Hello! Told you the update would come soon. I should be able to continue regularly, but I'm not making any promises. 'Cuz you never know.
Anyways read this and then go check out Xedra's videos on youtube, cuz dood, they rock. I wish I knew how to make videos, but I lack the genius. She's better anyway.
I don't own anything. I own everything. Somewhere in there is the proper answer.
This is NOT THE END. PROMISE!
Gabrielle settled down into Xena's arms and went back to sleep as Joxer ran around tidying up and reheating some stew for breakfast. While the stew cooked and the women slept, Joxer wrote a letter to his sister appraising her of the situation. His knowledge of their attack was minimal, but he relayed that Gabrielle was bedridden and that Xena had suffered a fever from the rain. He knew better than to ask his sister if it would be alright that they stayed, for he'd surely get beaten and verbally abused for even THINKING that it wouldn't. She was charitable in a way that was almost chronic -- town mother from the age of ten.
Xena awoke slowly just as Joxer was handing the letter to a messenger and giving him half his fee, as was custom. She checked Gabrielle first thing to make sure she hadn't died, and when she found her pink and breathing, she planted a silent kiss on the back of Gabrielle's head. Afraid to wake the bard, she waited for Joxer to turn around before smiling her "good morning" and nodding in the direction of the bed, asking him to help her move Gabrielle.
Despite their skilled efforts not to wake her, Gabrielle's eyes came open the moment she was covered with the first blanket. "Hey," she started, taking the blanket and pushing it off her shoulder. Xena jumped at the opportunity to talk with Gabrielle. She knelt down beside the bed and pushed a strand of golden hair away from Gabrielle's face.
"Hey, Gabrielle, how are you feeling?" She asked in a near-whisper. Joxer stepped out to the garden to give them a little time to talk.
Gabrielle started to cry through her smile. She reached up and touched the warrior's face and just beamed at her. "I can't tell you how glad I am that you're not hurt."
"I was before we found you." She said so quietly, Gabrielle almost didn't hear her. Xena took Gabrielle's badly bruised hand in both of hers and rested their hands on the edge of the bed.
"Xena," she began, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks more freely as she uttered each word. "I was such a fool," she was taking it in short strides in an attempt to keep her emotions under control. "I'm so sorry."
"No--" Xena protested, in tears now herself. She fussed with her friend's hair as Gabrielle pushed forward.
The small whimper from the warrior had arrested any chance of staying calm. She was bawling at this point, but seized the shaking hand at her ear to make Xena listen. "They told me I had killed you, and I believed them. I - I gave up, Xena. I'm so sorry I wasn't stronger, I should have known, should have been smarter, I wouldn't have --"
"No, Gabrielle, stop." She commanded. "Stop. None of this was your fault. Don't you dare start thinking that. You were drugged. We both were. And even if we hadn't been...what those men...what they made you..." The warrior couldn't even finish the sentence. She slumped down onto her butt next to the bed and tried to cover her face with her arms as she shook with sobs, overwhelmed by a horror and guilt of her own. Gabrielle reached out and pulled Xena's arms away from her face, gathering her in to lay her head on the edge of the bed. She wrapped her arms around Xena's head, putting her cheek to her friend's dark mane, while Xena entwined her arms around Gabrielle's and held on tight as both women cried harder than they had since their children had died.
It took a long while for them to calm down. Joxer poked his head in once after harvesting all the tomatoes and peppers he could find in the garden, but when he saw them in the state they were in, he quietly shut the door, and, taking half the crop, went to market to see if he could sell them.
When their breathing had calmed and the sobbing transformed into an occasional sniffle, Gabrielle picked her head up off Xena's and tried to fix Xena's hair where her tears had pooled and dried and mussed up her wild bistre locks. Xena sat up, wiping her own tears from the mattress, and looked at Gabrielle.
"Oh, gods," Gabrielle said. "You look like hell."
Xena laughed as her friend wiped her tears from her cheeks and sorted out her hair. She returned the grooming favor as she asked, "Are you in any pain?"
"My hands, mostly," she said. "I can't feel my leg."
"I did that," Xena explained. "Your hip was dislocated, and as I put it back in place, I think it broke. It must have been fractured. So I cut off the sensation."
"It was already broken," Gabrielle said. "Thank you." And then she added, "I'm cold."
"Do you think you can sit up?" Xena asked. "Maybe we can get you bandaged and dressed."
Gabrielle nodded and Xena began to help her sit up. With broken ribs and legs and wrists, it was an excruciating struggle, but Gabrielle did her best to keep from passing out and eventually found herself seated on the bed. Xena propped both pillows behind her for support. She left to fetch the box Joxer had given her which contained the dress he'd bought for Gabrielle. They both were surprised as Xena lifted the lid on the box.
The dress was made from the same cotton as Xena's, except it was embroidered with satin and silk. The whole thing was an ivory color, with green pastel vines climbing up the skirt and twisting just slightly as they reached the waist. The collar was in a boxy v, very upper-class-looking, and that same airy green with white Celtic knots stitched across.
"It's too pretty," Gabrielle said, touching it in amazement.
"Hm?"
"It's too pretty for me to put on now when I'm like this, Xena."
"What are you talking about? Joxer got this for you.."
"I know," Gabrielle interrupted. "I don't want to bleed on it. Don't you have any thing else I can wear? What about my old outfit, isn't it in one of the saddlebags?"
"I'll go check." Xena left and returned in record time with a wad of material that shook out into Gabrielle's old brown dress. She shook out as much of the horse hair and dust as she could and gave it a speculating sniff. "It's surprisingly not moldy, just smells like leather."
"That's perfect," Gabrielle said and let Xena cut the rest of her meager rags off of her as it was too painful to maneuver through them with all the cuts and breaks and strains and tears she had all over her body. She blushed, despite herself, as Xena stripped her naked. It wasn't because she was ashamed of herself, they'd seen each other naked hundreds of times and neither ever thought anything about it. It was unavoidable when you lived outside like they did. She felt her cheeks go hot because she could tell that Xena was making note of every contusion and cut and watched her companion's heart break and her anger rise a little as each new injury was exposed. Finally her old brown dress was hanging from her shoulders like a soft hug.
Xena sat beside her on the bed and cut the leftover rags into strips and used them to bandage Gabrielle's wrists. Neither woman had spoken for a long time, but they were comfortable in their silence. Gabrielle watched Xena carefully set, wrap and tie her wrists with an overwhelming sense of divine comfort. A small smile crept into her eyes as the afternoon sun danced in their hair. Xena was safe. It had worked. Xena didn't remember. Everything was going to be alright. Gabrielle had made right by her mistake -- she had saved Xena from a different and more dangerous kind of death. Xena was safe. Everything was going to be alright.