Chapter 19

"Uh... Xena?" a hesitant voice came from the distance.

Xena instantly stopped what she was doing when she heard that voice. She couldn't believe it was his voice that she was hearing and she immediately looked to where it had come from. Confirming what she already knew, all other thoughts left her and a huge grin formed on her face as she got up and walked towards him.

Ares had watched the whole scene unfold as he laid there and took in her reaction. She knew this man and from the look on her face she knew him very well. A little too well for the War God's liking. He watched as she got up and left him there without a second thought as she rushed over to embrace this mortal man and to say that he was shocked was not enough. He felt a wave of jealousy crush his soul as he witnessed this man now wrap his arms around her and how affectionately she returned his embrace. He wondered who this man was and why he was able to obtain such a reaction out of her, especially since he had just had her in his arms only mere moments before and responding to his touch so eagerly. Ares picked himself up off of the ground and his clothes and affects were back to their proper place as he continued to stare at the pair before him and at the certain woman who was now completely giving him the cold shoulder. He stood there waiting for her to finally acknowledge his presence.

Xena hugged him tight as it had been so long since the last time they had seen each other. It felt nice to be in his arms again, she had missed him dearly and couldn't believe that he was here now. About a full minute later, she finally began to pull back from him and placed a loving kiss on his cheek in return. The man then moved his hands to her waist, which did not go unnoticed by the now fuming War God behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Xena asked as she brought her hand up to touch his face since she still couldn't believe he was there, by her side.

"Well, I was in the neighborhood and I kinda missed you. I couldn't stay away and I wanted to see you, so much, so here I am! "

He gave her a warm smile and leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek. He shifted his gaze to the man behind her who was glaring at him in quite a menacing way. He had clearly interrupted something and this man didn't look like he appreciated getting disturbed with whatever he was doing with Xena, though he had a pretty good idea what they were doing.

"I wish you would have sent word. I could of helped to arrange somewhere for you to stay. Do you have a place to stay tonight?"

He felt uneasy at the way the man was staring at him. It looked like he was about to tear him apart. Bringing his attention back to the woman in front of him he couldn't help but smile at her constant concern of whether he was ok or not.

"Actually no I don't. I've just arrived and came straight here to see you."

"Then it is settled, you will stay with me in my bedchamber."

The man couldn't help a chuckle, seeing the way the other man's eyes had widened in shock at her offer before he quickly covered it up and that they now had anger in them.

Ares was indeed stunned. He just couldn't believe his ears. This mortal was here for just a few moments and he was already in her bed. He didn't like that it was bothering him as much as it was and her still ignoring the fact that he was even there was not helping the situation any. He could see the way she was looking at this man and it made him want to reduce him to a pile of ash but he knew he couldn't do that. He wanted her as his warrior and this man held her affections deeply and he knew she would not appreciate him killing the guy in front of her, on the contrary, it would only piss her off and drive a wedge in their newly forming relationship. He clenched his fists at his side to control himself from tearing the man apart, limb from limb... No, this mortal man was off limits and he didn't want to lose the little ground he had gained with Xena by not being able to control his anger, it would only make it more difficult to get her to see things his way. Not wanting to stand there and watch this display of adoring unfold any longer, knowing he was slowly losing his battle to keep himself from doing harm to this insignificant mortal, he disappeared from the arena.

Xena felt the abrupt lost of the War God's presence and she turned her head to where she had left him and saw that he was no longer there. She realized that she had completely ignored both him and what had just almost happened between them. She could still feel the tingle on her skin from where he had touched her. She was a little bit relieved though that the interruption came when it did since she knew exactly what would have happened if it didn't. The God of War was a temptation that was becoming harder and harder to resist. She couldn't let herself succumb to him in that way because she feared that if she did... She didn't even want to put a reason to that thought. No, it was good that things stopped before they went too far. Sleeping with the War God would have been a huge mistake. She would have been just another notch on his long list of conquests.

Getting over his initial shock of seeing the man just disappear, he figured he must have been some sort of God. Xena was after all Athena's warrior, so she must have been around Gods all the time, he said to himself.

"Hmmm, he didn't look too happy."

"What are you talking about Lyceus?" she brought her attention back to her brother as he had clearly seen something she hadn't.

"Just that... he didn't look too happy before he left. In fact he looked kind of angry if you ask me. Though I guess I would be angry too if I were him." he gave her a knowing look.

"And what is that suppose to mean?" she arched an eyebrow at him as she crossed her arms across her chest as she waited for his response.

"Well if you want me to spell it out for you. Let's just say that when I arrived you two looked like you were getting to know each other pretty well…."

"That's not what was happening." she immediately denied.

"Ah Xena, always the heart breaker aren't we?" he smirked at her. "If what you two were doing wasn't what I thought you were doing then what were you doing?"

"He was helping me train." she simply stated, not wanting to go into any more details on the matter. This was something she was not going to discuss and especially not with her brother.

"Training... is that what they are calling it nowadays?" he gave her a mischievous grin as he lightly chuckled.

"Yes, training. Ares wanted to help me with it." she was getting irritated by his comments.

"Whoa, wait a minute..Ares? As in the God of War?" he looked at her surprised. "So you figured out a way to get his attention after all. But I thought you were one of Athena's warriors? At least that's what your last message said." he remarked, intrigued that he had found her here with him when she was in one of Athena's training grounds. Surely the War God had his own training areas.

"Yes, it is that Ares and yes I am one of Athena's warriors. He was offering to help me train and improve my skills." Xena replied, a bit tired of his persistent interrogatory about the War God. "But enough about me, surely you must be starving from your journey. Let's go get something to eat."

Lyceus knew her well and quickly understood that she was trying to avoid talking about something that she wasn't ready to open up about. He wondered what was this business between her and the God of War because judging from what he had seen, there was more going on then she was willing to admit. Plus, by the way the God had reacted, he knew jealousy when he saw it. He was happy for her that she was finally going to get to do what she wanted with the God she had always wanted to do it for, but at the same time, she was toying with the most dangerous of them all, at least that's what the stories he had heard about him as a child, said.

"Yeah, I could eat an elephant. Then you can tell me all about how you managed to get the God of War as your own personal trainer." he said, giving her a big smile because he knew he was going to get it out of her one way or the other.

"You're not going to drop this, are you?" she shook her head at him for she knew he was relentless once he got an idea in his head.

"Never." He held his arm out to her. "Shall we, my fair lady?"

She accepted and they proceeded to leave the training grounds.

Xena took one last look at the spot that she and the War God had shared those amazingly special moments before. She could still feel him on her lips and the way that he made her feel as he caressed her skin, sent a shiver down her spine She snapped her mind out of those thoughts as she couldn't let herself think about him in that way, nonetheless. She didn't trust herself around him when he was that close and she was going to make sure she kept things completely business whenever he was around. He was a God that wanted, for whatever reason, to help her achieve something that she couldn't even begin to dream about being with Athena, and she was adamant about using every advantage that she had in order to do that.