Chapter Five

Something Needs To Be Done

Annie and Mattie were up before seven the next morning. Gabrielle was already up and was sitting at the kitchen table, her elbows were on the table supporting her head. She looked up when she heard them.

"I see Xena never made it to bed," Annie said as she pointed with her head at Xena asleep on the sofa. Empty beer cans were scattered on the coffee table and on the floor.

"No," Gabrielle replied. "I tried to get her to come to bed after Harry turned in, but she said she wasn't sleepy. Then I got up twice more during the night but she was asleep and too heavy for me." Mattie was silent for a few seconds then said in a pleading voice, "Isn't there something you can do? She can't go on like this. I can't go on like this. I love Xena with all my heart, but she's making it harder and harder every day for me not to leave her. She's getting worse and worse all the time."

Gabrielle wiped away a tear. "No, that's a lie. I could never leave Xena. It would tear out my heart to do that."

Mattie put a comforting hand on Gabrielle's shoulder. "I know how you feel," she said and glanced over to Annie for a second or two. "But we'll figure something out."

Gabrielle smiled up at her.

"In the mean time, how about some breakfast? A real breakfast?" Annie asked. "We usually have Harry bring coffee and donuts to the office, but today's Thursday, and almost nothing happens on Thursday."

"Sure, that sounds good."

"Anything in particular?"

"It doesn't matter. I'll eat whatever you fix."

"I'll get Harry up," Mattie volunteered. "You want to wake up Xena?"

"Maybe we should let her sleep a little longer," Annie suggested. "It'll give us some time to throw around a few ideas."

Mattie nodded, then left to wake Harry.

An hour later they were finished with breakfast and were still at the kitchen table, drinking the last of the coffee. Gabrielle had been going over, again, everything she remembered that had happened to her and Xena since they were cloned. Xena was still snoring on the living room couch.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about Alti," Mattie said.

"Until she reincarnates herself into another body," Annie added. "Hopefully, it will be in one of our future lifetimes."

"But what about Ares?" Gabrielle asked. "What if he catches wind about the new, evil Xena?"

"I don't think we have to worry about Ares showing up anytime soon."

"Why not?"

"Because he's having too much fun."

When Annie saw the perplexed look on Gabrielle's face, she elaborated. "I'm sure you've heard about all the wars and the strife going on in the Middle East - Iraq and Afghanistan, for starters. They have Ares' stink all over them. He's too busy working on his goal of world peace through war. Just like it was when he was after me to join him back in Greece."

"And just where did you say Ares was?"

Everyone looked toward the voice. Xena was awake and standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"He could be anywhere," Annie answered. "But much too far away to call for him, if that's what you were thinking."

"If you say so," Xena said with a skeptical voice, then went to the refrigerator and opened it. "No beer?" she asked.

"You drank it all last night," Gabrielle told her. "How about coffee, and something to eat?"

"Or at least some water," Mattie added. "You should rehydrate, it'll keep you from having a hangover -- more, of a hangover."

Xena turned on the cold water faucet and filled a glass, then drank it down. "Happy?" she asked sarcastically, looking at Mattie. Then to Annie she said, "What's to eat?"

"We have bacon and eggs, or oatmeal, cream of wheat, bagels and cream cheese, corn flakes, raisin bran...."

"Any waffles?"

"No, but I can make pancakes."

"Fine. Whatever. With lots of butter and syrup. They never give you enough at the shelter. And scrambled eggs, with cheese."

"I'll make them for her," Harry volunteered.

"Actually, I need you to open up the office," Annie said. "It'll be close to nine by the time you get there. And someone needs to be there just in case. You never know."

"On my way," Harry said, half way to the door. "I'll call if something comes up."

"That's a good little toady," Xena said loud enough for him to hear as the front door closed behind him. She got unhappy looks from everyone, but only Mattie said something.

"Why do you belittle him like that? Harry's a good guy. He doesn't deserve that."

"Just another stupid Joxer if you ask me."

"Yeah," Gabrielle said. "But it seems to me that you were pretty upset when he died. He might have started out an inept and bumbling warrior wannabe, but you know damn well he was more than just 'dumb Joxer' at the end. He cared about us and we BOTH felt the same way about him." By now Gabrielle was getting angry.

"You probably have time to take a shower before breakfast is ready," Annie said, to Xena, trying to defuse the situation. "Some of my clothes are on your bed. I put them there last night, if you remember."

"Okay," Xena replied and ambled indifferently toward the bathroom. "I could stand some company if anyone wants to volunteer." When there was no answer, she added, "Not real particular who it is."

No one spoke until they heard the bathroom door close.

"I think you're right," Annie said. "Something needs to be done."

"You know, I was just thinking about how we got here last year, remember?" Mattie asked.

"I don't," Gabrielle said facetiously. "But since you told Xena and me about it yesterday, I kind of do."

"Well, it sounds to me that after you two were cloned, you and Xena were in trance-like states, which is very much like a hypnotic trance. So I was thinking if we could get Xena hypnotized, maybe we could emphasize the good parts of her psyche and suppress the evil parts."

"That's as good a plan as any," Annie said as she added the scrambled eggs next to the heated up frozen pancakes. "Now all we have to do is figure out how to get her to sit still long enough to let herself be hypnotized. I have a feeling she won't do it willingly."

"Well, there are always those little obstacles to overcome. But I'm sure the three of us can figure out something," Mattie said.

They threw around a few ideas about how to try to get Xena to sit still long enough to hypnotize her, but had to change the subject when she came out of the bathroom.

"I guess I should get to the office if you want to stay here and keep Xena and Gabrielle company," Annie said to Mattie.

"You don't have to stay here because of us," Gabrielle said to Mattie. Then to Annie she said, "If you don't mind, I'd like to go to the office with Mattie. I'd like to learn more about the internet."

"Sure, I don't mind, and I'm sure she doesn't. What about you Xena? Anything special you'd like to do?"

"I think I'll just wander around a bit. Now that I don't have to worry about food, and I've got these really spiffy clothes to wear, and a really top-notch place to sleep, I'd like to get a real look at the city. So maybe I'll ride with you to your office and take off from there."

"That's fine. Whatever you want to do," Annie agreed, ignoring the sarcasm. "I guess we don't have to worry about you getting lost. I know how good your sense of direction is."

"How about one of those cell phones?" Xena asked. "Just in case I wander too far to get back before you leave for the day."

"I think we have an extra one at the office."