Disclaimers on part 1. There is f/f sex described in this part, though, so the rating is M.
New Territory
by LZClotho
originally written September 1997
CHAPTER FIVE
The firelight helped Gabrielle as she arranged the salves and bandages. Xena walked up; she shrugged at the look of surprise from the bard.
"I tried lifting off the armor. My wrist won't cooperate." The warrior lifted her left hand, a splint encased the wrist.
Gabrielle sighed. "Come here." She coaxed Xena next to her at the fire. She unhooked the warrior's shoulder braces. Then carefully she lifted away the leather and brass pieces. She sucked in a breath at the sight of Xena's bare shoulders. "You're one big bruise. Who hit you here?" She gingerly traced one discolored patch of skin, from mid shoulder blade to the middle of Xena's neck.
"The big one with the scar across his nose and the gouge in his cheek," Xena replied with a wry smile.
"Which of those scars did you give him?" Gabrielle flashed a smile of her own as she rubbed salve into the bruise.
Xena got a gleam in her eye and her reply was echoed by Gabrielle. "Both."
Gabrielle shook her head as she continued to treat Xena's bruises. No cuts, just bruises. The only thing broken appeared to be the wrist. "You got off lucky this time. How's the wrist feel?"
"I could use a good swig of port," Xena responded only half in humor.
Gabrielle retrieved the wineskin. "It's only about half full, but you're welcome to it."
While Gabrielle carefully helped her out of her leathers, to tend the rest of the bruises, Xena downed the port. The fire from the bard's touch on her skin was dimmed by the fire in her belly from the liquor.
Gabrielle needed this contact with the softer Xena. Watching the warrior in battle took the bard's breath away. But now, slowly revealing the woman, Gabrielle was reminded forcefully of her attraction. She rubbed salve into more bruises but absorbed the feel of flesh beneath her hands.
It was warm flesh, supple. Not hard as she wanted to appear to her enemies. Gods, I can't do this to her. "Xena, I'm sorry." Gabrielle pulled abruptly away from the warrior's back.
"What is it?" The distress on Gabrielle's face brought Xena's hands up awkwardly to caress the bard's cheek. Gabrielle's eyes were wide and reminiscent of the look of loss she'd seen on the bard's face when she was in Autolycus' body. Oh, no, somehow I've worried her again. She tried for lightness. "My back's not that bad. Is it?"
Gabrielle couldn't meet Xena's eyes. She shook her head. When that movement jarred Xena's immobile wrist, Gabrielle grabbed the warrior's hands and pulled them into her lap, unwilling to hurt the woman. "It's not that." She lifted her gaze finally, pinning Xena with her green eyes. "I can't touch you anymore without -" The bard's hands gestured toward Xena and fell back in defeat. "I just can't."
"Were you worried about me today?" Xena tread lightly. If Gabrielle had been scared during the battle today, Xena wanted to be sure to put her mind at ease quickly. She was surprised when Gabrielle firmly shook her head.
"No, you've taken on tougher odds before. This was easy. I knew it going in." She studied Xena, waiting for the inevitable questions. She drank in the sight of the woman's bare shoulders, the smooth line of her throat and the sparkle from the firelight that danced in her eyes. She was startled when Xena finally spoke.
"Then what is it?" Xena straightened, wanting to give solace but uncertain for what. The motion made her leathers slip further down her hips, and Gabrielle caught sight of the supple muscles of Xena's stomach.
Gabrielle swallowed, fisting her hands in her lap to slow the thoughts in her head. "Do you remember a conversation we had about a week ago? Since then I've had a lot of time to consider what was said...What I said. Have you thought about it?"
Xena remembered the conversation and the bard's fierce kiss. It had caused an invasion of Xena's dreams for days. "Yes, I remember," she replied warily.
"How do you feel about it? About what I said?" Gabrielle kept her eyes on Xena's face, watching the play of a muscle in Xena's right cheek. Oh gods, she hates me for reminding her of a weak moment.
Xena's voice was curt, tight, as she tried to answer, but came away with only a half-truth, not sure where the bard was leading. "I told you I'll take care of Ares. He's my problem."
Gabrielle gasped. "No, that's not it." She touched Xena's side, running a hand along the woman's ribs. She pulled away as Xena looked down to see Gabrielle's paler hand against the suntanned flesh of her own body.
When Gabrielle's eyes met Xena's again, the bard found confusion in the warrior's crystal blue eyes, and, she noticed, Xena breathed sparingly. "Xena," Gabrielle sighed. She hurried on in a rush before she lost her nerve. "I've been trying to seduce you for nearly a week! You haven't reacted once!"
"Gabrielle!" Xena turned red everywhere she wasn't black or blue. "I - You've been -" Xena put her right hand over Gabrielle's as it fisted in the bard's lap. "I'm not - "
"Xena, I love you. I've been trying to find out if you feel the same way or if I'm completely stupid to -" The bard started to push to her feet, but Xena's grip on her hands prevented anything more than a crouch. The warrior wasn't going to let her go.
"Well, you are definitely not stupid, Gabrielle," Xena interrupted quietly.
The soft voice completely stole the head of steam Gabrielle was working up. But heat of another sort was already building. "What does that mean?" She sounded strangled, even over the roaring in her ears. Would Xena wave off her emotions, believe that Gabrielle had a bad case of hero-worship?
But the look on Xena's face didn't look like when she'd put down Ulysses. It was open, a bit shy (if one could say that about a Warrior Princess), and somewhat uncomfortable. "I don't know what to do about it, but Gabrielle -:" It was now Xena's turn for her nerve to begin to fail. She added quickly, "I've been fantasizing about you since that night."
Gabrielle watched, a grin beginning to play at her mouth, as Xena became even redder as the silence following that statement lengthened. Mercifully the bard broke the silence. "Mind if I do something, Xena?"
The warrior looked up. "What?" Now Xena sounded strangled. Her blue eyes were worried, but her hands reached for Gabrielle, drawn by the warmth in those green eyes and a power beyond the warrior's comprehension. What can I do? She's my other half. I hope she knows what she's doing to me.
"This." Gabrielle leaned forward and pressed her lips to Xena's. Her hands caressed Xena's shoulders as she slipped her mouth from the warrior's, across her cheek to her ear. Gabrielle whispered huskily, "I hope you know this is what I've wanted, Xena. Always." Xena's head fell back, caught in the same whirlpool she went to every time the bard told a story, caught by that voice, that catch of breath that showed the bard's passion for life. "So tell me. What made you so hot under that waterfall?"
Xena's eyes shot open. "That was you!" In response to Gabrielle's question, Xena grasped Gabrielle's hands. "I can show you," she offered with a soft smile. "Gabrielle -"
"I love the way you say my name." Gabrielle found herself pulled across Xena's lap; Xena's hands moved to Gabrielle's cheeks.
The woman's hands, so sure with a sword or chakram, now trembled. "Gods, Gabrielle," she breathed, drowning in green eyes. Her love for this young woman had grown to fill her entire heart, and it scared her.
"Sh, Xena." Gabrielle grabbed Xena's hands and pushed them aside. "Let me show you." Gabrielle eased down and captured Xena's mouth in a kiss eliciting passion. Xena moaned. In that moment, the warrior completely dropped away unleashing the woman. Gabrielle's hands stroked Xena's flesh, followed closely by her mouth over the sensitive places. Shivers coursed through Xena when Gabrielle kissed the apex of her neck and shoulder.
"Talk to me. Tell me what to do - for you." Xena needed to hear the bard's voice, to fall away into the sea of feeling that only Gabrielle's presence and voice could create.
"I'd tell you a story, but I'm a little busy right now." The bard chuckled, her breath enhancing the kisses on her way down Xena's collarbone. She shifted, and her hair brushed Xena's skin, making the warrior shiver. Gabrielle shifted to find a better position over her warrior. Xena couldn't help a small yelp of pain when Gabrielle pressed her knee into the warrior's broken left wrist.
Worry lining her face, Gabrielle stopped and pulled back, critically examining the warrior, eliciting another moan from Xena, this one of an entirely different distress - the ache of being alone. "Are you all right?"
With her good right hand, Xena pulled the bard's face to hers for a quick kiss. Her sigh was half-laugh as she murmured, "Stay off my wrist and I'll be fine."
Gabrielle returned to her joyous task - discovering the woman's responses. She stroked across Xena's stomach and watched as the muscles contracted at her touch. Xena laid back. "You have such strength, Xena. Ever since we started traveling together, I've watched you. I admire the strength you show, and that which you hide - the strength you have when you fight and when you love. I often wondered if it couldn't be just for me." She kissed the warrior's stomach, smiling into the soft skin when she felt Xena jump.
"Gabrielle, I don't -" Xena's breath was thready; Gabrielle glanced up to see the warrior's eyes were closed. "I'm not sure -"
"Sh, but strength can be soft. You've proven it. Let me show you your softness." Her hand slipped lower. She stroked down Xena's body, and pushed aside the rest of the warrior's leathers. She threaded her fingers through Xena's mound of dark hair. The slight tug on her mons released a flood of sensations in the pit of Xena's belly. Gabrielle stroked a single fingertip over Xena's clit. The woman's hips leapt off the blankets. "Gods," breathed Xena, grasping Gabrielle's shoulders, but the younger woman wasn't finished.
The bard sat back, taking her hands from Xena for the moment. The warrior opened her eyes. Gabrielle answered the questioning look with a raised eyebrow. Xena, despite being caught in a maelstrom of sensations, smiled. "Xena?"
"Gabrielle," answered the warrior, sitting up. She touched the bard's hair in awe. "You really feel this way about me?" Xena shook her head in amazement.
"I always have. And I've known since you came back to me from the other side that I never want anyone else." She caressed Xena's cheek. "And I hope you don't either, because I discovered I can be very jealous." Gabrielle captured Xena's mouth again in another kiss, this one conveying less passion than possessiveness.
Xena reached up and touched Gabrielle's mouth. "You always have the right words," she marveled. "I want to make you happy, Gabrielle."
Gabrielle shook her head. "You've not run from me, which I believed was possible. No, let me show you how much I care for you."
The bard leaned back, supporting her head with her other hand so she could watch Xena's face. She slipped a finger into Xena's wet core. Then another. "You're so soft inside," Gabrielle whispered, watching a tear escape Xena's closed eyes. "It's nothing to be afraid of. It's beautiful. As you are. I want to always help you be strong, Xena. But it's the softness I will always cherish."
Caught by the love expressed in the bard's words, Xena's eyes flew open. Gabrielle fell into pools of mesmerizing turbulent sea-blue as she felt Xena's muscles contract convulsively around her finger. The bard wiggled her fingers just barely and felt Xena bear down, a climax catching the warrior off guard. "Gabrielle!" The bard's name burst from the warrior's lips. Xena felt every muscle in her body go slack as her core soaked Gabrielle's hand. Gabrielle's fingers left Xena's center and stroked hip, then side, and finally cheek to soothe. Xena tried to calm her racing heart. "Gods, Gabrielle. I never imagined. I - Have you done this before?"
The bard shook her head. "Only in my dreams, Xena."
Xena smiled. She grasped Gabrielle's hand, feeling the dampness of her own release on the bard's fingers and kissed the woman's lips gently. "Next time," she breathed against the bard's mouth. "Next time you have a dream, wake me. I'd like to share it." Xena's voice began to fade as exhaustion settled in nestling with the warm feelings.
"You just did," replied Gabrielle, kissing Xena on the nose, as the warrior's eyes closed and she snuggled to the bard's breast.
Sleep didn't last long for Xena. Being caught in love with her bard, the warrior was willing to remain aside so that the woman could enjoy the precious time. Xena was still a woman of the moment, unwilling to let something lie if it could be otherwise.
Gabrielle was stroking her hair and the sensations coaxed her to wakefulness. "Gabrielle?"
"Yes, Xena?"
"Can I bring you the same happiness?"
"Are you saying you're happy?"
Xena nodded into the bard's shoulder. This was new territory and Xena was a little surprised to find herself needing guidance.
"Do what makes you feel wonderful."
"Huh?" Xena pushed to her elbows next to the bard and met smiling green eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I like gentle touches. Caresses. And watching your face. I love watching your muscles flexing beneath the skin."
Xena smiled. "So that's why you gave me pleasure that way."
"Did you like it?"
"I did. No one ever knew that before. All my...other...Never mind." Xena was suddenly reluctant to bring up anything from her past. Somehow, she decided, that would tear this peacefulness apart.
But Gabrielle wanted to hear it. Xena wanted guidance, and Gabrielle knew only what Xena would tell her of her experiences. "Go on," she coaxed with a gentle brush of her knuckles against the warrior's cheek.
"I don't want to think about them," Xena said. "It doesn't mean anything. Not anymore."
Gabrielle sighed. "How can I be the more experienced one, Xena? Have you never really been loved?" She touched the woman's lips. "I really love you. All of you. Past, present and future. Tell me what you like. Or if you prefer, show me."
Xena blushed. "I - oh, gods, Gabrielle. I do desperately want to love you. But I'm not sure I know how. The men in my life were a focus for passion, mostly battle lust. But with you, I feel - I don't know. Somehow it's different. You're different." She sat up and glanced back down at Gabrielle, who looked up with only patience and love shining in her green eyes. "What I feel for you isn't lust. It's..." She took a deep breath, and continued, "Incredible. You're a part of me. I don't think I could ever do without you." Xena fell silent trying to examine her emotions and put them into words.
Gabrielle waited. What Xena was expressing was worth her patience, until the warrior could get it out. The bard sensed that soon enough words would fail and Xena would seek her arms again.
"In my experience, sex was always about power. Something given for something obtained." Gabrielle nodded. She'd guessed as much. Maybe that was why Xena was having such a hard time taking the act of sex and seeing it as an act of something non-possessive, a non-power struggle, an act of love.
"What do you think I want from you?" asked Gabrielle, putting to words the question that might put Xena on track to her emotions.
Xena shook her head. "I don't think you want anything."
"That surprises you?" Gabrielle sat up, putting her hand on Xena's bent knee, as the warrior encircled her knees with her arms. "That's not exactly true, though, you know."
"What?"
"I do want something, Xena." Gabrielle lifted the warrior's chin as her shoulders started to droop. "Don't worry. I'm hoping to help you give it to me."
"What is it?"
"Your happiness."
Xena's smile was spontaneous then. Her bard had yet again found the right words. "Gabrielle, I think I'm ready to show you."
Gabrielle smiled coyly. "Oh really? Well, maybe I'm just a little hungry...how about later?"
Xena laughed and the two women sank back to the blankets. Xena was tentative at first, but Gabrielle encouraged her, removing her own top. "You could never hurt me, Xena." Gabrielle found that Xena was an eager pupil. She questioned everything. "Gods, Xena, stop talking," Gabrielle finally managed as Xena's breathy questions sent shivering tingles across her stomach. "I had to find the most talkative woman in Greece, who doesn't speak nearly as many words out of bed as in it."
Xena laughed. The bard's reactions to her touch were gratifying, and it never seemed like a power play, unless it was somehow Gabrielle wielding power over her. The bard was beautiful in her passion.
Xena touched Gabrielle's body, exploring the taut muscles of her stomach, caressing the lean muscles of her thighs. But she liked Gabrielle's face and throat most of all. There was something about feeling the bard's pulse against her lips and tasting the tongue that spoke such wonderful words that brought Xena again to her own precipice.
"Gabrielle, I want to bring you with me over the edge," Xena whispered. "Help me."
Gabrielle's eyes opened slowly, having been pressed shut against the roiling of sensations in her body as Xena touched and kissed her. "Touch me, Xena."
Xena's hand stroked down across the planes of Gabrielle's stomach and she felt the well-tanned leather of the amazon skirt. Her hands slid up beneath the skirt, caressing the muscles of her legs. At the apex of her thighs, Xena found Gabrielle wet and warm. "Did I do that to you?" Xena asked in amazement, stroking the wetness she found. She looked up and found Gabrielle biting her lip. "What is it? Am I hurting you?"
Gabrielle shook her head. "Gods, Xena, I told you you'd never hurt me. But always believe me. This is the best torture you've ever conducted."
Xena smiled, burying her face in Gabrielle's shoulder and taking a deep breath of the bard's sun-kissed fragrant hair. Below, her fingers found the bard's clit and it was barely a touch, but Xena found herself knocked aside by the violent reaction of Gabrielle's hips. "Hey!"
"Then stop teasing me," pleaded Gabrielle. She rolled over and kissed Xena.
"All right," replied Xena, who followed that with a stroke of a finger deep into Gabrielle's center. A flood of warmth eased her way, as, at the same moment, the bard found her release and convulsed around the warrior's fingers. Gabrielle's scream was caught in Xena's mouth, and the older woman's ears rang with the echo even before the sound finished coming from the bard. "Gods, you are loud."
Gabrielle was a bit sheepish as she focused her eyes on Xena's face. "I'm sorry."
"Were you this loud on your wedding night?" asked Xena tentatively. Suddenly, she felt like she was competing with the dead Perdicas, which was absurd, but even in just the last candlemark, Gabrielle had convinced her to go with her feelings. The results were often very rewarding.
Gabrielle shook her head. "I don't think so. I was too nervous." She looked at Xena. "With you, on the other hand, I feel anything but nervous." She pushed Xena onto her back and kissed her way down to the peak of a breast.
Xena threw her head back, reveling in the pull that the bard's suckling caused not in her breasts, but in her stomach and lower. "Gabrielle," she sighed.
"Say it again," whispered the bard, moving to the other breast. "Call me, Xena."
"Gabrielle," she sighed again.
Gabrielle and Xena fell asleep cradled in each other's arms. Xena felt soft as she drifted into a peaceful sleep. But it wasn't scary. Gabrielle had shown her so much, and tonight had only proven that the warrior woman could be both warrior and woman. She looked into Gabrielle's sleeping face and felt tears pricking at her eyes. I love you, Gabrielle. Even Marcus couldn't make me feel both at the same time.
She knew then, that that realization must have been with her all the time. That's why Gabrielle so easily replaced Marcus in her daydreams. She kissed the bard's shoulder and fell asleep surrounded by the smells of their lovemaking and Gabrielle's heart beating next to her ear.
Gabrielle awakened the next morning to find Xena leaning over her, dressed in her leathers. She smiled at the soft look in the warrior's eyes before the sun was blocked out and they were nose to nose. The warrior's lips brushed over her own. Gabrielle sighed and murmured, "Mmm, that's a nice way to wake up. Much better than a fish in the face." Xena laughed.
"I did make breakfast this morning," commented Xena as she trailed kisses over Gabrielle's breasts, throat and stomach.
"Well," said Gabrielle. "If I have to die, this is definitely the way to go."