Reunions
by
Disclaimer: This is a brand spanking new story. NO SUBTEXT!!!!! The characters do not and I repeat do not belong to me, but to the producers and creators of Xena: Warrior Princess and USA STUDIOS as well as Renaissance Pictures. Enjoy! This is a sequel to Daughter of Xena, Ares God of War or Should We Say Diapers, The Long Road, Taking a Break, and Love's Curse. This story immediately follows Love's Curse. Phrases that start and end with a * are thoughts.
"Come on Gabriella!" Xena said. She was trying to get Gabriella into a clean diaper, but the one-year-old was not happy. She started to yell.
"Shhh." Xena soothed as she got the diaper on her. "There. All better now." Gabriella sniffled, and then grinned.
Eve was fully six years old now, and she was happy to be able to help out her mother now and then.
"Sissy!" Xavier called wanting to be picked up. Eve sighed.
"Xavier. You're almost too big for me to pick up. But come here." Eve said picking up her baby brother. She carried him over to Gabrielle. "Can you hold him? I just saw Solari hiding, and I better find her before mother gets really mad."
"Okay." Gabrielle said taking Xavier. "Hi sweetie!" Eve sighed again. *Great. She's talking in baby talk again.*
"Solari!" Xena called.
"Uh oh." Eve said running over to the bush where the baby was hiding, and picking her up.
"There she is!" Xena said smiling at her baby. "Thank you Eve."
"You're welcome mommy." Eve said handing Solari to her. Xena put all three of the babies in the basket that was still on Argo's saddle. Xena walked down to the lake and saw her reflection. She had never realized it, but she looked the same as she did before she knew she was having Eve. She thought she would look older, but she just never thought of it until now. Then Xena thought of Ares. She hadn't seen him in a month. Not since the little thing that happened when Aphrodite and Cupid put a love spell on them and they were stuck to each other for a day. Ares was still in that worthless war. But immediately Xena's mind traveled back to her reflection.
"You finally figured it out." Aphrodite said walking up behind Xena.
"Aphrodite! What did you do to me?" Xena asked.
"Well…." Aphrodite said.
"Come on!" Xena yelled.
"Okay. Okay." Aphrodite started. "It was before the Caesar thing. It was after Ephiny's death. It was when you were in Rome. See, I wanted you give you a beauty tip, but you know that uh…you would not ever let me do that. So, I kind of made you umm…"
"Immortal?" Xena helped.
"No. You're not immortal. You just don't age. At least not in your looks." Aphrodite said.
"So, what you're telling me is that when I'm 80 I'll still look like I do now?!" Xena exclaimed.
"Basically." Aphrodite said. "That way Ares will stay looking the same, and so will you."
"Great. My children will age, and I won't." Xena remarked.
"Not exactly." Aphrodite said. "I put this spell on all of you. That includes Gabrielle and your children. Gabrielle will look like she does now for the rest of her life, and when your children are about teenage age, they will stay that look for the rest of their lives. See, it's like the whole god and goddess thing except for the whole death thing."
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Xena asked yelling.
"I was just doing you a favor." Aphrodite said.
"Thanks for nothing." Xena said. "Take off the spell."
"Sorry. It's irreversible." Aphrodite said.
"Great." Xena said. She scowled at Aphrodite who kind of winced. "Okay. Aphrodite. You do everything in your power to reverse this. I don't care how long it takes.
"Well, there is only one way to reverse it." Aphrodite said. "But nobody ever chooses it, so it is irreversible."
"What is it?" Xena asked.
"Well." Aphrodite started. "I send you back through time to before Eve was born. Then your life goes quickly. It'll take about a day. You'll go through pain and happiness of the last six years. But it is very hard on your emotions." Aphrodite said.
"Do it." Xena said.
"All right." Aphrodite said sighing. "Just don't do anything to change how things are now. The only thing that won't hurt how things are now is if you tell people about what will happen. It won't change things, but people may think you are some sort of oracle." She snapped her fingers. Before Xena knew it, she was on Argo, riding down a familiar path. Xena looked beside her. Gabrielle wasn't there. Then Xena realized that Gabrielle didn't get her horse until Xena found out she was pregnant. Xena looked down and saw her friend in the yellow sari. To the other side of Argo was Amarice walking quietly.
"Xena." Amarice started. "Do you really think that Caesar will leave the amazons alone?"
"No." Xena said. Gabrielle looked up. She was surprised by her friends' words.
"Xena. What are you going to do?" Gabrielle asked.
"We're going to Rome." Xena said. In a flash of light, Xena, Gabrielle, and Amarice were on the docks in Rome. Xena was in the middle of fighting some men alongside Amarice, and Gabrielle was tripping people with her staff. Xena stopped. "APHRODITE!" she yelled. Aphrodite appeared.
"Xena?" she asked.
"Don't do it." Xena said. Aphrodite winked.
"Gotcha." She said. She snapped her fingers and was gone. In a flash , Xena was out in the coliseum. She felt the pain shoot through her back. Then she fell. She felt nothing. She saw Gabrielle pick up the sword and slaughter the Roman men. She saw her friend leave the way of love. She left the way of love for the way of friendship. Another flash, and Xena was looking up into Gabrielle's eyes, and she knew her time was near. Another flash, Xena felt the stakes go through her bones as she was mounted to a cross. Another flash, and Xena was standing with Gabrielle. They were being taken to Heaven. Xena saw Gabrielle fall to Hell and then she saw Callisto. She saw her saving Callisto. Before Xena knew it she was waking up beside Gabrielle on the cold stone flats in the temple in Rome.
"We're back." Gabrielle said. She looked at Xena. "Together?"
"Always." Xena said. Another flash. Xena saw Ares trying to get the chakram from her, then she saw Mavican hanging for dear life, and then she saw the familiar Spamona.
"You're in excellent health you know, considering." The healer said.
"What?" Xena asked. "Come on doc. I can take it. I'm a big girl. I'm in excellent health considering what?"
"Considering you're pregnant." The healer said. Another flash.
"If you harm my child, I'll be your eternal damnation." Xena said to Alti. Then another flash. "It's a little girl!" she exclaimed looking at her beautiful daughter. Flash. "Hush now my little one. Please don't you cry." Flash. All Xena saw was Amphipolis. It was after Ares had helped save Eve. But it was the time Xena went back to Amphipolis.
"Xena. We have to find Eve!" Gabrielle exclaimed. "That warlord took off with her!" Flash.
"Mommy! I knew you'd come!" Eve exclaimed clutching her mother in a hug. Flash. "Wow! I get three babies in one day!" Flash. Then Xena saw Ares. He kissed her. Then she saw herself stuck to Ares after the spell from Aphrodite. Then another flash and she woke up. Everything was quiet. Gabrielle was asleep in her bedroll. Eve was asleep beside Xena, and the triplets were up in the basket on Argo's saddle. The dog, Joxer was sleeping beside Eve.
"Aphrodite?" Xena whispered. She walked out into the woods. Aphrodite appeared. She had a bad look on her face.
"Xena. I just found out something. It looks like you did that for nothing." Aphrodite said.
"What?" Xena asked. "You mean it didn't work?"
"No. It worked. It's just that you are immortal." Aphrodite said.
"What?!" Xena exclaimed.
"Okay. You've kicked the bucket I don't know how many times. So has Gabrielle. But you always come back to the world of the living. Well I guess the fates just made you immortal. Gabrielle is immortal as well as Eve, Xavier, Solari, and Gabriella. Plus, the same rules apply. You'll look this way forever, so will Gabrielle. The children will be about oh eighteen when they stop aging. So, Eve and your youngest will be the same age basically someday." Xena felt her heart skip a beat. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Aphrodite gave Xena a sympathetic look and disappeared. Ares appeared in the place that his sister had just been.
"Xena?" he asked. Xena looked up at Ares.
"Ares. Is the war over?" she asked.
"Yeah. As over as it's going to get." He said.
"I'm immortal." Xena said. Ares looked surprised.
"What?" he asked.
"I'm immortal, Gabrielle is immortal, and the children are immortal." Xena said. A smile spread across Ares' face.
"The fates never told me that." He said.
"Well, it's true." Xena said. "I just found out." Ares pulled Xena close.
"At least we'll be together forever." Ares said holding Xena to him.
"Yeah, but what happens to my other friends? They'll all die and I won't get to say goodbye to most of them." Xena said.
"Shh." Ares said. "It'll be all right. Everything will be okay." The god of war held Xena to him as she cried softly against his chest.