XVI
Ares had finished checking in with his generals and had decided to see a man about a boat. Not only would Bilka and Hargel need a way to come and go if they chose to visit the neighboring islands' marketplaces but Ares didn't want Xena to have to rely on him to come and go off of the rock either. He knew she had spent some time sailing and knew how to handle ships but he figured a small boat was all they needed to reach the nearby islands. From there passage could be booked back to the mainland. After he had agreed on a price and a delivery time for the boat, Ares headed to a florist's shop to pick up some fresh flowers to take his beautiful fiancee. He could hardly believe that everything had change in the space of only a few days. Not only were he and Xena living together, but she had agreed to be his wife, and she was carrying his children. Which reminded him that he would need to buy a second crib to match the first. He'd put that on tomorrow's agenda, however, because he wanted to get home to Xena.
With a bouquet of fresh purple irises, Ares transported himself through the aether to the presence of Xena's soul signature. When he found her washing the young girl's back with a predatory gleam in her eye, his temper flared. What was she doing with the girl? Ares had been trying to protect the child and here Xena was making advances.
Xena continued to rub the soapy sponge over the girls rounded shoulders but looked guiltily into Ares' chestnut eyes. "Those for me?" she asked.
He nodded, "What can I say? I missed you. Doesn't look like you can say the same, though. Looks like I am easily replaced."
"Astra can you run along? Ares and I need to talk." Xena tossed the sponge into the water.
The girl climbed out quickly, grabbed her towel and scampered out of the room.
"Before you start, I couldn't go through with it. I am love with you and besides, it wasn't you I was trying to replace."
"Blondie," Ares replied.
"No." Xena corrected, "me."
"You?' Confusion creased his brow.
"Come on in, I'll explain." Xena reached for the flowers. He handed them to her. She took a lingering whiff before plucking two blooms from their stems and crumbling them into the water.
Ares stipped out his vest, leathers, and boots and placed his armor near the door before sinking into the warm water with Xena.
"You were looking at her like you could eat her up." Ares said dryly, not sure of why the prospect of Xena with the pretty young girl didn't turn him on. Hell, Xena would have probably gone for a three way if he'd suggested it but he didn't want things to be that way between them.
"I thought I could, but it's not her body I want, not really. It's just a physical manifestation of her youthfulness, her innocence. Things that are fleeting and can't be replaced. Ares do you think I was ever that innocent?"
"Sure you were, but Xena she's been through a lot in the last couple of days, her innocence has been taken."
"Gods Ares, I don't mean her sexual innocence. I mean her blood innocence. There's no longing for battle in her, no longing for violence, no lust for war."
"Ahhh, I see. This is hard for you isn't it? Being out of the mix of things? You think if you were more like her you wouldn't crave those things. That you could be content here in our little paradise."
"I'm beginning to wonder if it's a paradise or a prison. I met Anath today and talking with her made me realize how much I miss being Xena: Warrior Princess. I was envious of you because you still get to. . . while I sit here on my ass. . . don't get me wrong it's wonderful here. . .but. ..
"But you need a way to come and go, I get it, which is why I am having a boat delivered her tomorrow morning. But Xena, let me remind you that if you became a goddess you could come and go as you damn well please."
"Areees.."
"Just saying." Ares picked up the lavender soap and begin making a lather.
"Thank you for the boat, but it's more than that. I've got the itch, you know, the itch to kick some ass."
"So, what, you were trying to piss me off with the girl because you thought it would get a rise out of me?" Ares began to work the lather through her black hair.
"Maybe a little but it was more than that. Anath came on to me and aggressive women have never been my thing but a sweet supple innocent thing like that has always attracted me. But I think it's because I can't remember innocence in myself. It's the most elusive thing on Earth for me."
"Yet you are filled with innocence, ironic, huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"You are carrying our children, Xena. Two clean and innocent souls? Unsoiled by the dirtiness of our world."
"What if I fail as a mother again?"
Ares grabbed a pitcher and dunked it in the water then rinsed Xena's hair. "You've never failed as a mother, Xena."
"Solan, I gave him up and then I lost him. And Eve, Eve became . . . Livia."
Ares turned Xena to face him. "Don't, don't do this to yourself. Don't second-guess the choices you made Xena. You gave Solan up to protect him, as much from yourself as anyone else. That took a tremendous amount of sacrifice. And you didn't do that to Eve," Ares looked down in shame,"I did."
"But you've said yourself, you only brought out what was already lurking beneath the surface. And I know it's true. She fights the darkness just like I do. Do you think I am evil?"
"Gods no, Xena. Enyo, now she's evil, Discord was pretty close but you, you're not evil. You genuinely care about those mortal you save. An evil person wouldn't give a rat's ass."
"Was Daphne evil?" Xena was curious about the red-headed warrior that Anath had mentioned.
"Daphne?" Ares shook his head.
"Yes, your former warrior that helped you defeat the Minoan gods." Xena wondered if she'd be forgotten as easily after she finally left this mortal coil.
"Ahh, Daphne, Daphne wasn't evil. She was gifted. Not like you, mind you, but she was a brilliant tactician. It was her plan that helped me defeat the MInoan pantheon. She taught me a lot about being a warrior. I was a young, inexperienced war god. I wasn't as fast a learner as you."
"See, that's what scares me." Xena shrugged her shoulders in frustration and pulled away from Ares who was trying to massage them.
"Xena, you are not evil. So what, you like to fight. You've been doing it for the greater good for years."
"Have I? What if I've been using that as an excuse? You said it yourself, "a fight is a fight no matter which side you're on."
"That's not true and you know how I know that you are not pure evil."
"How?" she asked, tears were welling up in her eyes.
"Because, you faced down pure evil to bring me back from Hell. Lucifer, Xena, that's pure evil. You. . you are not."
"Did I tell you that I was intimate with him?"
"What? No."
"Yes, when you were mortal. I am the reason he is in Hell, Ares. I am supposed to be the Queen of Hell."
Ares was losing his patience with her. Her raised his voice. "No, you are supposed to be the Queen of Olympus."
And there it was, out in the open. He hadn't given up on that old dream. He was playing pretend here in their litle island oasis as much as she was. He wanted Olympus, he had just convinced himself that he couldn't have both it and Xena.
"I thought you didn't care about that," she charged.
"I don't," he lied. "Okay, it's not so much that I care about it. I mean I can live without it but it is rightfully mine. I am the legitimate heir, the son of Zeus and Hera. And you, you were meant to be queen."
"So you do want to go back?"
"Of course, but I will also be happy here with you and our children."
"But you'd prefer to raise them on Olympus?" She asked for clarification.
"Well, wouldn't you? How have you pictured it? And don't tell me that the fantasies have never crossed your mind."
"Yes, we are on Olympus in my dreams."
"In your dreams are you my queen?"
"Yes," She couldn't lie.
He moved in closer. His lips almost touched hers when he asked, "Are you my immortal queen?"
Xena closed the gap and kissed him fiercely. "Yes," she breathed between kisses, "yes, yes, yes, I am your immortal queen."
"Xena, will you be my immortal queen? Will you marry me? In a forever marriage?"
"Yes, Ares, yes." Ares lifted her up and transported them to his bed on Olympus. Gods be damned! They wouldn't keep him away! None of them could stop him with her at his side!