Note: I want to thank all my loyal fans out there. I know my updates are on the short side but I still hope the quality is good.

I'm lost in this tiny blissful moment; truly and deeply somewhere else. My rage and anger is transferring into something that is just as deep in me and is burning every fiber of my body. It's like the first time we touched, a bonfire in my soul, spreading out to my fingertips in flames that race across her body.

Her lips are soft against my neck as she leaves little pecks up and down. There is this part of me that wants everything hard and fast; perhaps the only thing keeping me from doing this is the love that is seeping from her and slowly soaking into me.

The night lights up around us as if Zeus can feel the emotions we're emitting. The first few drops of rain are all I notice, as they hit my already sweat covered body. The millions that fall after them go completely unnoticed by either of us.

'Xena.' Her lips whisper against my ear over and over. It's like she's saying I love you, I need you, everything will be ok; just by speaking my name all of this is expressed. My fingers trace across the lines of scars that mark her body as my lips trace across her curves.

The ground is turning to mud beneath us, but we don't care. Our lips meet, tongues intertwining as delicately as our bodies do. This sweet interlude between us is all too brief.

'I'm sorry.' I whisper as I pull her shivering body against mine. We've pulled our clothes on, but the rain hasn't stopped. I don't want to pull away yet because I know this is possibly the last moment we will have like this. I have a mission to carry out and nothing is going to stop me.

'Just don't leave.' Her teeth chatter as she speaks. I know she doesn't mean in the physical sense, but mentally, emotionally. I also know I can't promise that I won't.

'You're the only thing keeping me here.' I can feel her hot tears on my shoulder as they mix with the cold rain drops. I'm not the person I used to be, but she is lying dormant inside. I'm afraid I'll let her off her chains and I'll lose myself to the monster inside. But also, I cannot rest until Caesar is dead. So do I sacrifice myself? I guess if it wasn't for Gabrielle, I would still be that demon with a lust for blood.

'Come on.' Gathering her up in my arms, I carry her into the house. Reaching the back room, we strip from our wet clothes and cuddle back together under the blanket. Cle is sleeping on his little bed, soft snores coming from his slightly parted lips. I feel bad. I've stayed away from him, fearing he'd only remind me of my own son. Looking at him now, all I can think of is the pain I'd feel if I lost him too.

'I promise we'll come out of this alive.' I can't let Cle lose his mother. Gabrielle squeezes her arms tighter around me, kissing my neck in response.

'I don't want to leave him Xena, but I also know I have to go with you.' I don't know where her utter devotion and defiance comes from. This simple little farm girl is braver than I'll ever be.

'You don't.'

'My path is with you, it always has been.' I think it's the wrong path. All I've brought her is bad things.

'Why do you stay?'

'You're my other half.' She says this as if it's a known fact, simple and obvious. I'm too fractured to have another half.

'Are you really ready for this?' I can't stall any longer.

'I'm not coming for revenge, I'm coming to make sure you survive this. So no, I'll never be ready, but I wont hide anymore either.' Damn I love this woman.

'You sacrifice too much for me you know.' I kiss her forehead, trying to stop the tears from forming in my eyes.

'I think I sacrifice just enough.' Her head turns up, lips meeting softly with mine.

'Is this one of those stories you're going to write down?'

'It's one that needs to be told.' I need to read her scrolls someday.

'I think your story needs to be told.'

'It is my story.' Her logic can be so simple yet it hits me like a charging minotaur. So I hold her tighter in my arms and listen as her breathing softens and slows. I will not sleep tonight but holding her in my arms is enough for now.