Xenia was standing there in a robe as her armor no longer fit. Pregnancy made some women look soft but not her. Somehow it made her look fiercer.
And her men knew it too. She was on one of her mood swings, barking at them for not being able to win a sword fight against her. They were kneeling in submission.
"I mean really. We're about to go up against the emperor of the Byzantine Empire and his army. And you lazy good-for-nothings, you sorry excuses for men can't even defeat one pregnant woman." They cowered at her name-calling because they knew it was often backed by punishment.
"Don't be hard on them," he said, amusement in his voice. "You're hardly the average pregnant woman."
That restored her good humor. "Even so."
He materialized fully, so her army could see him as well. They prostrated themselves in the dust. He grew evermore powerful thanks to her growing army's worship and the three active temples he had to his name now. "She is right. Many a good army has fallen because they spent more time drinking and carousing instead of time that could be spent training. It's not enough to be a good army. You have to be a great army. Conquer now, celebrate later."
"That's a good slogan," Xenia said. "Somebody should print that on a banner."
He watched as she doubled forward slightly and grimaced, and he asked, "Is it time?"
She remained tight-lipped, but she nodded.
He moved in close to her, so she could lean in for support, and he barked at one of the soldiers to find a healer. Ares had never been there for any of his children's births. In fact, he hadn't been around anyone giving birth period. It hadn't seemed like the manly place to be. He'd tried to be around for Eve's birth to protect them both, but she hadn't been very receiving of his offer.
He helped her lay down in her tent and then took a seat beside her. He didn't know how to make conversation with a woman in labor, but she seemed not to need conversation. She was focused on breathing. He just dabbed her sweaty brow with a handkerchief every now and then.
The healer arrived at sword point. She must not have been willing to come with one of Xenia's men, and who could blame her given their reputation?
"I should let you and your child die," the healer said spitefully. "I would be doing the world a favor."
"If either she or the child is not in the absolute peak of health when this is over, then you die," Ares threatened. "In fact, I'd kill your whole village. I'm not as discerning about gender or age as she is."
The woman glowered at him, but she got the message and went to work. Ares excused the soldier, knowing Xenia would want as much privacy as she could get.
The process was a lot bloodier and gorier than he expected, and he wondered who the stronger of the sexes really was when he had a hint of the agony she was experienced as she screamed out in pain. He'd seen this woman take arrows and swords and not even make a tiny moan.
In fact, he rather thought he needed a fresh breath of air, and he started to escape through the flap.
"Where are you going?" she demanded.
"Just for a quick breath of fresh air."
"Oh no, if I have to suffer, you're going to suffer with me," she said like the Xena he knew and loved.
It was her little way of saying she needed him, so he stayed quite happy that his presence was specifically requested by her. And after hours that began to seem like days, their first child made an appearance.
The midwife handed the baby girl to him first perhaps as proof that she was well if the child's healthy cries weren't proof enough.
Xena may not have been a hero in this lifetime, but she was a hero to him right now. He didn't think he could love her anymore more than he did, but as he look at their daughter with her tuft of black hair and the blue gray eyes of a newborn, he did. He loved her more for presenting him such a perfect child.
It was the purest love he'd ever felt that was coursing through him, and he wasn't sure he wanted their daughter to become a part of the petty games the gods played like they'd planned.
Holding the helpless babe in his arms had a strange effect on him. He wanted to be a better man, a better god. Not to say that he could go against his own nature, but he could be there for Xena and for this child and see that he did right by them.
And maybe, just maybe, that meant letting a certain blonde enter the picture to take her off the destructive path he'd set her on.
