Xena couldn't sleep. She walked away from the campsite to keep from disturbing Gabrielle. How realistic was it really to think Ares wouldn't be able to figure out that the baby was his and how were she and Hercules going to collaborate on a story when they were miles apart? She had to figure something out though. She couldn't risk Ares' influence corrupting another one of her kids.
She could feel Ares' presence. It was both a blessing and a curse. She could also tell he was standing directly behind her. "I can tell you're there."
"I'm counting on it," he whispered seductively. She shuddered as he started to nibble her ear, but then she came to her senses and jerked away.
He fully materialized. "You came to me once on the farm and I know you liked it. Now try me as a god and see if you don't love it."
She smiled bitterly, "You just don't get it. You never have and you never will."
"Oh, I get it," Ares told her, having already lost patience with her. "You love your little games. You like to give me a little taste and then jerk the rug from under my feet. Do you know how many women would jump at the chance I give you time after time?"
"Good! Go show them your godhood and leave me alone!"
He grabbed her wrists and pushed her against a tree. "You are the most infuriating woman in the history of the world!"
She flipped over him and the match was on. There was a flurry of kicks and hits until they were angrily rolling around on the forest floor. Ares brought it to a stop when he said with a cocky grin, "If you won't make love to me, this is the next best thing, but I've always thought our fights were our own special brand of love-making."
She sat up with a scoff. "You just never give up, do you?" The positions put Ares eye level with Xena's abdomen and he saw the slight bulge that would have been unnoticeable if he hadn't known Xena's body so well. "You're pregnant," he said, sitting up with intense interest.
"As a matter of fact, I am, but before you go getting any ideas, I've had my cycle since we were together. You're not the father. Thank the gods!"
He watched her with a somewhat bemused expression. "Is that so?"
"If you were, I would make sure this child never saw the light of day."
"I don't believe you. You would never kill a child before you were sure that it was evil, especially your own."
She laughed derisively, "But it would be an instrument of evil if not naturally then you would make sure it happened. You forget I saw what you did to my daughter."
"Not with the Eve thing again. If I'm not the father, then who is?"
"That's not really any of your business, is it?"
He traced the lines on her neck with his hands before putting her in a chokehold. "Then I'm making it my business. Who is it?"
"Hercules," she said, knowing full well the effect the name would have on him.
He let go of her, looking angrier than she had seen him in a long time. "Hercules?" He was pure white fury as he started burning the surrounding trees and wildlife with bolt after bolt of lightening. "Hercules!" Then he told her with deadly calm, "You had better be telling me the truth or you'll have my half brother's death on your hands for nothing."
He disappeared without waiting for a response from her. Xena knew Hercules could take care of himself. She just hoped that he could also convince Ares that he was the father of a baby he didn't even know about.