A/N: Hey ya'll!! Sorry for the extreme lack in updates. It's been a busy summer. But I finally have some time…and I've watched some Herc on dvd so I think I'm ready to keep going on the story. Well anyway…yeah. Here goes nothing!! ;)

Kim couldn't believe this. She was almost going to get home…and now some dumb thief had to mess everything up. Hercules was still staring at her waiting for her to reply. Iolaus took a quick drink from his water flask then offered it to Kim who drank greedily, ignoring Hercules for the moment. This was the first time that day that she'd been offered a drink, so she was going to take as much as she could. Hercules had to finally pry it out of her hands (spilling a bunch on her face) so that she wouldn't make herself sick from drinking so much, and when he lifted the flask up to his mouth to drink, it was empty save for a drop or two that splattered his face. He held his comment in check, but rolled his eyes noticeably. "Well…I am sorry, but this matter is a little more urgent then the one you have right now." Hercules said.

"How would you know how urgent it is?!" Kim said, starting to freak out. "Maybe I have stuff to do right away, that can't wait for you to go play bounty hunter!"

"There is no bounty." Iolaus supplied helpfully. "We do it just to…do it." He shrugged.

"What kind of things?" Hercules asked, looking down at her ignoring Iolaus for the moment, clenching the empty flask in his hand.

"Like…" Kim faltered and looked up at him meekly, defeated. "Important stuff?"

Hercules sighed loudly, and spoke to his friend instead. "Would you keep an eye on her while I go find that stream we passed not too long ago?" Iolaus nodded and Hercules left to backtrack to the stream.

Iolaus sat down on a nearby rock and began fiddling with his sword, while Kim found herself a nice stump, fuming. "Keep an eye on me." She grumbled. "I'm not a child." She looked up and glared at Iolaus. "Do you always treat women this way?"

Iolaus put his hands in the air defensively, the sword coming up w/ one of them. "I don't. Hercules doesn't. We just try and protect women…" He could see her tensing up for another outburst so he quickly added, "but our women aren't like you who are so able to protect themselves."

Kim relaxed noticeably, and so did Iolaus when he realized that he had averted a fight. Kim glanced quickly back toward the direction that Hercules had disappeared, before turning conspiratorially back to Iolaus. "Do you know where it is?" She whispered.

"Where what is…the Temple of Zeus?" Iolaus asked loudly, and then ducked his head at her 'shushing' him. "Sorry." He whispered back. He warily watched her creep over to him and sit right next to him. He turned to face her, setting his sword beside him on the opposite side.

"If you could give me directions, then the two of you wouldn't have to bother with escorting me there." Kim whispered excitedly. "I'd be out of your hair…" She noticed Iolaus dumbfounded look. "So to speak…and you could go catch a thief."

"Hercules would never go for it." Iolaus said, shaking his head, immediately. "You're under his protection, you'd have to convince him first."

"But you're his best friend!" Kim said exasperated. "You could talk to him. You know him much better then I do!"

Iolaus smiled back at her. "But I'm not the one that needs directions."

"Please?!" Kim practically begged him. She was almost on her knees. She wasn't sure why she wanted to leave so bad, but she had a feeling that if she couldn't get home soon…then she wouldn't be able to get home at all; besides if she was here much longer her friends and family were bound to worry about her, and her part-time job was another story altogether.

Iolaus just stared at her with an apologetic smile, and shrugged. "Sorry."

"Grr!" Kim growled at him, missing his cheeky smile and him trying to hide his laughter. She turned and glared at him. "Men!" She hissed in frustration. Hercules came back a few minutes later and Kim glared at him, still annoyed with Iolaus. "Lets go!" She shouted at him.

Hercules actually took a step back from her, then watched her march angrily off ahead of them. He glanced at Iolaus who was still chuckling. Herc had gotten his own temper under control by now. "What's with her?"

Iolaus shrugged nonchalantly, his eyes twinkling. Hercules decided to get the truth from him later, and shrugged and easily caught up to Kim's angry strides. Iolaus shook his head and followed his best friend. He was really starting to like this girl.

~`~`~

After they had been walking for awhile Kim asked for her book bag back from Hercules. He kind of gave her a sideways glance of, "why?" but didn't question her and slipped it off and handed it over to her. Kim wasn't really in the mood to be carrying around thirty pounds of books, but if she was going to get anywhere then she was going to need her things. She figured that once these two guys got hot on the trail of the thief then she could slip quietly away. There had to be other people out there who knew where the Temple of Zeus was. It was the perfect plan. Besides, these two would be too occupied with trying to get back a fortune in gold rather then track her down to "escort" her away. It could work. It would work.

She spent most of the day formulating her plan to herself and didn't really pay too much attention to what Hercules and Iolaus were doing…which was talking quietly about her, Autolycus, and the whole grand scheme of things. Iolaus hadn't mentioned Kim's scheme, and probably wouldn't unless the subject came up.

They arrived that night in Thenmra to a grand welcome to the whole town. Everyone was ecstatic to see the legendary Hercules…and his side-kick. Hercules just shrugged it off and asked about accommodations. Over half the town was willing to offer lodging for the three-some, but Hercules thought it might be a better idea to just stay at an Inn for the night, then get right on the trail of Autolycus in the morning. People eagerly showed them to a place called Apollo's Castle. The Innkeeper was more then happy to have Hercules staying there, so he gave the three rooms to him for no charge.

Hercules found the man who had contacted him and the four of them went to a tavern to get some supper. The man had never actually told Hercules his name when he found them in the forest headed toward the Temple of Zeus. "I'm Eriphicles." He said, holding out his hand to each of them in turn. "I'm sorry I was so rushed before to have forgotten that." They were sitting around a small table waiting for their food to arrive. They didn't notice that Kim was "eating" a lot more bread then the rest of them. At least that's what it looked like. She was actually stuffing most of it into her bag, cringing at the crumbs it was going to make. But she figured she'd have to have food out there on the road so this would work out okay. The food arrived and they all ate hungrily. Eriphicles filling in the gaps of what they needed to know. From what Kim could gather, Autolycus had a very big ego calling himself 'The King of Thieves'. He was the prime suspect and was probably heading toward Athens to sell the gold. But if he was smart then he would melt it down before hand to make it easier for travel. That's what Eriphicles and the townspeople thought he'd do, but they wanted him caught before such a thing could happen.

Kim only half listened to most of what they were saying, more interested in finalizing her plans for her escape that night. Iolaus was observing her out of the corner of his eye and wondered what scheme she was up to, but kept his mouth shut in case he was over-reacting. It was well into the night before Hercules decided that they had better get some rest before they started their hunt tomorrow. He had also mentioned casually to Kim that it would be for her own good if she stayed in Thenmra while they searched for The King of Thieves. She just casually shrugged knowing she was going to be long gone before they got around to bossing her around anymore.

When she got back to her room she paced around anxiously, wondering how long she should wait before making her great escape. She pressed her ear to the door and didn't hear a sound. She guessed that it had to be around one o'clock in the morning or so. She quietly eased the door open, wincing when it creaked slightly. She tiptoed toward the direction of Hercules' & Iolaus' rooms. Pressing her ear to the doors she could hear even breathing and loud snoring. Now was the perfect time.

Sighing quietly to herself she nodded to convince herself that this was the best course of action. It was time that she started thinking for herself. These guys would be too preoccupied to come after her. She'd find the Temple of Zeus and…somehow send her home. The one question that kept coming up in her mind though…was how could you appeal to the King of the gods when you didn't believe in them?

~`~`~

Kim squinted at the sun that was almost directly overhead now. She stumbled along from lack of sleep and sustenance. The bread that she had packed the night before was nothing but crumbs. She tried to scoop them up and eat it…but it was stale and gross. She wasn't that hungry…yet. She hadn't really come across and villagers, villages, or farms. She'd seen one right outside of Thenmra, but it had been too early to pound on the door and ask for directions, so she'd just been wandering in the general direction that Hercules and Iolaus had set out on…at least she thought it was the general direction.

Sighing to herself she realized that she needed some help. She didn't want to lay down in the forest to take a nap, it was kind of a tortoise and hare kinda thing. If she did that she'd probably wake up to Hercules and Iolaus finding her. She didn't want to burden them any longer with getting her home. They obviously had more important things to do. Right as Kim was about to find a nice peaceful spot in the shade to rest for a bit when she saw someone up ahead of her in the distance. The person was in the shade of a large tree, and was wearing a cloak with a hood to hide their face. "Hello?" Kim called out hesitantly, gaining the person's attention. The person looked up, obviously a bit startled. Kim heard a thud behind her, and glanced quickly behind to see a rabbit scurring away into a hole. Relieved that it wasn't an angry Hercules she turned back to look ahead of her, only to find that the person was gone.

Kim took a few hesitant steps forward, nervously clutching her book bag straps, with her bag slung over both shoulders. "Was someone there?" She asked, cringing at how nervous her voice sounded. Swallowing nervously she took a few more steps forward. If the person was hostile…she could defend herself. But what if he or she leapt down from the trees in a surprise attack? Then what? "He—

The person jumped down directly in front of her. And I mean directly. They were nose to nose until Kim stumbled back to put a bit of space between them. He was definitely a man by the look of him, wearing a green tunic, and black leather pants. He still had the hood pulled over his face, so she couldn't yet tell what he looked like. "Um…hi." Kim said a bit nervously. She continued to back a way a bit in her fright, the man took a few steps closer to her. "I was just wondering if you could help me?" She squeaked out, and forced herself to stop backing up. She stiffened her back and held out her hand. "My name's Kim."

The man glanced down at her hand for a second before lowering his hood and shaking her hand. "Autolycus."