Disclaimer: I hate these but I have to so... Xena n' 'em is MCA universal's property. Story is mine. so ha!

Pain Disclaimer: Lots of emotional Pain. there is a part that deals a bit with the physical pain. I have described it to people and they have shuddered so I imagine that it may send chills up some folks spines.

Sex Disclaimers: Man Woman sex... sorry my imagination don't go that far yet. but the beginning of love for an other woman is implied by the time this ends.

Dear Xenites,

I wasn't gonna send this to get published or anything I wrote it for fun. but I have been hit by inspiration of Shawn "Batsky" or else I would have never written the story. Also I was inspired by Missy and my fellow merpups by giving me courage to send it out. I hope you guys like it and let me know. I always love to hear from my mentors.

Thanks,

S.K.

Honeymooners

S.K.

The Message

"That Hower is some character isn't he?" Gabrielle asked me as we rode away from Laurel for maybe about the tenth time ever. That has become one of our most frequent stops since Garath had decided to stomp the village.

We see Minya often enough, but I think Hower keeps inventing things for us to come since she left him to be a thespian. "Xena?" Gabrielle said looking at me with scrutinizing eyes.

"What?" I answered a bit annoyed at her scrutiny.

"You are not even listening to me are you?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hower, character, got ya." I answered looking ahead.

"Uh huh… ok. So as I was saying when were you planning to stop for the day?" she asked me. I looked up at the sky and hadn't realized the sun was nearing the horizon.

"Oh Zeus' sons." I said then started looking a round for a good place.

"You miss him don't you?" she asked me as I lead them trough a wooded clearing. We were near centaur lands and on our way to visit Ephane and the rest of the amazons.

"Miss whom?" I asked absentmindedly. She reached over to my left hand and fingered the ring in it. It is the only jewelry I owned given to me by Hercules instead of a wedding necklace so our marriage could remain between the three of us. I looked at her and closed my eyes then looked away. I looked around the clearing again and I saw that we were closer to the centaur village then I had thought. "We can get to the village before the sun is completely down if we ride Argo." I said mounting the beautiful golden mare.

I reached for Gabrielle's arm and helped her up behind me. I waited till she was holding on to me firmly and spurred her into a gallop.

We were met at the village entrance by a team of amazon and centaur guards. "My queen!" An amazon said dismounting a centaur."

"What are you doing here?" Gabrielle asked dismounting our gallop.

"The regent is here visiting with her child." She said with a soft smile

"Ah of course," she said following the amazon into the village. Minos escorted me to the stables; he was a centaur I saved once.

"How's the breathing?" I asked making small talk as we headed toward the stables.

"Oh it's great... thanks to you." He answered and was called away I went ahead I knew where to go. I tethered Argo and headed towards Xenon's Hut…

I saw Gabrielle step out of the hut and get something from a messenger then step back into the hut with Ephane. I approached the Hut and could hear childish giggling and Gabrielle's bardic voice. I rolled my eyes and continued inside. "And Xena ran around the campfire in her little diapers… hey Xena…" she said stopping her story.

Ephane gave me a purely amused look. " I hear you had a lot of growing up to do." I arched an eyebrow but then smiled. It was a funny adventure, in the beginning.

"Watch it old lady." I said to her jokingly and settled with them at the table. I listened to their banter and smiled occasionally, and stared at the far wall. I was thinking of him. I fingered my wedding band absentmindedly.

"What's this?" Ephane asked me looking at the ring.

"What this? " I asked making my hand onto a fist. "It's a fist."

"Warrior Princess you are a bad comedian. Let me see."

"It's no big deal it is a gold band."

"Where did you get it?" She asked taking my hand in hers and looking it over.

"I gave it to her." Gabrielle said her eyes darting to mine. "It was a birthday gift." She added.

"Yeah." I said and smiled

"Well it doesn't seem like a your kind of thing." Ephane said dropping my hand and leaning back in her chair.

I shrugged and then there was a knock on the door. One of the royal guards opened the door to see what they wanted. "I have a message for the Warrior Princess." A man said at the door. I stood up and walked to the door.

"What is it?" I asked him. He handed me a paper and walked off. I opened it up and read it. I blushed slightly and could feel Gabrielle and Ephane's eyes pasted on me.

I looked up my face still serious, and folded the paper up and put it in my cleavage. "What is it?" Gabrielle asked looking concerned, "is something wrong?"

"ah, Gabrielle. Hercules has called for me, I need to set out for Athens right away. Will you be all right here with Ephane?" I asked giving her a knowing look.

"Ah..." she started then she grinned at me. "I'll be fine, I will see you when you come back."

I smiled gratefully and turned to get Argo. "Hey Xena." Gabrielle called out to me as she ran to catch up.

"Yeah?" I said stopping to wait for her.

"When will you be back?" Gabrielle asked, but I think that what she was really asking was will I be back.

"I don't know Gabrielle, But I will be back." I answered her hoping to reassure her. "Can't stay away from you. Go be a queen for a while."

"Then go be a wife for a while. But you better come back for me." Gabrielle said. "Tell Herc Hello for me."

"I will." I say and give her a hug.

The Break-in

I rode through the night to a village not too far away. Hercules had been on my trail since Laurel, and called for me, he missed me, and his letter mentioned things that he wanted to do to me that I did not want to delay one more day. I doubted that he expected me that same night, but I had this need for him, and I wouldn't have slept anyway.

I rode into the sleepy town everything was closed down. The stables were locked, so I took Argo to the outskirts of town and let her go. "there girl, don't go too far, have a rest and I'll come tomorrow to groom you." I whispered to her.

I took my traveling pack and headed back into the town and found the inn. Of course it was locked, and I looked for some other way to get inside. I looked at one window on the second floor. It was open and had a faint light glowing from it. I looked around and there was a stone wall nearby so I swung myself to balance myself atop it and peered inside. There was a couple in there coupling and it only reminded me of my libido.

I climbed atop the wooden awning next to the window then climbed inside the open window as quietly as possible as to not disturb their rhythm. It didn't work. The man looked up and spotted me and stopped mid lick. "What the..." he said

"Please don't stop on my account. By the way she's faking it, you're doing that all wrong." I said passing through as quickly as possible. Before I closed the door behind me The two stared at each other bewildered. I had to get to mine, and I didn't know where to go so I went down to the ledger. I didn't know if I could find Hercule's room there, since he is a celebrity, but I had to try.

There was only one room on the ledger that was not occupied, and I figured that would be the room I had to go to, so I headed that way pulling one of Autolicus' lock pickers that I had stolen from him. I tried to open it first, it was locked on the inside, so I reached in with the picker and unlocked the door. Opening it slowly as to not make too much noise , I looked to see if I was right.

There on the bed, was my husband completely relaxed in white cotton clothing. I stood there immobile watching him breathe deeply. He was asleep. I closed the door behind me. I understood the security that these rooms brought to those of us who slept out in the stars. In an Inn we could relax completely.

I stepped forward tentatively then started to undo my boots. I padded to a chair close to me and placed them gently by it. Then I removed my armor and placed it down on the chair as gently as I could. Once I was down to my shift I padded to the bed and ran a hand gently up his chest. He opened his eyes and smiled once he registered it was me. "Wow." was all he said and he kissed me.

We made love then for the first time in three months. We came hard and lay there, our sweat drenched bodies still as one. "Hi." I said softly.

"Hi." He answered with a smile. "I missed you."

"I couldn't wait till tomorrow to see you." I said softly. I wanted more

"I'm glad you came." He said kissing my neck. "I was just dreaming about you." he was getting hard again. He started to move within me.

"Oh gods yes." I said in response moving with him. "Sweet dreams Hercules."

The Surprise

The next morning I awoke to a feeling of total and complete ecstasy. I felt so warm and aroused. I took the time to register that feeling in my brain, and smiled as I reached down between my thighs to run my fingers through Hercules' hair.

He did it so well. I came three times for him before he was done. Then he entered me. My body still tingling from my previous orgasms, shuddered with every thrust of his erect manhood. I was rendered speechless, which isn't so hard, considering that I don't talk much. But I could do nothing but moan my pleasure and shudder as our hips met over and over. Our moans turned to grunts as we sped up and crashed into each other harder and more passionately.

I felt him explode inside me, and my body responded by gripping him and sending a burst of cold chills and electric shocks throughout my body. We lay there like that until we could catch our breath. "Good morning." I purred into his ear."

"Good morning." he said sliding out of me and leaning up on one elbow next to me. "I brought you some breakfast."

I smiled and kissed him soundly. I then turned and brought the tray of food to the bed. I picked up a strawberry and fed it to him as a thank you then continued to eat the breakfast of goose eggs and fruit that he had so thoughtfully brought for me. We ate together in a bit of silence the way I like it. I know that's not really how he is, but it is the way I am, I had to remind myself that I needed to say things to him. "I'm gonna go check on Argo and bring her in to the town stables," I said looking up at him.

"All right," He said sounding a little awkward.

"Unless you have something else planned." I said looking at him hoping that I didn't have to make love to him outside today, I was rather enjoying loving him without a worry.

"Well I wanted to show you this place today, I thought you might like it." He attempted.

"Sure... Where is it?" I asked with a reassuring smile.

"That is a surprise, Do you trust me?" He asked.

"With my life." I answered.

After breakfast and a long bath, I finally got to Argo. She was so angry at me. I apologized and promised not to let that happen again as I groomed her. Hercules came around with some supplies. "Are you ready to go?" he asked as he placed them in the saddle bags.

"Sure." I said as he mounted Argo. He lifted me on to the back and asked me to tie a blind fold on.

I hesitated. "Trust me." He said to me, so I put it on and held on tightly. I tried to make sense of what was going on around me. The smell of chickens faded away to a more woodsy smell. Eventually I could hear a stream. He followed that for a while and suddenly I could smell an olive grove. The olives were nearly ripe. The end of the stream was there. There was a calm in the sound of the water. This is where we stopped.

"Can I take it off now?" I asked as he dismounted.

"Let me help you down first." Hercules said taking my hands. Once on the ground Hercules kissed me. "God I have been wanting to do that for hours."

"MMM." Was all I said forgetting that I was blindfolded for just a second.

"Xena, I wanted to bring you here the first time I spotted it. I hope you love it as much as I do." Hercules said as he removed my blindfold. There was a house there. I patted Argo to go get some water, as I looked at a cozy domestic haven nestled near a small lake and stream, and a grove of olive trees. "Xena I want this to be our home."

I was speechless. I stared at it, I didn't want to settle down. I didn't want to stay in one place, I wasn't ready for that. "Wow." was all I said walking closer to my front door.

"It is the place where we'd meet, whenever we want to be together. You have a home that is yours to come home to."

"I don't know what to say." I said looking back at him.

"Thank you would be nice." Hercules answered hearing the tone in my voice.

"Are you kidding me? I wish you had talked to me before you did all of this." I said hotly.

"Oh by the gods, I was trying to do something... I don't know, romantic." Hercules said squaring up with me.

"I am not ready to settle down." I yelled.

"Then why did you even marry me?" He asked "If you don't want to be with me, Fine."

I stopped surprised at the ugly turn in this day. I looked around again. It would be nice to have a place to come back to , the way Gabrielle does. "Hercules, loosing you is not an option I am in a hurry to take." I said softly.

"I guess I should have talked about it with you." Hercules conceded. "I always imagined having more children you know? With you, I know it's different. We may die without ever having children, because we are always out fighting for those less fortunate. But I want a place that is special for the both of us."

I looked down at my feet, then up into his beautiful green eyes. I leaned forward and kissed him. He kissed me back deeply lifting me up into his arms and carrying me towards out home. Once inside he took me into our bedroom and onto our bed, in which we made love for the fifth time in twenty four hours.

The Domestic Goddess

I woke from a little nap and saw that my husband was asleep. I slid out of bed and headed outside to the pond to wash myself off and relieve Argo from her burdens. I brushed her off and fed her a carrot I had for her in the saddle bag then turned to take the saddle bag into the house.

Once inside I looked for my Shift and my sandals and went out fishing. I had noticed a few fish swimming around my legs in the lake. I dropped my clothing at the banks of the lake and headed out to grab a couple of fish. As I came out of the lake I dressed in my shift and sandals and brought the fish into my kitchen. I had to say that I liked that everything was mine there. I cleaned and gutted the fish. As I did this, Hercules wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck. "Just in time to cook." I said Handing him a clean fish.

"Cook?" He said

"You don't honestly want me to cook do you?" I asked turning back to gut yet another fish.

"No I guess not." He answered, and we worked together in companionable silence.

Good-Bye

This were how my days were for the next three months. We loved, we played, we forgot everyone else, until one day as Hercules and I sat outside our front door embraced in the middle of our passion, I heard someone take tentative steps, but I relaxed when Argo knickered. I was almost there, I didn't want to stop. But the foot steps kept getting closer. "er..." The voice said. I came so I said nothing. So did Hercules. "I guess I'll come back later."

"Iolaus?" Hercules said, finally opening his eyes. I pull my shift down as climbed off of Hercule's lap.

"Hey Herc. Hi Xena." Iolaus said adverting his eyes.

"Hey Iolaus." I said Leaning against the wall of my home.

"How did you find us?" Hercules asked.

"Gabrielle told me that Xena had written to her telling her that you two lived here now, so I came. Stagira needs your help Hercules." Iolaus said to his friend. "Xena, Gabrielle asked me to give you this." He handed me a piece of parchment.

I took it and ran my fingers through my too long hair. I needed to cut it, but I had luxuriated in the fact that Hercules loved to run his fingers through it. I read her note, and in it she described a treaty between the centaurs and the amazons to fight against the Roman army and that they could use my knowledge of Caesar.

I ran inside as soon as I finished and grabbed my armor. I dressed myself quickly, I was putting on my bracers and gauntlets when Hercules walked into our room. He looked at me then came closer. He kissed me deeply running his fingers through my hair. "I'll miss you." He said softly.

"I'll miss you too. I'll write you. Just let me know where you'll be. I am going to the amazon village." I supplied

"I guess the honeymoon is over." he says

"I guess so." I answered, and kissed him one more time before going to pack my saddle bags.