Chapter 9:The news

Xena POV

The first thing I felt when I finally woke up was the overly comfortable bed where I was supposedly lying, and which, according to the perfume was unmistakably his.

Seconds later, as I opened my eyes, I quickly realized that I was still there, in his bedchamber, so my first thought was that maybe, just maybe it was all a dream….But no….the instant my gaze connected with Gabrielle's, my theory was brutally shattered to pieces….It was all very much true….

"Xena..! Thank the Gods! I was so worried…." My friend's concerned voice literally grazed my eardrums, and before I knew it, I was being hugged, kissed and caressed at the same time.

"Ok….I got the idea…." I murmured, gently pushing my friend aside. I was visibly still in a lot of pain. "Where's Eve?" I added, looking around, anxious to see my daughter.

"She's alright." Gabrielle reassured, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

One tiny step aside, was all it took for her to show me a picture which would have certainly caused me a blackout if I hadn't been lied down. I still had to blink a few times to make sure that I was not seeing things.

Seated on a sofa, there was Ares, rocking my baby to sleep….I wasn't sure if I was supposed to yell or to be surprised given the fact that but hours before he was so close to hurting her….

My teeth instantly clenched while trying to say something, and I was right about to start screaming at him everything I had on my mind, when , as if he could smell my intentions from afar, he carefully placed Evie in her crib, a few feet away from the sofa.

Aware that we needed some space, Gabrielle simply left the room, without adding one more word.

"Are you out of your freaking mind, Ares? Are you mentally instable? One minute you're putting my daughter at risk and the other you're watching over her ?"

"That's not what I meant, sorry. " He mumbled the apology, leaving me completely awe stricken for the next couple of seconds.

I got up to leave, but suddenly a new wave of intense pain building inside my belly, kept me pinned to that bed.

"Are you ok ?" Ares inquired, closing in the distance between us…

"I don't know….I don't know what's wrong with me….There's this unbelievable pain…." I managed to answer, instinctively covering my abdomen with both of my hands.

He suddenly looked serious and extremely worried.

"Is it that bad?!" I found myself asking, my eyes widening in shock at the sight of his concerned expression.

He didn't answer, he just brushed my cheek with the back of his hand.

"Will you spit it out already? Am I dying or anything?"

"No, you're not dying….It's not like I'd allow you to die, anyway…." he stressed with a grin.

I couldn't help rolling my eyes at his last line.

"You're pregnant."

His tone was calm but I could clearly read the terror flickering on the surface of his eyes.

I was speechless….

"What? !That 's impossible...impossible." I barely managed to mumble, doing the maths, trying to discover who the father might have been…the list was quite limited though….

I got up from the bed and I began pacing around trying to figure this out.

"If you are struggling to find out who the father is, don't try too hard…."

I stared at him in awe, the shock still present in every fiber of my being.

How could I be pregnant? There was no one in my life….not recently anyway…

"What do you mean?" I anxiously asked, way before I could stop the words from coming out. How could he know?

"I know because I'm a God, ok? And because I'm the father…"

"What?! Are you daydreaming right now? How could you be the father, Ares?" I snapped at him, rolling my eyes at his ludicrous statement.

"I can explain, but you need to calm down first. " he said while trying to touch my arm, but I took a step back.

My head was hurting so bad, and it was literally spinning while searching for a valid explanation…Deep down, my mind was stubbornly refusing to accept reality….But I somehow knew it was true…

"Calm down? How could I calm down?!"

"Xena…"

"How..?When?..Why?"

With each word bursting out from my throat I felt more and more outraged by that poorly veiled serenity and happiness that was playing on the surface of his eyes.

I suddenly couldn't think about the pain anymore, I just reacted according to that frustration engulfing me and I punched him full force in the stomach. I could tell that he did see it coming but he didn't do anything, he just let me hit him again and again till I felt myself growing tired and the pain became once again, humanly unbearable.

During my last blow, probably noticing my pained expression, he simply and effortlessly gripped my arm and, pulling my into his embrace, he just whispered against my lips, his own eyes troubled of what he was witnessing….

"Ok..I think that's enough…"

I looked him furiously in the eyes but I didn't find what I expected…that happiness that I saw before was no more..he was worried and sad.

"I know that the pain is still there….it's normal."

I rapidly withdrew my hand from his grip and put some distance between us before I added spitefully.

"Normal? You are unbelievable. Is this your standard of normality? Well would you mind enlightening me what is normal about an unexpected pregnancy? And how can you be the father of my child?"

"Well..it could have been normal if you would have given me a chance."

"A chance? Are you even listening to yourself? I said loud and clear that I would never go back to you..being your little warrior queen and all that crap…"

"I wasn't talking about that…I tried Xena..really tried to be sincere.."

"Sincere? Are you kidding me? The concept is unknown to you!"

"Would you let me finish?"

His patience was slipping away too.

"As I said..I tried..and as always, you refused me..You are very good at it you know so the idea of….giving you that dream seemed like the best option at the moment…"

"What does that nightmare has to do with it….?"

"Initially it was only a dream but you were very persistent in your idea to keep me out of your life so I uh….kinda turned it real….and welll…here we are…."

"What?"

"I'm not saying I did a good thing….on the contrary….well it wasn't bad, you have to admit it, you weer obviously enjoying yourself…."

A rough punch in the nose sent him to the ground in no time….

"You filthy Bastard.. You are so lucky I don't have my sword with me. I would have ripped that hart out of your chest! You raped me?!"

"Oh no no no! You're not doing this. You're not the victim here….You liked it! That was no rape Baby, that's making love. There's a difference you know….?"

"I didn't agree to that…!"

"You did actually….in the dream….you were the one who pulled me down the grass…."

"I thought I was dreaming!"

"Well…you know what they say….Be careful what you wish for….or dream about or whatever….."

"Gods I hate you!"

"You can hate me all you want. I'm kinda used to it anyway….It still doesn't change anything….We're gonna have a child together….Plus….is it that hard to admit that you want me too?"

I would have replied, I would have….but then again there was no time, cause before I could utter a thing, he was all over me, pulling me into his tight embrace again, parting my lips with his tongue, his fingers clenching into my hair to keep me put….

My mind was screaming so hard that it was wrong to react like that, that he was bad for me, that I was angry at him, that the last thing I needed to do was to kiss him back….it was useless…it was as if my body and my mind were speaking a totally different language…..I soon found myself returning the kiss…

"Xena what are you doing?" Gabrielle's voice made sure to bring me back to reality and the instant I heard it I backed out from his embrace as if it never even happened.