Stay With Me

The Amazon Village, Corinth, six years after S6E22

Gabrielle could tell Khaled was hanging around outside the door as the council members gathered. They sat in a circle, with Gabrielle at the head. She could hear his footsteps, his tapping on the ground outside. In the weeks it'd taken for the Nation to gather at the village, they had grown closer. She was worried about the bond they were forming. She felt him worming his way inside her heart, the vines were breaking. Her heartbeat tapped against her ribcage.

She lifted her head slightly and addressed the council, "Khaled is a kind man, he has posed no threat to our way of life, he only aids us."

Another queen interjected, "not yet, Gabrielle how do you know he is not a spy for the Romans, or Ares!" She spoke loudly, trying to gain the support of the others. A lot of them nodded.

Gabrielle shook her head, "do

you not trust my judgement?" She said, standing up and walking into the centre of the circle. "Have I not served the Nation for four years now, I have stood before you and given you my all." She paused, taking a deep breath to try and calm her racing heart. "Can you not trust when I say this man means us no harm? That the only thing he wants to give us is love?" She believed what she was saying, and said it with such conviction. She trusted him, it was something about the way he spoke, gentle and calm. Not like any other man she'd ever met.

A few of the women stood, trying to match Gabrielle's tone. They argued for hours, each leaving in turn to think and then returning with a verdict. Khaled stood outside the door with Eve who had come to visit the village. Gabrielle adjourned from the council meeting and left the tent for a few moments. She looked at Eve, holding her and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "How are you?"

Eve smiled, "good. There has been peace in this land for a while now, I can feel it. I am pleased to see it, Gabrielle. You are a wonderful queen."

"I'm glad, but you can be here? There aren't people waiting for you?" Gabrielle replied.

"The word of Eli travels with me wherever I go. They will keep themselves busy in my absence. I can just come and visit my auntie Gabrielle when I want to?" Eve continued, raising an eyebrow and letting Gabrielle go.

"Of course you can, it's nice to you. You look very well Eve," she glanced back to Khaled who was trying not to listen to their conversation. Then hesitated before mentioning Xena, "your mother would be proud."

Eve smiled back flicking her eyes to Khaled too, she leaned in close and whispered, "you haven't told him about my mother yet?"

Gabrielle shook her head, "I will, at the right time. If the council allow him to stay."

Eve nodded, she understood in so much that she understood that the bond between her mother and Gabrielle could never be put into simple terms. They'd raised her together, as their own and since her reform she could see how much they both loved her. She looked up at Khaled and caught one of his dark eyes, "you will promise to protect her," Gabrielle shook her head, "even though she doesn't need it. And never betray her, Gabrielle was a dear friend of my mother's."

Khaled stepped forward, "I promise." He said sincerely, he could sense Gabrielle's ill-ease on the topic and wished her to tell him. He'd been trying to wish her life story out of her but she'd stayed quiet. She hadn't wanted to give her heart to him until he was allowed to stay by the council. She'd been about to roll her eyes but when she heard Khaled utter those words she looked at him seriously. If he'd accepted Eve's word, honestly and sincerely. Then there was nothing left to keep from him, no matter what the council decided.

Varia approached the three of them slowly, her shoulders back and her chest puffed out. She looked like a warrior today. She put her hand lightly on Eve's shoulder and squeezed, "nice to see you again Eve." She said, trying to keep the peace, but really trying to calm the raging tension between them.

Eve smirked in reply, "Varia," acknowledging her without meeting her eyes.

"I'll be inside," Varia replied, clearing her throat as she entered the tent.

"Still stoic as ever," Eve said, the smirk still on her lips. Gabrielle smiled, but her nerves were starting to kick in. She was telling herself that they'd let Khaled stay but she really had no idea what they were going to decide. But it was time she better go back inside, so she bid her farewells to Eve and Khaled and slipped between the folds of material.

She caught the end of Varia's declaration to the council, "I urge you, queens of the amazon tribes, to really consider what you are deciding. Gabrielle has been an excellent queen these past few years and continues to serve us with honour and grace. She is a true leader. We've had our disagreements in the past but I am pleased to say these have been put behind us. I have spent time with Khaled, I assure you, as does Gabrielle, that he wishes us no harm. Allowing him to stay on amazon soil would only be supporting the love he has found with Gabrielle."

Gabrielle walked back into the circle of women, they were all sitting again. Clearly Varia's word meant more than their own in the council room. She had the respect of the queens that Gabrielle wasn't sure she'd ever get. Maybe, in time. If she proved herself. It was a few minutes of painful silence before the council revealed they had decided.

She told Khaled and Eve the news beside the fire after all the deliberations about the rules Khaled had to follow were over. Then she took a sharp rock to her hair and slashed it short to the back of her neck. "It's a new start," she said, "time to start acting like a true queen, like a warrior." The time she had spend tying up her heart was over, she had decided. Moving forward she was to be as Xena had seen her; tough on the outside, protective, strong enough to lead an army, but with a golden heart. She hadn't lost that part of herself, it had been just been buried under a pile of grief. But now she had Khaled, she was going to start telling stories again.