Capitolul 35:Face to face

Ares POV

My son! I can't really tell for how long I had stood still, watching him sleep, but I do know that I was entranced by the continuous movement of his chest, rising and falling, by the twitch of his little fingers, by those sweet sounds he made every now and then...

I almost couldn't believe that it was true, that he was real and that he was Xena's son…and mine. A child of our own just like I had always wanted. He was indeed a miracle.

How could you not love someone so small and defenseless? From the first moment that I laid my eyes on him I knew that I would move mountains for him if necessary.

Now I could also understand Xena far better in her stubbornness to protect her daughter at any cost and I was sure that she would do the same for Adam too. I saw it in her eyes, she loved him just as much as she loved Eve.

Xena…I redirected my gaze to her. The bed was really near because of the small room and her face was on my side and I could see her perfectly. Her perfect velvety face...her long dark eyelashes….Gods I loved that woman so much! The intensity of my feelings for her still surprises me to this day!

And then I saw it...a tear gliding down her perfect cheek. Was she awake? I thought that she had fallen asleep because she was more than tired, I could see it clearly on her features.

I bent down and extended my hand to her face wiping the tear from her visage. The moment I touched her, electricity spread through my body and that very instant her palm covered my hand squeezing it.

"Why are you awake? You should be resting!"

And then her clear blue eyes opened and I remained in shock for a moment. The unspoken words I saw in her eyes had me hypnotized!...I genuinely thought I would never get to see that warm and lovely expression in her eyes when it came to me. I was always used with receiving only hate and anger in return but not now.

"Ares..."

As always, her hot breath on my face when she spoke in that husky tone...ohh boy she made me crazy.

She got up from her lying form but my fingers on her luscious lips stopped her from speaking any further...I didn't want to hear her say how wrong that was, ending everything by having another fight so I pretended that she didn't say anything at all.

"Shhh...don't say anything. Go to sleep...tomorrow will be a long day."

With that, I laid down behind her, careful to not fall out of the tiny bed and I pulled her next to me, her head resting on my chest now. I was taken aback by the fact that she didn't refuse me this time. She just settled herself more comfortably in my arms and I felt her after some more minutes drifting to sleep.

I began caressing her silky hair till I fell asleep myself, but much later, wanting to prolong this moment as far as I could.

The chilly air in the room woke me up just to find an empty space next to me but her place was still warm just enough to indicate me that it wasn't long since she had left. I looked at Adam but he appeared to be deep in sleep.

Where could she be? And why leave in the middle of the night?

The door cracked open and I could perfectly distinguish her pace before I saw her.

"Xena, where were you? Everything alright?"

"Come...we need to leave."

She began to pack all our things up and then I took her arm and turned her to face me.

"What happened?" I asked one more time and I was amazed that that was all it took to make her tell me.

"I woke up to feed Adam and after that I looked on the window and I saw strange people so I went to check them up. It turns out that were Athena's minions. We need to leave… now."

"But why send someone else, why didn't she come by herself?"

"I put the pinch on one of them but all I could find out was that their task was to check upon us, nothing else so I don't know."

I helped her pack up and then I took all our things and Xena took Adam in her arms and we got out.

Once we were in the barn, we saddled the horses.

"Can you fasten Adam for me on my back?" She asked.

"Sure. He's still sleeping."

"I hope for much more than 2 or 3 hours."

"Ok…he is good now."

We mounted the horses and took off.

For the following hours we didn't speak much and we made stops only to eat and feed Adam till twilight came and then we took a break in a clearing for the night that was fast approaching us.

"I will go fill this skins because are empty." I said to her dismounting my horse and taking the skins from her saddle on Argo.

"Ok…I'll start a fire."

The stream was not far but I didn't want them alone knowing that Athena was on our trail. I was well aware that Xena was more than capable to take care of herself and our son but that need to protect them was stronger than anything so I made sure to make my trip really short.

When I came back though, surprise surprise! Athena was already there…!