Title: A Family Aftermath
Summary: Now that Hope is gone for good and the real Gabrielle is home with her family… and Xena... and Joxer, everyone has a lot of questions. What information is Gabrielle willing to share? And what will it take to get some alone time with Xena, anyway? Takes place immediately after S04E03, "A Family Affair."
Chapter Two: Repairs
Negotiating Xena's injuries and Gabrielle's narrow childhood bed made for a fun puzzle. By morning, Xena was inelegantly sprawled on her belly, half on top of Gabrielle, with her right leg between her partner's and her breaths puffing gently against the juncture of neck and shoulder. Their arms were cast akimbo. As were Joxer's limbs on the floor, which was why, Gabrielle later surmised, Lila tripped over him when she tried to start her day.
Her subsequent collision with the door drew her parents to investigate, and they did not approve of the completely innocent arrangement of traveling heroes they found slowly blinking in the wan sunlight.
"Why is there a man in here?" Hecuba demanded.
Lila, now blocked from leaving by her parents, stood by Joxer's feet and looked around helplessly.
Herodotus just exclaimed, "I knew it!" and pointed at Gabrielle's bed. So much for a enjoying a sleepy morning with her love and a nice day catching up with the family. She briefly closed her eyes against the onslaught of yelling and drama.
"They said I could sleep in here! We sleep together all the time- I mean we camp together! I've never laid a hand- uh, I didn't touch any of the women in here last night!"
Xena lifted her head and roughly warned, "Joxer." Her grouchiness sounded about the level of Gabrielle's, at present.
"And anything that DID happen before last night - and I'm definitely not saying everything happened - was 'cause of Cupid arrows or gods casting sp-"
Xena used the arm laid over Gabrielle's torso to dump their blanket over Joxer's head, causing him to stop speaking and start flailing. "Not helping."
This seemed to finally draw Hecuba's attention to how entangled her daughter and Xena were, because she gave a little gasp. All of this over three half-asleep, shift-clothed people, honestly.
Gabrielle rubbed her eyes with the hand not trapped by Xena and tried to croak out something to calm her parents. "Joxer's right; I told him he could sleep in here. It's just, we usually share a campfire, so it seemed mean to leave him out in the stable while we were inside. I didn't think anything of it. My fault."
Herodotus boomed, "We thought you were a gentleman, Joxer. And what do you two have to say for yourselves?"
A long beat of silence met the query. Even Joxer, once free of his blanket predicament, could hardly summon a ramble. "I… I don't even think of 'em as women, honest. Just sisters-in-arms, fellow rough-and-tough fighters… out on the road, living lean, kicking butt, sleeping across the fire... no touching…"
"Joxer," Lila asked, "why don't we go see about some breakfast?"
"Great idea!" Together, they squirmed past the parents to beat a hasty retreat, leaving two couples in the narrow bedroom.
Meanwhile, Xena rolled to her left elbow with a grunt and winced - just a twitch of the eyelids, really, but Gabrielle noticed.
Rather than taking her freed right arm back right away, she curled it up to touch Xena's back. "Are you all right?"
When Xena directed a half-lidded gaze down at her, a lock of hair cascaded to drape off an elegant cheekbone and obscured the suggestion of a smile forming on her lips. Crankiness momentarily forgotten, blue eyes twinkled at the attention. Gorgeous. Spellbound, Gabrielle wanted nothing more than to kiss her, could see Xena wanted the same, but they only shared words. "I'm fine. 'S just been a while since I took a beating like that; forgot I'd be sore."
Gabrielle buried a dirty joke with a twitch of her eyelids and finally, grudgingly, sat up to face her parents. Xena joined her.
"So… I was going to talk to you about this today," Gabrielle began.
He father accused, "Oh it's clear enough you've been sleeping with her. Gods willing, not under our roof."
Xena, usually so good at letting her take the lead when dealing with her own parents, drawled in a low voice, "Yeah, she's been sleeping with me, Herodotus. But she's not just some roll in the hay, and never a roll in the bunk four feet from her little sister." Xena's lip curled as she spoke the last. Ah, there was the crankiness back. Not that Gabrielle was complaining.
"How long have you been like this?" Was her mother asking her how long she had been sleeping with Xena? How long she'd liked women? How long she'd hated mornings?
Gabrielle tried the first one, "Maybe a year and a half?"
"A year and-?! My child has been practically married to a woman for over a year without telling me?" she despaired, throwing up her arms.
Gabrielle's voice raised an octave. "Look, I'm sorry to keep it from you, but how would I have brought it up? There's only one same-sex couple in Potidaea, and they're men, and you always told me they were bachelor cousins. It took me nearly a year after I left here to figure out that's what was going on!"
Her father grouched, "Yes, we know more of the world than you seem to think we do, child. That doesn't mean it's something we want for you. And you, Xena, even if you were a man, a proper young man would have spoken to us before courting our daughter."
"Courting?" Gabrielle blinked at Xena. "Did we court? Did you court me?"
"I specifically avoided it, mostly. Remember when I stood for you at your wedding and didn't say a word about it?" A single, shapely eyebrow arched, and Gabrielle nodded in response.
"Right. If you couldn't literally read my thoughts when you were dead, I might still be...ee…" coming on too strong to men like David-the-unavailable-sling-wielder and slinking away from the fire at night to take care of herself "...doing a lot of stupid things to distract myself from you. Mom, Dad, we just fell in love."
Her father argued, "You two have been playing house on the road too long. No fit prospects around."
Incredulous, Xena asked, "If Hecuba moved out and Joxer moved in, do you think you'd sleep with him after a while?"
Dodging that mental image, Gabrielle wrought her next words in steel. "We have been through unimaginable things together. Your blood would curdle in your veins with the telling of it. But through our love, we are only stronger for it. She is the other half of me, and I won't have you implying I was seduced by… habit and inexperience!" She breathed hard, having worked up to a shout without alleviating her fit of pique at all. She was a widow and a traveler who had received, if she did say so herself, a lot of prospects and offers - not a confused child. Only Xena's steadying hand on her back reigned her temper into a simple glare.
While Herodotus looked taken aback, Hecuba finally seemed to soften. Still visibly worried, her eyes flicked between the younger couple's faces. "It's love? Really, truly?"
"YES," came the exasperated reply, doubled.
Xena closed her free fist and tilted her head, speaking with a type of calm Gabrielle usually identified as dangerous. "Your daughter is the dearest thing in the world to me. She is my light, my family. I don't expect you to approve, don't really need you to, but I do want you to believe that much." Gabrielle reached out and covered Xena's knee. Xena minutely shifted to share a look with her and lost a fraction of her tension.
Herodotus grumbled, "And your show of devotion toward your 'light' was to leave her, to not even search for her after she fell into the earth? To leave her to recover alone?"
"Father!" Gabrielle flew to her feet, infuriated anew. "If you saw her when we were reunited yesterday, you would never say something so cruel."
Xena touched her elbow, now trying to calm her even as she admitted roughly, "I thought I saw her burn; I was fooled. Look, there's no excu-"
Hearing the direction of Xena's statement, Gabrielle whirled around and shoved a hand over her mouth. "No. Don't apologize for that. I thought I was dead, and so did everyone else. Joxer, Seraphin, the hostages. None of them tried to call in godly favors to check on me. I cannot deal with you feeling guilty about this." She watched the dark brows convey a shock that melted into a kind of amused respect. Mollified, she freed Xena's mouth to turn on her parents again.
"Dad, I do not know what is with you. You've never been so cold to Xena or tried to control me like this, not since our first visit together. And you evidently guessed what was going on with us and didn't throw a fit about it until now. What is it? Was it something Hope said? Whatever she told you, I'm sure it was a lie."
Herodotus growled, "You nearly died. On purpose. That's the difference. That should be enough to turn you toward home, shouldn't it? Haven't you had enough?"
Incredulity slowed her speech. "It wasn't the first time. And, I'm sorry, it may not be the last. I know we haven't talked about this, but while yes, I could die out there, I accepted the possibility a long time ago." Unconsciously, she pressed her fingers over the scar left by a cauterized Persian arrow wound on her chest. It likely appeared to be a gesture of earnestness to her parents.
In his desperation, her father actually turned to Xena. "And how do you feel about that? If you love her like you say?"
Xena stood from the bed and took an even tone. "We have talked about it. I accept it. Poorly, but I do. I protect her as much as she allows me to, but she is her own woman, and she won't let me treat her any other way." A muscle in her jaw twitched, and Gabrielle guessed Tripolis besieged her, as well.
"And what if she changes her mind and wants to settle down? Are your heroics more important than my daughter?" Herodotus asked with a slight sneer.
Frustration broke into Xena's voice. "If she asks to settle, we'll settle. It's not as if she'd keep us from anything that needs to be done. So we'll leave home, go do it, and then go back to… to the Greek Amazons. Or wherever."
Herodotus stood thunderstruck at the pronouncement, but Hecuba and Gabrielle also showed gentle surprise. In a soft voice, the latter asked, "You'd really settle down?"
Blue eyes flicked to green. "You wouldn't ask me to unless it was the right thing for us to do. And we'd obviously talk about it. But yes, I would."
That seemed fair, seeing as Gabrielle couldn't imagine asking. They both had reasons to be out there, fighting and exploring the world. Plus, one or the other of them got antsy by the fourth day in the same bed, unless they were working a beast of a job. All the same, she stepped up to her lover and hugged her close, feeling larger arms enfold her after a split-second. "I love you. Thank you for your faith in me. I'll never ask you to stay anywhere without a reason."
Quiet words ruffled her bangs, "I know; I love you, too. And If I'd known you were at that hospice, I'd have slept under your cot if I had to. They couldn't kick me out, no matter how long it took for you to get better."
"Oh… Herodotus… There's nothing to gain fighting about about this," Gabrielle heard her mother say, followed by an unhappy hum from her father.
In her own time, Gabrielle turned around to see his arms crossed, eyes cast down and to the side, and toe tapping. With Xena's hands resting on her shoulders, she watched the conflict play out on his face. Should she press the attack or back off and let him come to her?
She donned a cloak of quiet dignity and trusted her bard instincts to select a calm, unassailable tone. "Listen. I am your daughter, and I love you, but I'm not your little girl. You can't scold me into... anything. I have a life of my own with its own direction, and Xena is not some teenage thug you can forbid me from seeing. So if you want me to keep coming to visit you like I have, you need to accept things as they are." Almost a full minute of thunderous silence ensued.
Gruffly, still not meeting her eyes, her father said, "Get dressed and eat. You can both work on the farm today." Hecuba followed him out with a last troubled look at her daughter, shutting the door behind her.
Gabrielle's sure expression broke into a frown. Her parents being so upset with her made her feel sick inside. She had always been… if not an obedient child, at least a good one. But the time for facades was past with them. And anyway, if they had asked her about finding a nice young bachelor one more time, she may have snapped.
"They stood there so long, I thought we were going to have to jump out the window in our underthings just to leave."
A tiny gust of air left Gabrielle's nose, almost a snicker. More from surprise than the image Xena's words conjured.
Persisting, Xena observed, "Though, y'know, with a wild daughter like you living out on the road, you'd think they'd be relieved to hear you're monogamous."
Gabrielle reached back and slapped Xena's hip, drawing out a playful growl. The taller woman bent to purr in her ear, "You're gorgeous when you rebel." She nibbled her shoulder and kissed up her neck, and Gabrielle finally relaxed, gratefully tilting her head to encourage the the unsubtle distraction.
Xena's attentions rarely left room for things like worry. She spun Gabrielle and kissed her properly, drew out her concerns with her lips and consumed them, leaving nothing behind but heat and the possessive animal that rested in her bones. Sensing this capitulation to desire, Xena let her hands roam everywhere, here pulling Gabrielle's waist to her own, there caressing up the side of her torso. Gabrielle grappled for just enough space to reach the sleeveless shoulders of Xena's shift and gather them in her fists. She pulled Xena down past her lips so as to whisper in her ear.
"I need to be alone with you today." Her lover's answering shudder excited her all the more, and the response came whispered into her own ear.
"We're alone now…" Xena kissed the corner of her jaw and any bit of neck she could reach from the position in which Gabrielle held her. A slow lick leading to a nibble of the ear drew a soft, pleasured hum from her partner.
She managed to breathily counter with, "That door blocks no noise at all," and felt the answering smile on her skin before she heard it in Xena's words.
"Just as well. I want to take my time with you, once I get my hands where I want them." To punctuate this, Xena ran a hand over her bottom and squeezed.
"Hmm…" Gabrielle let Xena stand up enough to see her face again. "We could rent a room at the tavern for the afternoon."
Amusement crinkled blue eyes, and Xena let out a long exhalation. "That may be the least subtle plan you've ever had. Think about that."
Gabrielle just giggled and kissed her again, releasing Xena's shift and winding her arms around her neck. Their bodies melted together, and Gabrielle enjoyed the play of hands along her back and twining into her hair. Just another moment of this perfect, missed comfort...
"Your clothes are d-whoops!" Lila barreled into the room and wheeled right back out again.
Gabrielle had heard Lila's gait through the door, vaguely, but… "I didn't think she would come inside." She stared at the door.
Xena let her forehead fall against Gabrielle's temple. "How did your parents even manage to have two of you? I think this farm is cursed."
Once everyone was fed and dressed, Herodotus wrangled Xena and Joxer into helping him replace the barn's previously-weaponized millstone on its platform. Only after that did Joxer get a three-way hug from his sometimes-traveling companions, a cutely-awkward goodbye from Lila, and permission to go on his way. Then, Herodotus and Xena got to work repairing the barn and house while Gabrielle helped her sister tend the animals, collect eggs, and do other chores. Gabrielle tried not to tease Lila too much over her puppy crush on Joxer. Especially after Lila started prying about her "little road boyfriends," as Xena had called them.
Eventually, her sister peeled off to deal with some sewing, and Gabrielle went to help her mother in the kitchen. Awkwardness intruded at first, but they soon relaxed and spoke of banal things and travel anecdotes.
"It was some of the best food I've ever had out of a stall. I need to figure out the sauce they put on the vegetables! You'd like it, but Dad would… Dad would love it," Gabrielle finished glumly. She sighed and caught a sympathetic look from her mother.
"Mom, thank you for being- for not flipping out too much over Xena and me."
Hecuba grimaced. "I'm not going to say I'm comfortable with it. And I don't understand it. But it's done. You've been living with the woman for over three years now; it's obviously not an impulse. And…" She sighed. "I suppose I don't know anyone else who's gone to any Underworld just to see a loved one that's passed. What the gods think of your relationship, that I worry about…"
"Aphrodite and Cupid have never said anything. And Aphrodite's had it out for us enough she would have, if she thought it was worth mentioning." Gabrielle chose not to mention Ares' disapproval. Knowledge that the God of War was jealous of her daughter would not improve Hecuba's disposition toward the situation.
"Oh. Well… then who am I to fuss?" She gave a helpless shrug and received a half smile.
"I wish Dad was as understanding." Gabrielle planted an elbow on the counter and her chin on her hand, indulging an urge to sulk.
Hecuba approached in Gabrielle's peripheral vision, and a warm hand covered her shoulder. "Oh, Gab, it's not Xena that gets him so much. Well, yes it is, but it's not half of it."
Gabrielle tilted her head to better see her mother. "Then what is it? I've passed by him a half dozen times this morning, and he can't even look at me." She sniffled.
"Well, it's one thing to guess about you and Xena and another to know it, much less see it," she allowed, "but besides that…" Hecuba looked into her daughter's eyes and seemed to consider her next words carefully.
Slowly, quietly, she intoned, "Betimes I look at you, Gabrielle, and… You talk of gods and kings as easily as tailors and move through this farm like a wild thing. I almost lose sight of my child in you... and then your sister makes you laugh, or you charm that lioness of yours into playing a kitten's game just to please you, or you tell an old tale that brings a brightness to your eyes, and there she is."
With no particular inflection, Gabrielle allowed, "I've changed."
Hecuba nodded. "You know how sensitive your father is. He just has a hard time separating you from that towheaded imp who used to trod on his heels all day and ask him endless questions. And he worries about you, as I do." She gave Gabrielle's shoulder an extra squeeze. "He will get back to normal before bedtime; you just wait. Worst he'll do to the two of you is threaten Xena not to break your heart. You'll both always be welcome here."
Her eyes shifted to the window, and Gabrielle turned to see what had caught her attention. Herodotus and Xena were on the roof of the barn, and he was exclaiming at her as they worked on the windmill mechanism. After a moment of frustrated body language, Herodotus walked over to Xena and, seemingly patiently, explained what he wanted from her. Xena then began pointing at the mechanism and speaking quickly, and they entered an intense discussion.
"Oh no."
"What?" asked Hecuba.
"Xena's convincing him to try something new with the windmill. When she gets an idea like this, I can barely even get her to eat." Had she told her family about the giant Gareth and the string-bound artificial wing that brought Zeus' lightning to the earth? Maybe that would be a good one for tonight. The family would get an extra kick out of Hower's awkward crush on Xena now.
She turned to her mother and mournfully recounted, "Last time, I actually hand-fed her. I was hoping she'd get embarrassed or distracted, but all she did was grunt a thank you and keep working while she ate."
"She's not one for romance, I take it?" An eyebrow twitch told Gabrielle her mother found this scene funny. She suspected Hecuba drew more comfort from her daughter complaining about her lover like any other woman than from the dramatic pronouncements of the morning.
Gabrielle shook her head gravely. "Very rarely, unless you consider fishing together romantic. And she can't be trusted with cooking tools. If she doesn't burn food with them, she breaks them using them as a weapon." She cracked a smile. "She's a cuddler, though, when no one is looking. And you should see her fuss over me when I'm sick."
Hecuba raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Hard to picture that one clucking like a mother hen."
"She does more than cluck. She takes care of me instead of sleeping, even if it's just holding my hair while I puke."
"And her the healing expert, too? Well, I'm glad you're being taken care of. As much as you can be if you two insist on going out there and fighting, at least." She looked out the window again. "And it looks like her charm is working on your father, too."
Sure enough, Herodotus was scratching the back of his neck and nodding at Xena. Hecuba asked, "We picked a pair of handfuls, didn't we?"
Gabrielle smiled in response, then watched her mother's face fall into a troubled moue again and mirrored her.
"While we're alone, I wanted to ask you something. Now, I know you don't tell us everything. But earlier you mentioned going through… blood-curdling and unimaginable things. Things you've kept from us." When uneasy silence greeted Hecuba's pronouncement, she continued. "You can talk to me about anything. No matter what happens out there. You don't have to, but I won't love you any less."
Snatches of memories flashed through Gabrielle's mind. Meridian with a knife in her gut, her hot blood spurting over Gabrielle's fingers. Young Hope, crumpled on the ground, face discolored from poison. Throat-rending screams as boiling oil sluiced over an unknown number of Persian warriors. Crassus calling to her while being dragged to the executioner's block. She plastered an attempt at a smile on her face and tried not to look too haunted.
"Thank you. I… there's a lot I don't really want to talk about." Things she'd done, things that had been done to her. Times Xena and she had nearly killed one another, especially, would go over like a murder of crows in a bakery.
If anything, her mother looked even more worried. "Is it… It's not something Xena's done to you, is it? Love her or no, I'd hate to think she hurts you, Gabrielle. We've paid more attention to stories about her since you first left us; we know what she's capable of."
A bark of pained laughter escaped Gabrielle before she could think. "You know what Xena's capable of? Mother, you don't even know what I'm capable of."
Her mother's eyes widened, and Gabrielle thought she was again seeing something of the other in her daughter's countenance. The bard tried to relax her expression and sweep away the bad memories affecting her so. "Listen, Xena will not hurt me. She has nightmares about hurting me. Her past comes to haunt us from time to time, but I accept that. We are doing the best we can to work for the greater good, and we've learned the hard way that trusting in each other is the best way to start. Okay? I don't want to go into how we learned."
Hecuba slowly breathed in and out, but she kept her questions behind a slightly furrowed brow. "Okay. That's fine. You're an adult." A pause. "Actually I do have to ask something else. For the family and the town."
"Yes?" Trepidation elongated the word, but Gabrielle knew it must be important if her mother was pushing it.
Not unkindly, Hecuba asked, "You said Hope looked like you because you were part of… whatever brought her about. Is there anything else we should know of? Any more powers or people you and Xena have interfered with that might come looking for you or yours?"
It wasn't an unfair question, and Gabrielle took a few moments to honestly think about it. "No..." Men like Julius Caesar would take the opportunity to use her against Xena, but she couldn't imagine him or most anyone else figuring out where she was from and targeting it. There was an outside chance Draco was still infatuated with her after that Cupid's Arrow fiasco, but he didn't seem the type to find her parents and ask for her hand. "No, I can't think of anything likely. Except Joxer stopping in for a bite if he's nearby without us."
Hecuba let out a long breath. "Good."