought Xena back to a time when she hadn't known the power of a true relationship - the joys of a lonesome warriors. At that, she couldn't help a smile from tugging at one corner of her lips. Gabrielle, she thought, was her happiness.
Just when Xena returned her thoughts to the men around her, familiar footsteps neared them and a loving woman's hands rested on her shoulders in so tender a way that everyone noticed.
The men around Xena quietened down as Gabrielle dipped a little lower to speak to Xena - still speaking loudly enough for all to hear: "What do you say we get outta here?"
Xena's grin then could not be contained. Especially after having kept quiet about being Gabrielle's love interest, the obvious display had her beaming with an overwhelming sense of pride.
"Yeah ... let's go," Xena smirked, patting the hand on her left shoulder before Gabrielle took the decision to heart, and headed toward the woods.
"I'll get the horses!"
Xena stood, stretched, and chuckled at the smirks on the mens' faces. "I'd better not catch any of you staring at her."
Xena teased them with an intimidating stare tossed over her shoulder while she made her way after Gabrielle. When she was far enough away for the men to feel comfortable doing so, one of them teased back: "Both of you is fine, then?"
They all laughed awkwardly - the sight and very idea of Xena and Gabrielle together giving them reason to seek privacy in order to work out their fascinations.
Xena pretended not to hear them, rolling her eyes as she figured they couldn't be to blame. Gabrielle - and the vision offered each time she walked off - was certainly an attractive sight.
On the way to the horses, Xena began to feel uncertain. There Gabrielle was - walking just ten paces before her, separately. She wondered if she would be able to fulfill a woman as confident and dominant as Gabrielle. Xena had never had a lover she allowed to top her. She had never had patience for a woman or man holding her down or taking her because they pleased it - Xena had always enjoyed being the one in control. But when it came to Gabrielle, she found herself curiously intrigued by her excitement under the blond warrior. She had gladly laid back and surrendered when Gabrielle had pinned her the day before. That memory had Xena smirking to herself during her quiet walk to the horses - wondering incidentally what Gabrielle might look like fully surrendered. The very idea gave Xena chills.
Gabrielle wondered if she had been too strong-willed with Xena before. She wondered if Xena would try topping her, ignoring the thought just as quickly as it arrived. She had never allowed herself to indulge in fantasies where she played the helpless role. She had always built herself into a more confident and abled role in life, and she had always felt that sex was no different. Certainly things hadn't changed so easily.
Having finally reached the horses, Gabrielle pivoted on the balls of her feet and stared down the dark-haired warrior headed her way. There was something so electric - so charged - about their anticipated meeting. Gabrielle's breathing built just watching the smile there on Xena's lips, smiling in return.
"You sure gave those boys a show," Xena teased, stopping just one step from Gabrielle - feeling more powerful and wanton than ever before. "You ... are quite a woman, you know that?"
Gabrielle felt the shift between them, drawing a sultry smile at the challenge. She so enjoyed taking Xena by surprise.
"Don't you dare," Xena groaned humorously, realizing that look in Gabrielle's eyes for what it was.
In one movement, Gabrielle spun to catch her horse's reins when Xena's hand darted out. Before Gabrielle could try anything so mischievous as a game of chase, Xena had grabbed her bicep, spun her back around, and stared down into those crystal green irises.
The look Xena gave her then had Gabrielle's eyes widening with the excitement of the capture. The excitement of the glistening dominance staring through her.
"Thought it was best to take off, huh?" Xena smirked, gaining confidence as Gabrielle's shoulders caved to expose the blond's desire to be weak in her arms. Xena had always built her reputation on her ability to read people, and right then, she throbbed for the way Gabrielle's body spoke to her - the blond's resolve crumbling contentedly.
Gabrielle could offer only a breathy explanation with the energy captivating her: "I ... couldn't make it too easy on you ..."
"Oh, I think you'll be making it easy on me after all," Xena smiled openly, watching as Gabrielle's eyes dropped from Xena's smiling lips down to her chest. Xena had never felt a person looking at her the way Gabrielle did then - it wasn't the stare of lust, but the connection of a person whose every happiness was dependent on her companion. It was a connection they shared that had their tease growing bolder with every glance between them. It couldn't be helped. The connection wouldn't be ignored.
Breaking the surging connection of their eyes, Xena inserted some humor with a twisted grasp that had Gabrielle's arms snug across the suede top. Xena had spun her into an awkward hold that tugged Gabrielle's wrists to either side of her smaller chest - hugging herself, it appeared. Gabrielle chuckled when she couldn't budge from the hold as Xena backed her up a few unpredictable steps, while Gabrielle started fumbling over her own two feet.
"Will you let me go?" Gabrielle laughed, trying to steal a glance over her shoulder. "I wouldn't want to have to bring my head back into your nose ... not the romantic setting I had hoped."
"What had you hoped?" Xena teased, immediately, bringing Gabrielle's smaller back to her chest and holding still. Tracing her thumbs tenderly over Gabrielle's wrists. "Tell me ... I wanna hear all about it."
"I'm not telling you what I hoped," Gabrielle chuckled, squirming yet again to find the efforts no use. At the knowledge that she was incredibly stuck, she laughed a natural, open laugh she had never let out before.
It was a spilt, infectious laughter that Xena found she would do anything for - to hear it just one more time. Creamy, bubbly, and warm. She had never heard Gabrielle laugh that way before, and she found it affected her every muscle.
"I wanna hear that laugh again ..." Xena whispered tenderly into her ear, sending shivers through an otherwise playful blond.
"... I wanna kiss you," Gabrielle answered in return, surprised to be spun back around.
Before Gabrielle could speak, her lips were connected with another hungry set, exploding the silent chemistry they shared into a melted agreement of sensation. Gabrielle smiled into the kiss with her arms free - wrapping them around her lover's neck. She moaned when the word came to mind - lover. Xena would become her lover.
The thirst they felt brought such passion to their small touches that their kissing became deeper. Slower and deeper. Their fingers became curious, drifting over small areas of heated skin as all sense of alertness was forgotten.
Gabrielle's concern flagged itself to mind when she realized she had forgotten where they were entirely. She turned her head to speak, but Xena's talented lips only turned their attention to an even more sensitive area - her neck.
"I ... I can't protect us like this ..." Gabrielle whispered, her eyes rolling back at the feeling of the persistent tongue that pressed just under her ear. Sucking with pressure on the point of weakness. "I ... can't ... be ... be ... strong ..."
"You don't have to 'be be' strong," Xena smirked, tracing only her fingertips up Gabrielle's arms - goosebumps raising - while her teeth nibbled Gabrielle's ear. "More sensitive than I thought ..."
"Quiet," Gabrielle stuttered with an exciting embarrassment she didn't understand. She had never felt so vulnerable with the attention of a person's lips. She had felt great lust, affection, and excitement, but never the weakness she felt with Xena.
"Relax, Gabrielle ..." Xena moaned into her ear, bringing both hands to Gabrielle's lower back to draw Gabrielle's lips closer once more.
Unlike her experiences with others, Xena felt that she had a strong desire to go somewhere private with Gabrielle. As they stood in their place, there were only bushes and two large trees shielding them from interested eyes around the bend, so she thought to better areas that might leave them with some isolation.
"I think we should ride out for a while," Xena moaned, holding Gabrielle close with hands on those fit hips. Xena kissed Gabrielle's shoulder when she felt Gabrielle's lips on her neck, melting from within. "Gabrielle ..."
"I don't think I can ride right now," Gabrielle whispered, excitedly tracing her fingers over the breastplate covering Xena's leathers. She had never seen any piece of armour so beautifully complicated.
"Well since I don't want that whole camp of men to hear us, I'll do it," Xena chuckled, knowing that look on Gabrielle's face. She had seen many men with that same expression when faced with the complexity of her armour, but for the first time, Xena wanted to remove it herself. She didn't want to watch Gabrielle face the challenge. She wanted to help the woman with those soft, green eyes. She looked lovingly at Gabrielle and cupped the side of her face in a warm hand: "I'll ride. You come with me."
"Who rides two people to one horse?" Gabrielle chuckled, pulling her eyes up to Xena's. "You want to humiliate me, don't you?"
"It won't be humiliating," Xena smirked, admittedly knowing to what Gabrielle was referring. Warriors didn't ride-along.
"Okay, if you get me up on that horse, I get something in return."
"I'll take this off for you," Xena teased, gesturing to her breastplate only to have Gabrielle arch a brow and unfasten the top right shoulder herself.
"You think I haven't spent any time watching you at all, is that it?"
Xena was completely surprised, standing there in lopsided armour. "How did you do that ...?"
"I'm more observant than you give me credit for."
With that, Xena's sense of logic was entirely dissolved. With Gabrielle's cheeky grin, all Xena could see were the things she was about to do to her blond companion as she closed the gap between them and pulled Gabrielle in for a full, open-mouthed kiss.
Standing so closely to Gabrielle and feeling those lips return the intimacy gave Xena a weakness she had never allowed her to feel. It was a weakness that warned of an impossible sort of pleasure Xena felt she couldn't have promised to herself. All of Xena's greatest moments of pleasure had either been founded on her own or with a male counterpart, but she found herself imagining Gabrielle could deliver quite an intoxicating experience. The combination of shy vulnerability and strong, eager prowess that Gabrielle held was a potent combination - one that had Xena breathless. Gabrielle was a woman like none other, and Xena had the feeling the blond's sexual prowess would be just as unique and powerful as Gabrielle's many other qualities.
Gabrielle kissed Xena like she had wanted always wanted to kiss her. She traced a knowing tongue over Xena's upper lip only to press a little further and connect with Xena's tongue. With that sensation between them, both of their hands grabbed hold of each other, crushing themselves as closely to one another as was physically possible - Xena tilting her head down, and Gabrielle tilting her chin up to keep the fluid embrace.
"I ... never imagined this would happen outside," Xena mumbled as Gabrielle's lips travelled down her neck to a vulnerable collar bone. As fingers rid the taller form of the breastplate that dropped to the ground.
Gabrielle drew back to smile up at Xena: "Is that right?"
"I don't know why," Xena chuckled in the hearty way Gabrielle loved - each of them with hands on the other. "Sounds ridiculous ... I know."
"Not ridiculous," Gabrielle moaned, watching Xena's hand venture under the strap of her top: "Imagine all the ... the things I could do to you in a room with a bed ...?"
Xena shivered, pulling the strap of Gabrielle's top down her arm in the process. Eager lips closed in on the exposed shoulder with smaller hands rushing into dark, tangled hair.
"This ... needs to come off ..." Xena panted, having worked herself into a frenzy at the heat of the skin under her fingers. The softness of her very strong companion. The tug that mirrored itself on the strap of her leathers. "Come on ... help me."
Gabrielle arched her back into the touch that found its way to her breasts, over her top. The smirk gathering to her lips as her hands cupped the leather-clad breasts before her. "Why would I do that ...?"
"Because I don't know how this damned thing comes off ..." Xena grinned with her fingers hooking under the straps to keep Gabrielle impossibly close. "Come on ... help me out ..."
"If you can't figure it out ... I'm not helping," Gabrielle teased, having noted very vividly how she might undress Xena. She was surprised Xena hadn't done the same, finally voicing her excited question: "You've never thought of how ...?"
"In my thoughts ... I always ripped it off you ..."
Gabrielle exhaled and her knees weakened with the confession. She swallowed and tilted her chin up to receive the kiss that swept her from any concerns or uncertainty. The throbbing that concentrated between her legs begged for touch that only Xena could deliver.
"... You did?"
When Gabrielle's legs had the blond holding onto Xena, the black-haired warrior lowered them both to the ground. The act of which excited her like she had never felt before. Gabrielle was there, willingly beneath her - desperate even.
"I ... I can't ... breathe ..." Gabrielle chuckled, her shoulders lifted off the ground to show she still maintained some of her adamant strength. When Xena simply eased Gabrielle flat onto her back again, Gabrielle blinked to restore some shred of reason in a mind otherwise overtaken by desire.
"Let me know if you start feeling excited too ... gods forbid," Xena teased, bringing her hand to Gabrielle's neck. Very softly, she smoothed her palm down to a chest restricted by the material still covering it.
"Don't tease me now ..." Gabrielle panted, feeling Xena's leg between hers - the taller woman perched over her. On top of her.
"So many complaints ..." Xena quipped, shifting herself down to kiss the cleavage offered to her.
Gabrielle's head fell back at the tingling that raced through her at the sensual attention over her body. She opened her eyes to the darkening blue of the sky, and felt her eyelids grow heavy at the strong desire she felt - how it clouded her mind completely. How it energized her body and parted her legs before she could control the reaction.
When Gabrielle's cheeks flushed and the knees attempted to close again, Xena's voice sounded in her ear: "No, I liked it the way they were ..."
"Gods, stop ..." Gabrielle moaned, surprised when Xena did exactly that.
Xena watched Gabrielle carefully, pushing her libido aside for the woman squirming underneath her. She had never felt it so powerfully before - the tender care for another partner.
Caring eyes shone down to her, giving Gabrielle the time to explain her words. But while she mulled the words around in her head, Gabrielle took the opportunity to flip them so that she leaned over Xena. Her hair draping over one shoulder while her eyes stared down at the mysterious warrior speaking with only their eyes.
Gabrielle's spoke with a loud uncertainty: I'm scared. I've never been scared to make love to someone before.
Xena looked to Gabrielle's hands pinning her arms, grinned, and looked back up at her: You're scared? Could've fooled me.
I really am. I'm scared.
Inhaling, Xena tugged her arms free and reached up to smooth her hands from Gabrielle's neck to her chest. "Nothing's gonna change between us, Gabrielle ... I'm not gonna run away."
"I can't know that."
Xena chuckled at the doubt so clearly circulating in Gabrielle's mind. "And I guess it wouldn't help for me to promise it?"
"I just ... have never felt this way before I ever even touched a woman ..."
Then Xena smiled. "Love ... it's new for me. It's new like this. It's ... never been like this for me either, but I can guarantee you that with this feeling I have for you ... I'm not gonna throw it away from fear. And ... I'd hope you wouldn't either."
"I wouldn't run."
"You were gonna play a game of chase just a minute ago."
Gabrielle relaxed on top of Xena, bringing her legs to either side of the curvaceous warrior to sit astride Xena's hips. She sat there on top of Xena and allowed herself to fantasize for a moment. "... I'm sorry about that."
"There's nothing to be afraid of. It may be new ... all this ... but you don't need to be afraid, Gabrielle," Xena whispered, excitedly running her hands up the legs she had only ever watched before. "I want you ..."
"I want you too ... I've just never built anything up like I've built this ... and you're just so ..." Gabrielle said, her breath catching at the powerful way Xena's fingers massages up to her thighs. "So ... strong and experienced and ... beautiful ..."
"Did you just call me beautiful?" Xena softly teased, finding that she quite liked the way Gabrielle thought of her. Feminine had always been something that Xena felt weakened her, but there under Gabrielle, Xena realized it had its place between them.
Xena's reaction warmed Gabrielle's heart: "You're beautiful, Xena ... and this kind of desire ... it hurts."
Xena smiled up at her, opening her hands completely to feel as much of Gabrielle in her hands as was possible. And as Gabrielle leaned over her again with her bottom lifted, Xena slid her hands under Gabrielle's skirt to the backside she had fantasized about for countless nights. It fit so perfectly in her hands.
"... I've been hurting for you too for a looong ... looooooong time," Xena whispered, breathing into Gabrielle's ear.
They both moved so hungrily against each other Gabrielle could feel the reaction mixing between her legs and she shivered at its intensity. With much friction where she needed it, she knew her body would give in completely.
"You have ...?"
"Yes ... watching you ... trying not to watch you ..."
With the neck offered to her there, Gabrielle leaned in and pressed her lips to it, her heart beating quicker with each second passing between them. Her Xena was there, surrendering and vulnerable before her - allowing every kiss Gabrielle was offering. Venturing her tongue out onto Xena's neck, Gabrielle was pleasantly surprised at the hunger it stirred in her powerful warrior.
"Take it off," Xena rasped, tugging at Gabrielle's top with great frustration. And while Gabrielle might have teased any other day, she was feeling just as desperate to feel those rough hands against her sensitive breasts. She obediently sat up and tugged off her top - breathless for a long moment before she realized how much her partially naked form pleased the woman beneath her.
Xena's mouth dropped open as she sat up, only to be pushed onto her back again, staring into the smiling eyes of her partner. Gabrielle was enjoying her desperation.
"I've never made love like this before ..." Gabrielle whispered, shutting her eyes to the soft pressure of Xena's hands on her.
"Is it selfish to say I'm glad?" Xena whispered back, closing her eyes to the sensation of Gabrielle lowering herself closer, into her hands.
"I want to push you around a little bit," Gabrielle teased, trusting Xena to support her upper body as she balanced with only Xena's hands on her chest to keep her up. She smiled and brought her hands over Xena's, feeling the hands that lovingly covered her breasts. "It's so tempting to take you the way I've imagined it ..."
"Something tells me that will come in time," Xena teased back, slipping her legs around to hold Gabrielle and flip them over so that she was staring down at the mischievous blond. "But right now ... I want to show you what I'VE wanted all this time ..."
"Will it hurt?" Gabrielle teased playfully, watching as Xena slipped excited hands under her skirt to pull down the warm material of her britches. "What are you doing?"
Xena smiled at the uncertainty in Gabrielle's voice, seeing that the skirt was left in place.
"Oh, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
Gabrielle dropped her head back and closed her eyes before opening them to Xena again. "This ... is all new for me."
"I know," Xena moaned, leaning in to kiss and caress Gabrielle's thighs across her cheeks. Glaring intensely into dark green eyes: "I'm gonna show you what it's like to give in ..."
Gabrielle watched with great fascination as Xena pressed fingertips into her thighs and rubbed her face over the area - inching up, between the thighs. With both eyes closed, Xena appeared lost on the road to her destination, and Gabrielle's breath caught at the thought of what Xena might do with her. What could Xena do that she hadn't seen before or even learned herself?
The moment Xena's nose started nudging Gabrielle's skirt up toward her hips, Gabrielle's head fell back at the intensity of the anticipation. Xena's lips were kissing and biting up her thighs, and it had Gabrielle completely silenced. It was a ferocious sort of desire that Gabrielle felt circulating within herself - much like the lust and energy she had felt kissing Xena for the first time. Gabrielle shuddered to think what Xena might be capable of making her feel with that mouth in other, more sensitive areas.
The forest around them turned into a mixture of tones to Gabrielle's ears. The colors grew more saturated and the smells were all mixed with her own scent. She lost all logical grasp of her senses when Xena started licking her.
A strong tongue flattened against Gabrielle, and the blond arched. Immediately, everything had changed. Nothing could compare to the way Xena sent her into the frenzy that started to shake her. Gabrielle had never felt anything like it. The sensation of Xena's tongue rhythmically pleasing her felt like too much at once. It very nearly hurt.
"I ... I ... it's too much!" Gabrielle gasped, pushing at shoulders that gave way to a very smug expression from one warrior princess.
"Too much? Already?" Xena teased, wiping her lips with the back of her hand as she nipped playfully at the shaking thigh still in her hand. "Are you sure you've done this before ...?"
All Gabrielle could do was laugh and turn to roll away before Xena held her legs in place and slowly laid between them, biting her lower lip.
"I've never seen you do that," Gabrielle moaned, getting off on the reaction Xena had to the image of her body. A bitten lip.
"I never let myself do it," Xena smirked, brushing her thumb over Gabrielle's bangs to graze her fingers over the braid. "This ... it's cute."
"I don't want to talk about my hair right now," Gabrielle teased back, squirming her hips subconsciously as Xena laid on top of her. "Come on ... Xena ..."
"Want something?"
"You're enjoying my misery," Gabrielle laughed, delivering that creamy sound that had Xena even more encouraged than before.
"I ... guess you're not ready for that other trick quite yet ..."
"I'm not a virgin - your tongue though ... doing that to me ... it felt ... it felt like Elysia."
"And that's a bad thing because ...?"
"It's not. It's ... a lot of new things for me is all," Gabrielle explained, conversing with her eyes to Xena. Telling her that there was more emotion to what she was saying. It was a look that Xena read and appreciated, smoothing her hand back down Gabrielle's side to sneak its way up, into her skirt.
"I want you, Gabrielle ... I don't mean to tease you ... I've just thought of this playing out in so many different ways ..."
"Touch me," Gabrielle pleaded quietly, prompting just that.
Eager hands started massaging Gabrielle between her legs, prompting two strong arms to cling to Xena. Gasping and excited.
"All you had to do was ask ..."
"Xena! ..."
The moan escaping Gabrielle's lips was more than Xena could handle. She dropped her shoulders to Gabrielle's chest, brought her hand up to her mouth, licked her fingers and moaned back into Gabrielle's ear: "Tell me ... tell me you want it ..."
"I want you inside of me," Gabrielle whispered hotly onto Xena's neck, kissing the flesh available to her lips. "Inside ..."
If Xena had ever been tested, it was then. It was in that moment, when Gabrielle was clinging to her, moaning, and begging for more. If Xena had ever felt completely weak, it was there, leaning over Gabrielle, but she forced herself to stay strong. If Gabrielle was begging to be pleased, there was no room for shaky knees and wobbly arms. Xena focused, closed her eyes, and moved her hand there between them with a grin. She had a feeling that the energy between them would continue to surprise Gabrielle.
"Gods!" Gabrielle moaned so loudly Xena smiled and licked her lips.
"You like that ...?" Xena asked teasingly, her fingers just pressing gently inside of Gabrielle. Waiting and tormenting her beautiful partner just until Gabrielle took another gasping breath in. On that quiet cue, Xena pushed her fingers deeper. She curled them and worked them in and out of Gabrielle slowly at first.
"Kiss me ..." Gabrielle breathed with a dizzy mind that shook her with pleasure. "Kiss ... me ..." she moaned again when Xena shifted - hands pushing at Xena's shoulders until Xena's lips were at level with the exposed breasts offered to her.
Taking the instruction for the command it was, Xena smirked and looked up at Gabrielle's face while she closed her mouth over one breast at a time. Sucking and nibbling.
"Oh ... gods! ..." Gabrielle gasped, shaking with the feelings that were racing inside of her. Xena's fingers filled her so completely, Gabrielle thrashed and arched again. Whimpering when she couldn't hold back the sounds any longer. "Xena ..."
Xena's tongue and fingers were playing her body with such expertise, Gabrielle could only surrender. With palms turned up and her eyes shooting opened, Gabrielle realized the feelings rushing through her for what they were.
"I ...'m close ..." Gabrielle mumbled in disbelief, a part of her shy at how quickly and easily Xena seemed to have played her body. Another part of her ecstatic that Xena could.
Xena watched with excitement as Gabrielle arched, jolted, and elevated her hips while the orgasm sparked itself into being. Xena had never seen anything as arousing as the sight Gabrielle made in the throes of pleasure. She made sure to commit the scene to memory as she leaned over Gabrielle and watched her climax.
"Now! ... Gods! ... I ... Xena! ..."
It was at that exact moment Xena realized that her desire for Gabrielle had blinded them both to their plan to find a more isolated area. Certainly they couldn't be heard from where they were, but Xena couldn't help but worry about others coming upon them. However, as she looked up to Gabrielle's chin tilted skyward - shoulders shaking - she could only think of the woman she loved. All responsibility and concern was pushed aside to enjoy the moment with Gabrielle. In fact, Xena began thinking about the lucky woman she was to have Gabrielle where she did. Where she would. She would have Gabrielle anywhere she could, and as often as she could. Given how quickly and fully she had pleased Gabrielle, she had a feeling, that would be often indeed. Her companion certainly seemed to have an excitable sexual appetite.
The moment Gabrielle's shoulders relaxed onto the ground, Xena felt herself grow somewhat nervous. Xena hadn't orgasmed every time she enjoyed time with a lover. Not even most of the time. She knew there would be times when she would simply enjoy the feel of Gabrielle against her, but she hoped quietly to herself that she would be able to climax. Her nerves could get the better of her, but it could be difficult to keep her mind and her activities as one.
"Gabrielle ..." Xena whispered down to her companion just as Gabrielle started to pull herself back up to her elbows. "I - whoa!"
Before Xena could speak another word, Gabrielle had landed her flat on her back - perched breathlessly over her to whisper back: "If you think I'm waiting ... one more minute to have you ... you're wrong."
"What?" Xena chuckled momentarily, shocked and confused at the promise.
"You heard me," Gabrielle moaned, watching the confusion staring back at her with a grin she didn't attempt to tame. "I ... am going to possess this body of yours ..."
"You're ... pretty confident," Xena teased, seeing a flare in Gabrielle's eyes that told her this was something new. Something new had sparked inside of Gabrielle.
"I am going to make you wish ... you didn't know this pleasure ..."
"What?" Xena asked with clear shock and animatedly opened eyes with lifted brows. "Why ...?"
Then Gabrielle smiled. "Because you're never going to be satisfied again without my touch once you know what I can really do to you."
Xena wanted to laugh at the mischievous look in Gabrielle's eyes, but found herself staring at Gabrielle's naked breasts instead. "Uh ..."
"I know what you need," Gabrielle answered to the unspoken question of why the energy between them had shifted so drastically. "I know what you need now ... do you trust me to give it to you?"
"What-"
"I need you ... to trust me," Gabrielle answered very softly. Still perched on top of Xena, Gabrielle pressed herself onto the soft leathers and hid her nose in Xena's hair - purring in her ear. "Do you trust me ...?"
Xena felt her body relax at the realization that she did trust Gabrielle. She let her hands wander from Gabrielle's naked sides up to the nipples that hardened more aggressively in her palms.
"... Yes ... I trust you."
"Good," Gabrielle moaned, taking Xena's ear in between her teeth to nibble on it. "Now, how about we get you out of those leathers ...?"
As Xena moaned to the little kisses Gabrielle laid on her neck, a genuine smile found Gabrielle's lips at the sight Xena made. Long, thick black hair fell tangled off each shoulder to the grass, and feminine lips trembled. Xena was as weak as any moment there under Gabrielle, and the blond found the revelation completely arousing. All Gabrielle wanted was to seduce Xena into a frenzy with her - so they both would lose themselves in the task of pleasure.
Gabrielle knew just how to do it. The fire in her eyes had her spinning Xena to unlace her leathers, only to flip Xena onto her back again.
In only a simply beige shift and britches, Xena shivered. She had never seen Gabrielle look at her that way before - a woman lusting after her. Wanting to please her. The particular smile in Gabrielle's eyes held a promise of fulfillment that lifted just one slender brow from Xena's eye.
"I want you completely naked," Gabrielle smiled, taking in the curves just barely hidden beneath the simple fabric of the shift that covered very little of her companion.
"Gabrielle ..."
"You can please me that quickly ... and you think I don't know how to get to you, don't you ...?" Gabrielle moaned, pressing herself on top of Xena again with one knee between the tanned legs beneath her. Gabrielle's hands lowered to the cleavage she had seen so many times before, hungry for more: "But I know just how to unravel you ..."
"Who are you and what have you done with the quiet writer I used to know?" Xena chuckled, her chin tilted up as Gabrielle's kisses turned to strategic licking up to her ear.
"I'm not a writer," Gabrielle smirked, tugged the top of Xena's slip down to expose the breasts she had wanted to pay their due attention. As Gabrielle shifted down to kiss and touch them, she stared up at Xena: "Not now ... Right now I'm here to please you ... Isn't that right?"
Xena felt tingles at the statement she hadn't expected. She looked down her body to see those sparkling green eyes daring her to protest. Explaining that she understood Xena's desire to be pleased obediently by the woman who was obedient for no one. No one, Xena found, but her.
"Y-y... you are?" Xena stuttered, proving just how successful Gabrielle's prediction had been. Xena slowly supported her upper body onto her elbows to watch Gabrielle lick and kiss the nipples that hardened to the touch. Xena had never felt anything as electric as when Gabrielle kissed her and stared at her all the while. In that moment, Xena felt that Gabrielle would have done anything in her power just to please her. It was an infectious desperation.
"I'll do anything you need," Gabrielle said with such undying devotion that Xena melted completely. Her arms gave out and she laid again with her back to the ground, moaning so fully she felt weak.
"Gabrielle ... gods ... don't say that to me ..."
Gabrielle grinned, enjoying herself with both hands pressing to Xena's sides. Travelling down as were her lips ... bunching up the slip as Xena squirmed beneath her.
"Gabrielle ... what're you doing ...?"
"I can feel that you need me," Gabrielle moaned tenderly - almost naively. Darting mischievous eyes up to Xena as the remaining material was tugged down the tanned legs. "And I want you to have what you need ... Don't you want that?"
"... W-what do I need?" Xena asked, her breath catching in the back of her throat when Gabrielle's hand tenderly covered her mound. Pressing to warn of pleasurable friction to come.
"Oh, I think you want my lips ... my fingers ..."
"Gods! ..."
"My tongue maybe ...?" Gabrielle whispered, moving her free hand up to massage her own naked breast. "I want to lick and kiss you until you burst ... I want to watch you fall to pieces ... I want to taste you ... I want to please you until you can't take it anymore ..."
But when Gabrielle tried shifting one of Xena's legs, the dark warrior straightened worriedly, and swallowed hard: "I ... don't like a lot of different positions."
Gabrielle's eyes softened for long enough to comfort Xena - brushing fingers over the bronzed cheek. "It's okay ... I just want to please you. Tell me what you want, Xena."
Xena blushed for only an instant, pursing her lips. Feeling more playful with each mischievous effort from her excited companion. "Umm ... well, I want to try a few things with you ... but right now ...? I want you to kiss me."
Without hesitation, Gabrielle was lying fully on top of Xena again - naked chests pressed together. Inhaling and exhaling as one. She was kissing Xena with all the tenderness and desperation she had ever felt for her - the kiss mesmerising them both into a rhythm that had them rolling over one another until Xena's body had relaxed completely once again.
"I love you, Xena ..." Gabrielle whispered, reaching her hand down between Xena's legs to earn a strangled gasp in return. "And I want to watch you enjoy my fingers ... Can I touch you?"
"Why are you asking?" Xena panted, feeling the thick, strong fingers provide some excellent friction over her clit, sending her to another place entirely. "You ... y-y ... you ..."
"What about me?" Gabrielle smirked, the rush building inside her at the very sight of Xena squirming so vulnerably there beneath her. "Were you about to tell me that I'll just have you how I want you anyway? ... Because that's not true ... I just want to please you ..."
With the last insistence, Gabrielle's voice heightened in pitch. And when Xena looked up at her, she saw the feigned innocence there again - the obedience - and Xena crumbled completely.
"Lick your fingers ... lick them."
Gabrielle did it - both of them aroused by the play between them.
"Good ..." Xena panted with such arousal that her smile was tightened by the sensations gathering down between her legs. "Good ... now ... do that some more ... do it slowly ..."
"Whatever you say ..." Gabrielle smiled, leaning over Xena with exaggeration to stare into her eyes. To share in one of their silent conversations.
Gabrielle's eyes clearly continued: I'll do anything to see you shiver.
Xena's eyes locked for only a moment or two at a time, but they were as powerful as ever in their message: It won't take much of this ...
I'm going to surprise you, Xena ...
You already have ...
"Yeah ... squirm for me ..."
"I'm not squirming," Xena giggled so delicately Gabrielle moaned. Gabrielle could only watch with pleasure as Xena took hers - both moving together. Gabrielle's fingers teasing, pinching, and massaging while she talked Xena into a sexual sort of mania that shook all of the control Xena was known to possess.
The moment Xena released the waves building from within, Gabrielle moved from teasing with two fingers to pushing them inside of her. The feeling sent Xena so much farther over the edge than she had planned that she cried out - her back lifting off the ground as she grabbed onto Gabrielle for balance.
"Yes!" Xena half-shouted and half-sobbed, pulling Gabrielle back to the ground. They laid together while Xena's body seized and released - a steady gasping breath at Gabrielle's ear.
For what seemed like the longest time, neither said a thing. They simply laid together - Gabrielle's fingers still moving gently inside of Xena.
Finally, Xena licked her lips and swept Gabrielle's hair over the other shoulder. "You're gonna have to stop that ... or I'll want you again."
"I'll have you again if you'll let me ..."
"This is a much hungrier Gabrielle than I'm used to," Xena smiled, moaning when she felt the naked back under her fingers. All that was left on the blond warrior was her skirt. "Not that I'm complaining."
"Well, this is a much smarter Gabrielle that has just realized what she wanted," she moaned back.
"Is that right ...?" Xena whispered, thinking of different scenarios she could play out with the very talented woman draped over her.
"Yes," Gabrielle breathed, taking her fingers from Xena to steady herself and stare the raven-haired warrior deeply in the eyes. "Yes ... and I've only gotten started."
"Well, I must admit ... I didn't see that coming. You ... seem very quiet."
"I've never talked so much during sex ... did you like it?" Gabrielle asked with a clear self-consciousness in her eyes. With one raised eyebrow and a smile in answer, Gabrielle blushed and rested her head in her hand. Staring at Xena more closely. "And ... do you know what else this hungry Gabrielle wants?"
"Uh oh," Xena teased. "I'm afraid to ask."
"I want to make up all that teasing by paying for a bath for us each ... together."
"Is this your way of telling me I need to bathe?"
Gabrielle laughed the same flowing laughter that had Xena lighted with a powerful kind of love she had never felt before, admiring her feelings for what they were: entirely genuine.
"No ... it's my way of telling you that I want to taste and touch all of you ... That I want to play with you ... and that a bath will be a very comfortable space to take what I want from you ..."
"Take?!" Xena laughed, surprised herself with all the laughter. She had never been one to laugh during or directly after sex. She flipped them over so that she could pin Gabrielle's hands to the ground - both mostly undressed - kissing her lover twice on the lips. "Gabrielle ... unpredictable Gabrielle ... I wish you could know how strongly I really feel for you."
"Well, one way for me to know is for you to tell me ..."
With one more kiss, Xena drew back and stared into the expression she had only ever dreamed of before, revealing something she had only ever dreamed of saying so openly.
"Gabrielle ... I love you more than you know."