Chapter 12

"Yadda, yadda, yadda." Ares groaned out, now that he finally made himself known.

Xena looked up and saw that it was the same man that was talking to Athena earlier. She also noticed that he was no longer with the scantily dressed blonde.

The War God smiled widely, seeing the relief in her eyes for having interrupted Apollo. He turned his attention to his brother and could see he was not too pleased with his presence at the moment.

"Apollo can't you see that you are boring the poor girl with all that crap?" he said with a sly smile.

Obviously annoyed that Ares had chosen that moment to make an appearance, Apollo made sure to throw him quite a nasty glare. All of his hard work ruined in a split second, and all because of his brother's bad timing.

"Ares can't you see we were in the middle of something?" he bit, gesturing between himself and Xena.

Ares shifted his gaze from one to the other for a moment and chuckled a little.

"It didn't look like something to me. In fact she looked quite relieved when I showed up….Still does, if you ask me…." Ares said, glancing at Xena.

Apollo turned to look at Xena to get an answer and she simply chewed on her lower lip pensively as she looked between the two gods, refusing to actually give an answer.

Meaning to offer her a way out of that unfortunate situation, Ares extended his hand.

"Would you like to dance?"

Xena stared at the offered hand for a moment, contemplating her options. She didn't like to dance and wasn't too eager to change that, either. But then again, her other option was to stay there with Apollo and fight off his constant groping. She distasted that more than she did the dancing. She looked from the hand up to the gods' eyes and she was taken back from the intensity of his gaze. His soft brown eyes just made her want to get lost in the moment.

Apollo was getting more and more furious at Ares and reached out and slapped his hand away. Without giving Xena a chance to reply, he decided to settle the matter himself and answer for her. There was no way he was going to let Ares just waltz in and steal her from his clutches.

"No she would not like to dance with you." Apollo said as his voice began to raise with anger. "We are in the middle of something!"

Ares gave Apollo a stern glare for having slapped his hand away. He was starting to lose his patience with his brother.

Xena on the on the other hand was completely revolted that Apollo dared say what she did or did not want, for her.

'Who does he think he is? He doesn't own me.' she thought to herself. "As a matter of fact" she looked at Apollo with a stony glare then turned to Ares, softening her features "I would love to dance."

Ares could see the anger shining in her blue eyes when Apollo answered for her. He again extended his hand to her, and this time, she gladly accepted it. Once their hands touched, they both felt a spark from the contact. Both confused by what had just happened, they stared at each other for a moment, searching the other's eyes for some sort of recognition that the other felt the same sensation.

Shaking himself out of the trance first, Ares seemed to keep finding himself in with her around, he pulled her up from the couch. He just couldn't pull his gaze away from her eyes. Pulling her closer than necessary, he lead them to the dance floor, leaving behind a very angry Apollo.

Ares led Xena to stand in front of him with her back to him. He reached for her arm and moved his hand down to hers where he intertwined them. He grabbed her left arm by the wrist and extended it above and behind his head. Once in place, he slowly ran his hand down her arm and side, bringing his hand to rest on her stomach and pulled her closer to him while they slowly began to sway to the music.

Xena closed her eyes at the contact, as their bodies swayed to the music. Being this close to him and feeling his touch, she realized that the presence she has been feeling was him. She relaxed into him, enjoying the feel of his warm body against hers, and the way his touch seemed to set her skin aflame when he touched her. A soft smile began to form on her face as she let herself get lost in the moment.

Ares felt her relax into him and relished in the feeling of her. He nuzzled the side of her head with his, breathing in a little the scent of her hair. Feeling her this close, Ares sensed that same feeling ignite inside him that he had felt when he was watching her in battle. He was puzzled at what it was that she was eliciting from him, but he knew one thing for sure, he wanted to feed it.

Still perched on the couch where they had left him, Apollo watched the pair with jealous eyes. He was angry with Ares for having rudely interrupted them earlier, just when he and Xena were finally getting somewhere. Now he was enraged with the War God as he watched him put his hands all over her. His jealous rage was about to explode when he noticed that Xena actually relaxed into his touch.

'She barely lets me touch her' he thought.

He then saw the slight smile that started to form on her face as they moved to the music. Apollo just couldn't believe it. Just a few moments before, he was on the point of having Xena where he wanted her. He had her trembling at his touch with the anticipation of what was to come and now he had to sit there and watch someone else getting to do it in his place. Needless to say he was not at all pleased with how the night was turning out.

Meanwhile, on the dance floor, Ares moved his hand back up Xena's body and removed her hand from behind his head. He gently moved her arm back down and twirled her around to slightly face him. He lightly placed his hand back on her stomach, pulling her to him ….There was visible chemistry between them…

The instant Ares moved his hand back up her body, Xena flinched…she was like in some sort of trance, bewitched by his every gesture….. The sensations that each of these simple contacts could offer her, simply excited her. As he pulled her back to him, she felt as though there was no on else in the room…no one but them . The world seemed to fade away as he guided her around the floor.

Once they had circled a little, Ares spun her around to face him once more. Still holding her hand, he brought it up and placed it behind his neck. He stared into her eyes, mesmerized by the fact that he could read passion shining in them. Liking what he saw, and still wanting to fuel that feeling even more, he pulled her closer to him eliminating the remaining distance between them.

Xena was completely lost in the sensation of his touch. Noticing that they were now facing each other, she looked deep into his brown eyes. She almost couldn't believe it….She saw something there, something that she would have never expected to see… something that for her own peace of mind, her brain refused to tag. Seeing how close she was to him, Xena glanced down to his lips. Their breaths were now practically mixing together. One single move from her part would have been enough to close in the remaining distance between them.

With one last long glance, reluctant to put some distance between them, Ares spun Xena away from him. Slowly, he walked back up to her and got in the position from which they started their dance. He once again took her hand and brought it to rest behind his head. Ares guided his hand down her body once more and brought it to rest on her stomach.

Xena couldn't help but react to his touch and shivered from the contact. She relaxed into him once more as she felt him grab her waist and turned her in one last spin... Slowly, very slowly, Ares pulled her back to him, never breaking their gaze. He glanced down at her slightly parted lips then back up to her eyes. He wanted to taste her so much, that he could literally feel the taste of her sweet lips on his.. He brought his hand up to caress her cheek, and he was more than pleased to see that Xena welcomed the contact and leaned into it, bringing her own hand up to place it over his.

Adamant about testing the waters and initiating a kiss, he used the hand on her waist to inch her closer. Seeing that she wasn't pulling away, he continued to lean in closer.

Needless to say that Apollo was steaming as he watched them glide around the floor. He was beginning to lose his patience, as for the scene that was now unfolding in front of him, it was driving him crazy, making that fire growing inside him even more unbearable than it already was. What made it worse was that he could see just how much Xena was enjoying herself.

'That bastard!' he thought. 'There is no way that MY Xena is enjoying that. He must be doing something to her.'

He couldn't help but think that if Ares hadn't shown up when he did, Xena and he could be exploring each other's bodies at that exact moment. She would have been melting under his touch while begging for more. He smiled to himself thinking that the night could still end up that way. All he had to do was get rid of Ares and they could pick up from where they had initially left off.

The plan was simple enough. It wouldn't take much to get the War God away from his Xena. All he had to do was find some other good looking body willing to be ravished by the God of War and then he would finally have Xena all to himself.

Completely absorbed by that plan, Apollo took his eyes away from them for a short moment. When he looked back, he was absolutely enraged at what he saw. Right there, at just a few feet away, he could see Ares pulling his Xena closer to him. He could see that his intention was to kiss her….To top it all, Xena was going to let him….

Bolting up from the couch, he stormed over to the pair dancing a few feet in front of him. He grabbed Xena roughly by the arm and forcefully tore her away from Ares and shoved her backwards. Apollo glared at Ares as he stood between the two of them. Not giving a second thought to the fact that he had just pushed her into a table with enough force to break it- causing her to fall to the ground- he kept glaring at his brother defiantly. .

Finally regaining his focus from the sudden loss of the woman in his arms, the War God looked up and saw a pair of very angry eyes staring back at him. He felt his brother's rage building in him as he saw that it was Apollo who had snatched her away from him.

He looked to where Xena had landed and saw that the force of the shove had caused her to crash into a table that had broken from the impact with her body and that she was now laying on the floor, covered in the red wine that had been sitting on the table.

He looked on as he saw her wince in pain for a moment and saw the small cuts that were on her hands and arms that she had gotten in the fall. He glared at Apollo with hatred and was ready to tear him limb from limb for causing her pain. But first he had to alleviate his overwhelming need to make sure she was ok. He glanced back down to where she laid and could still see her grimace with pain. He was going to make Apollo pay for this.