Declaimer: I do not own XWP, only borrowed the characters. No profit made, just joy from readers.

A/N: After the second Xena marathon this time in original version, finally getting the subtext (dubbing eliminates it a lot) and being re-addicted to the xenaverse, an idea for a fic came to me.

Hopefully you will enjoy reading the stories as much as I like writting them :)

Chapter 1 - Easing Up

Eve was travelling with the famous duo for days now. She was not sure of anything anymore. Rome was not her mother but the former warlord and Destroyer of Nations was. Her blood gave her preposition to be a great warrior, the influence of the God of War, in the Roman Empire known as Mars, enabled her to become one. But was it all worth it? The fame, the wealth, the power. At the end Augustus found out about her fling with Mars, or well, in Greek called Ares, and he denied her the power. Half of her army turned her back to her after that and on the second half she turned her back. What was left was shame of her past sins and a mother with her companion who were lost for twenty-five years.

One night, dwelling on her past, Eve looked up at the older brunette. She took a breath to speak but she was not sure what addressing she should use. The world mother was too foreign for her. She was almost twenty-six summers old and never have she used this one.

As if she knew, what the young woman was thinking about, Xena smiled gently. "You can call me by my name," she offered.

"I am sorry, I know I should… but…"

"Eve, it is alright. We are bonded by blood but practically we are just getting to know each other. If you are willing to call me Mother some time later, I will be thrilled, but no pressure."

Even nodded and smiled her thanks shyly. "Xena, how did you get over your dark past?"

"I had help," admitted the former warlord. "First Heracles took me under his wings and showed me how to walk in the light. Later it was not so easy to walk on my own, because people feared me and refused any help. When I was at the end of my strength I found my sun." She looked up at her partner for years and smiled broadly.

Gabrielle had just returned with a new load of firewood. The blonde looked at the other two women and raised her eyebrows in question but received no reply.

Eve looked back into the fire deep in thoughts when she felt her parent's hand on her shoulder. "We are here to help you and support you. As long as you need until you are ready to stand on your own. And even after that."

The youngest of them nodded pensively. Grateful for the kind words nevertheless she felt she did not deserve them.

Gabrielle sat next to her from the other side. "Don't push it. You need to find the peace and love within yourself. It is not an easy way, but not impossible."

"It was not your way," opposed Eve.

"Not completely, but I learnt a few things."

"Are you willing to share?" Gabrielle stiffened and stared into the fire getting lost in her own thoughts of the past. By the look, the young brunette assumed it was nothing pretty. "I apologise, that was too straightforward."

The blond bard looked up from the fire, waking up from her memories. "No, it is alright. I will share, later. You know what, we can start with some meditation and yoga; what do you say?"

Eve nodded eagerly. Anything that would help her calm he inner demons which were ready for some malice.

Gabrielle stood up, patted the young woman's shoulder and left. Xena repeated the same gesture and followed the bard.

It seemed they all had their own stains on their souls, the Roman champion just wonder what happed to the blonde. Xena was well known all over the Old land, from South to North, from the Island on the West to East, far away East. Gabrielle's fame spread as well, her stories were told behind the boundaries of Greece. She was known as the writer and narrator of the good deeds of the Warrior Princess, nothing too personal though.

Eve stood up from the camp as well to make sure the storyteller was alright as she seemed very upset. After years of training in the army, being stealth was her second nature. She did not want to disturb, just make sure the older woman was fine. There was something about her, on which the former soldier could not put her finger; she just knew she felt protective of the shorter person. On the second though how much older or shorter Gabrielle really was, if even?

Anyway the youngest of the group reached the small pond where she found her companions bathing. Xena was obviously standing on the bottom her back towards her daughter blocking the view of the other traveller from whom only arms were seen as she was keeping herself above the surface.

"Were you thinking about Hope?" asked Xena tentatively.

"There are not many days which pass by without me thinking about her," the bard admitted sadly.

The warrior reached forward and pulled her partner close into a hug. "Eve is our second chance in motherhood. We can make it this time."

"But we have already missed so much, her whole childhood and growing up, her first fight, first love and broken heart."

"We have her now."

Gabrielle laid her head on her partner's shoulder and sighed. "I will teach her everything I know of the way of peace. Even though with your blood and Callisto's spirit, it may be challenging," her voice was lighter now, teasing even.

Xena chuckled amused. "Luckily for her, she has also you."

The blond woman pulled away to look in her partner's eyes and frowned. "What do you mean?"

"That Eve did not get her height from Callisto."

"Is that another one of your short people joke?"

"Yes."

Gabrielle slapped the former warlord's shoulder, as only she could do without losing her life, and the said women let her go which caused the blonde to disappear under the water surface. When the bard swam up coughing, Xena pulled her back laughing. "That was not necessary to prove your point," murmured the younger of them.

"You are adorable when you are angry," commented the brunette and leant in.

The pale hands tangled in the dark mane and the head was pulled down. From this gesture and following movements Eve inferred those were not just friendly displays of affection. Well, that would explain the looks and occasional touches, although they had never acted as lovers in front of her. She retreated back to the camp when she heard Gabrielle questioned their activity.

"Maybe we shouldn't. Eve can walk on us any time."

"Better for her not to."

"I remember walking on my parents once in the barn one day. I could not look at them for moons and I really hoped there would be no child for the next ten full-moons because whenever I would look at my sibling, the image of my parents being intimate would come on my mind."

Xena laughed heartily at the story. "In that case it would be good for Eve's own sanity to stay by the fire."

Truth to her words Gabrielle taught Eve some yoga exercise while Xena went to get something for breakfast. She came back with berries, nuts and oranges. She squeezed the juices, mixed it with fresh water and cut the bread and cheese they had in their supplies. Easy, no actual cooking needed. She adapted this routine for several days while her two favourite people were working on their spiritual way of finding peace.

Gabrielle was patient with the young woman. She knew changes did not happen overnight. It took Xena years to ease up on herself and even after all this time she had not forgiven herself completely.

Day by day the former Roman found herself more and more attached to the bard. There was a special light around her which brought peace and joy to other people's lives. Even when she was bargaining a price at a market place, comforting a child or fighting villains, there was a charm which not many people could resist. That gift also helped Eve to get more at ease with the pair and really get to know her family she lost years ago.

"Xena, who is my father?" she asked one evening while they were eating fish for diner which was caught earlier in a fresh creek. The warrior in question almost choked on a fish bone. "Is it Mars? I mean Ares?" she was not sure if she really wanted to hear confirmation of this assumption or eager to hear the negative.

"By the gods, no!" Gabrielle replied quickly. The used to be villain tried to supress a chuckle alas unsuccessfully.

"But you had a history with him," the smaller brunette insisted.

"Yes, but we were never intimate," explained the warrior calmly. "Not for the lack of trying from his part, but no. When I was roaming the world and conquering lands, he was more of a whisper and shadow.

"Actually I was already on my path of redemption and started travelling with Gabrielle when I met him for the first time face to face. It was in a dungeon where angry villagers threw me for killing their men."

"Ares killed them," the blonde quickly jumped in to clarify the unjust from the beginning. "I will tell you the story later."

"I will be looking forward to hearing it," smiled Eve. She really loved the storyteller's tales. "So…? If it was Heracles, he would not leave me in the hands of a Roman."

"Nope.

"A warlord?"

"Quite the opposite, an angel," Xena looked at her partner with such a gentle look which would melt the highest mountain.

"I really can't picture Eli and you…" the young woman shook her head at that thought. "But anyway he did save me at the end."

"No, you have a spirit of another angel, Callisto," said the fair-haired woman.

"That's the spirit, what about the physical part?"

The shortest of them ran her teeth through her lips and took a breath in, her eyes moving everywhere but Eve. Instead of an actual answer she stood up with an excuse to clean the dishes.

Xena massages her nape nervously but chuckled at her partner's escape.

"What was that about?" frowned the youngest woman.

"The bard is without words to sing," commented the other brunette. "She is you father."

"I get that you are my mother and she is my father in a way. But who is it by blood? Was he really such a bad news or did you cheat on Gabrielle? Why are you so secretive that you don't talk about it?"

"Eve, I am serious. You were fathered by Gabrielle. It is our story not to be told in public. Anyway she is the storyteller of the family," with that statement Xena quickly left to collect more needless firewood.

The daughter looked from the direction of one woman to the other. "How's that possible?" she murmured under her nose.

*I still wonder why they used the Roman name "Hercules" in the show, instead of Greek "Heracles", I am sticking to Greek