Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay! I just haven't felt inspired for this story since I don't have that many reviews for it yet! Hopefully that changes soon!

Armand stared as the couple stood on the side of the road and kissed with a passion that almost made him envious. He hadn't known Joxer long and wasn't really that close with him, but Armand knew when to not disturb a man and his lady.

Xena had sent him looking for Joxer as she had seen to Gabrielle. Armand had seen the tears traveling down Gabrielle's face and had concluded that it was best if he went to look for Joxer.

Armand watched as the strange woman he had met briefly kissed Joxer as if she had waited years to kiss him. Yearning clearly displayed as the kiss grew with passion. Still he didn't leave as so much as hide. He may not have been a close friend of Joxer's…but Armand became just as suspicious of Elaine as Gabrielle had.

What did this woman see in Joxer?

Joxer pulled away slowly from Elaine's kiss and kept his eyes closed as he continued to reel from the current of emotions the kiss had caused him.

Elaine slowly opened her eyes to find him like this, a smile slowly spreading across her lips.

Joxer was an incredible loving soul. Despite everything she knew she couldn't let Joxer just walk away from Xena and Gabrielle. After all, they had helped him survive in the dangerous world they lived in. They were still his friends. Just not great friends. But friends nonetheless.

"I know you don't want to hear this...but...no matter what you think...they're still your friends."

Joxer's eyes dulled a moment as the words sank in. Slowly though he nodded his head in agreement.

Elaine kissed him once more and whispered against his lips, "I'll be with you the whole time."

Again Joxer lost himself in the kiss. A kiss that left him feeling desired, needed, and even loved.

Breaking the kiss took incredible strength on Elaine's part, but she began to pull Joxer back in the direction that they had came. Steadying her own resolve, that she would face Gabrielle and even Xena to be with Joxer. Elaine knew too much for them to try and push her away from him. In the end she would never let that happen. She was there to stay...whether or not they liked it.

Elaine smiled at Joxer and squeezed his hand that she held in her own. Joxer's worried face lightened slightly at the encouraging smile she gave him. Some strange thought entered his brain at her smiling face, he had never felt secure with any woman before...yet Elaine made him instantly feel that since the moment they had met. Not once did he feel inferior or even foolish. Elaine somehow made him feel ok about himself - ok that he felt the way felt.

But as his eyes turned back to the road ahead he could still see Gabrielle's crying and pain filled face in front of his, and a horrible ache in his heart would throb so powerfully that he knew it would remain there for months. Maybe even years.

With a sigh and a squeeze from Elaine's hand again, Joxer resigned himself to facing Gabrielle knowing what he now knew. Loving her had made him into the person he was, and knowing now that she would never love him back - it destroyed him. But the feel of Elaine's hand in his own reminded him that even as his heart was breaking...there was one person that was willing to return his love if he asked it.

Gabrielle held a hand to her chest as the ache within her caused her breathe to come in gasps. Never had she expected or seen this coming. Never had she felt as betrayed than when she looked up from the ground to find dark brown eyes that had always shined so brightly with joy and affection towards her had suddenly become dark as a night sky as hurt and pain reflected back at her from deep inside of him. Throwing her off of Elaine as if his loyalty from years had been flipped like a coin and landing with a decision that Gabrielle knew she couldn't live with. A decision she knew had been altered by a woman that had appeared as mysteriously as the sudden ache in her heart that was burning her from the inside out.

Tears continued to stream down her face even as Amarice comes up beside her and tries to whisper a question of friendship.

Gabrielle nods her head, not having heard what was asked and not caring. Images of just a few days ago enter her mind, almost tormenting her as she revisits them with a completely new perspective.

Joxer. Joxer looking at her so scared as he murmured his admission of love. Joxer's face as she woke up in the cave after having been crucified.

It wasn't a joke...

Unexpectedly and with clarity she realized he...he hadn't been lying. No. Lying was the wrong word. She just never thought that he was really in love with her.

Gabrielle's blue eyes widened as she was shocked at the well...she didn't really know what to call it...the revelation...the idea...no. No. The acknowledgment of his feelings.

It...she felt something in her tingle at the idea. That...that he hadn't just been 'thinking' that he loved her...at least not in that way.

Yet...the way he had looked at her, the pain she had seen reflected in his eyes seemed to wound her more than any physical injury. When she realized it was him that had recklessly pushed her off of Elaine - as she continued to stare into those beautiful soul filled eyes of his - she felt a huge pain in her chest and had been trying to 'massage' the area as if it could relieve the pain that she was in.

But it continued to ache and the pain wasn't lessening...it was increasing with each second that Joxer was gone.

Lowering her head she released the few tears that she argued with herself exactly why she was crying. And when she looked up to find Armand coming back quickly through the city gates...she realized that something was up for Armand to have been sent out after Joxer. Gabrielle hadn't noticed anything as Xena had quickly tried to access if she was injured or not. Then Gabrielle had whispered that Joxer had thrown her off...that was when Xena looked up into her eyes with the same shock that had been in Gabrielle's as she had realized it.

Xena had gone to Amarice and Armand a second later, but the blonde warrior had been to occupied with her own thoughts to listen in on the conversation. The only thing going through her mind were Elaine's words that had wounded Joxer so severely. Words that now seemed to repeat over and over in her head as she remembered the look in Joxer's eyes as Elaine had said them.

"She's not in love with you, and she never will Joxer. She's in love with Xena."

Gabrielle closes her eyes tightly as tears once more fall down her face. Knowing that not saying something to Joxer before had cost her his friendship...and from what she now understood - his love.

And maybe that was the one thing that Gabrielle never epected to lose - and now felt the emptiness within herself.

Author's Note: I really need reviews guys! Someone tell me if this is corny or if they could actually see this coming! I need some INPUT!! INPUT!!! REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!