Sorry for the long delay. I had trouble with this chapter, I'm afraid of making Joxer a little too out of character and so I had to do some thinking about him and such. Also, this is really horrific, and I'm hesitating even continuing based on its sheer gore factor.

All characters and such belong to someone else. Everything else is mine. ... not that anyone would want it anyways.

I apologize in advance in case this makes you want to pull your hair out.

Joxer returned to find Xena staring into the fire, still on the floor next to Gabrielle's bed. Seeing the expression on her face, he spoke gently as he laid the things he'd bought onto the table next to the pot of stew. "Hey Xena." He said.

She turned to him as though she hadn't heard him come in. "Oh, hi Joxer."

"Has she woken up yet?" He asked.

"Yes, once. She told me some things but they didn't make any sense."

Joxer looked into the pot of stew. "Have you two eaten?"

"Gabrielle was only awake for a few minutes, she was too exhausted to think about eating."

"What about you?" She waved her hand at him to dismiss his concern. He fixed her a bowl anyway. "It should still be hot, that cauldron is good at keeping heat in."

She didn't fight him after she got a sniff of the stew in front of her face. "This isn't that stuff that gave everyone the trots, is it?"

He smiled weakly. "No, it's not."

Xena drank a spoonful as she watched Joxer go about unpacking the things he'd bought in market. "You okay, Joxer?" She didn't like to see him back down from a playful argument, it wasn't like him.

Joxer stopped what he was doing and came around the room to sit on the chair with a heavy sigh. "Well, no, actually, I'm not."

"What's wrong?"

"I um, well, I'm meeting someone here in a few days. My sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"Yeah, well, technically she's my cousin, but my parents raised her after my aunt and uncle died of fever." He swallowed hard and tried to tell Xena the story, but the thought of the word, "funeral" in conjunction with his baby nephew made his tongue into concrete.

She watched him struggle for words for a moment before she asked him, "Joxer, did something happen to your sister?"

"No. Well, yes. I don't know. Um, see, a week ago," he reached to his pocket and produced a folded and worn piece of parchment, "this letter came to me in Athens."

Xena read the simple sentences and looked at Joxer in question, not understanding. "Who is Lucius?"

"My nephew. He, um – well, he was part of a massacre in their village." He was choking on the syllables as they came from his mouth, "he's three years old."

"Joxer, I'm so sorry." She reached for his arm to give it a comforting squeeze but he dodged her and she recoiled, understanding.

"They're traveling from the east out here to bury him in this village. They were going to stay here but I haven't paid rent and the landlord took my furniture as payment. I don't know what to do, the kids can sleep on the floor, but there are no chairs..." He drifted off, looking up at Xena as though he had forgotten she was there. "I shouldn't be bothering you with this."

"What kind of friend would I be if..." She trailed off here, too, realizing that comforting him would only break his already fragile sense of preservation. "If you need some money, Joxer, we've saved up quite a bit."

"No, I couldn't – Xena, you're going to need that money now for medicine and –"

"I've got medicine too," she interrupted. "Please, let me help you, you've done so much for us already."

He nodded ever so slightly and then cleared his throat and stood up, going back to the table and fussing around with some boxes. "Xena, I got you two some clothes when I was in town." He handed her two boxes. "Only one each but I didn't know your sizes or what you would like and so..."

"Thank you." She said, interrupting his needless apology.

"Um, that one's for you and the other is for Gabrielle." He fidgeted for a minute, "I have to go to the stabler and work out a few more things, so you two can change out of your wet clothes, and maybe eat some more."

Xena nodded and thanked him and he left the cottage once again. She opened the box that was hers and pulled out an understated rust-colored dress with white embroidery around the collar and sleeves and hem. As Xena took off her upper arm guards she noticed more deep bruises there. It was painful to slide the bands off of the swollen flesh, one of them had become imbedded in her skin and a thin trail of blood ran down her left arm. Xena was further confused and frustrated as she discovered more black and purple ligature marks on her body and still had no memory of how she got them. In taking off the rest of her armor, she discovered the bruises ran in bands across her breasts, ribs, hips, as well as her shins and ankles. She slid sorely into the dress Joxer had given her and smiled to herself after it was on. He had guessed at their sizes and it was too long by about four inches, at least, but it was very soft and comfortable.

She rolled up the sleeves and began to wake Gabrielle to get her out of her wet clothes, if you could even call them that. When Gabrielle awoke, she was still delirious.

"Xena?" She asked. "What's going on?"

"We have to get you out of your wet clothes, Gabrielle, c'mon." Xena began to help her undress, but Gabrielle seized Xena's fingers threateningly, staying them at her shoulder. "Ow. Gabrielle, let go, you have to get into dry clothes or you'll get sick."

"I won't." She stated. "I won't take my clothes off. I don't know who you are or what you're trying to do, but you can just forget about it."

"What are you talking about, Gabrielle? It's me, Xena. C'mon there's not much to those rags you're wearing in the first place, let's just get you into this dress Joxer bought for you."

"Joxer?" She asked, then beat away Xena's hand again. "I don't know anyone named Joxer."

"Of course you do, he's our friend."

"What do you mean 'our' friend? Who are you?"

"Gabrielle it's me, Xena. You know me."

"Nice try. Xena's dead. I may be confused but I remember that. I killed her. I don't know who you are. You're trying to trick me and I'm not falling for it."

"Gabrielle, you're delirious. I'm not dead, I'm right here with you. Listen, you didn't kill me. I know you; you couldn't do something like that. You wouldn't. Just like I wouldn't hurt you. You know me, Gabrielle, you can trust me. You need to put on this dry dress, and I'm going to have to help you because your wrists are broken." Xena reached slowly for the torn strap at Gabrielle's shoulder once again.

Gabrielle turned on her, clawed her face in one hard swipe and screamed, "Get your hands off me!!" She stumbled grossly from the bed and dragged herself to a corner and sat there shaking, muttering, "I won't, I won't, I won't..." When Xena came slowly across the room into view of her friend, Gabrielle was in tears. As Xena neared her, she looked up and screamed, "Why are you torturing us?!"

Xena knelt down a ways away from Gabrielle. "You have to trust me, Gabrielle. I swear to you, I'm trying to help you." Xena suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

That sentence seemed to strike a bell of dread within Gabrielle and she began sobbing, pleading, begging for mercy. Xena grabbed at her stomach as another wave of nausea came over her, and as the pressure from her hand fell across the deep bruise there, it hit her.

She remembered where they'd been.