It was a matter of time; of that he was certain.

Although, the time was dragging on, more than he initially expected.

He thought that she'd finally break, fall into one of the traps he set for her — naturally, he made sure to act incognito this time — but no matter how cleverly arranged a situation, she still managed to keep her rage at bay, somehow — how the Tartarus did she do that? He would've lost his temper most of those times.

All in all, those tricks were pointless. He had to do better than that.

He needed something else, something that would fire her up so much she wouldn't be able to hold back this time.

He needed to find her weakness. Something she cared about, that made her vulnerable, some little spot he could stab and get a serious reaction out of her, for once.

Then, it dawned on him.

A family. Mortals tended to have strong family bonds. And she was still young, her parents were likely still alive.

Surely, if something were to happen to them, she wouldn't just stand by.

Or, to the entire village, for that matter. Or, just to her family, but something special, something that would get her — significantly mad.

Oh, this was good.

Now, he just needed to play it in a way that would under no circumstances link him to any of it. She couldn't trace it back to him, it would've caused a considerable setback in the progress he made with her so far.

#

He thought he would hit the roof.

Because, for fuck's sake — what were the chances, really?

What were the chances, that — just when he was coming up with a plan, just when he did his research and found out she only had one family member left — a mother in Amphipolis — what were the chance that, right that very moment, a messenger would reach Xena, with the news of her mother being on her deathbed?

And, since her Amphipolis was a day's ride away from where she currently stayed, and she was already on her way there, it didn't give him much time to come up with anything that would make sense — especially now that he was pissed off — nah, he needed to think of something else.

And, with that being stated — instead of devising a new plan, without thinking where he was going, he found himself standing in the middle of the road to Amphipolis, face to face with her horse.

"Need a ride somewhere?" she asked, squinting against the sun, making him chuckle in response.

"Actually, I was about to offer you a ride," he said, just to say something, without thinking what he was saying – what the fuck was going on with him?

She frowned, then pulled on the reigns, about to ride off. "It's not a good time, I'm kinda busy."

He creased his forehead, disoriented, and realized she misunderstood. "A ride, to wherever it is you're going," he said, and she just ignored him and rode away. Gods, this woman was infuriating.

Well, he wasn't going to run after her.

With a snap of his fingers, he was on the back of a horse of his own, side by side with her.

She threw him a glance, her eyes narrowing. "Do you make a habit of offering a ride to people who already have a ride, or is this a special offer?"

"Can't I just wanna be a nice guy once in a while?"

"You're up to something," she said, her voice flat, devoid of emotion. "Whatever it is, give it up 'cause I'm really not in the mood right now."

"Trust me — I've noticed."

"Doesn't seem like you did," she said coldly, not looking at him. "Don't you have better things to do, anyway?"

"Better than pissing you off? Are you kidding?"

She pressed her lids shut for a moment, a shade of a brief little smile crossing her face. "Has anybody ever told you what a pain in the ass you can be?"

"Those who did, didn't live to tell the story, that's for sure."

"Well, you should've taken some time to reflect on the wisdom of their words."

"Sadly, I don't have that much time on my hands."

"No wonder, if you spend it horse-riding across the countryside…" she went on with her sarcasm, making him laugh. He loved when she made fun of him; there was something about it, some warmth to it, that made him feel — made him laugh in a way he never did.

"Still connecting the dots?" she asked after a while, making him laugh again.

He bit his tongue, not to say what some sudden rush of emotion almost had him say.

But, well, it was the truth; he loved being with her.

Well, not loved.

Liked.

Enjoyed.

Either way, he wasn't going to tell her things like that — what the fuck was even wrong with him?

"I'm going back home," her tired voice snapped him out of his reflections. "My mother's sick."

"I'll give you a lift."

"I'm good."

"So, you're saying — it's just casual sex, you're not introducing me to your family."

"You got it right," she said, and, seeing the grin take over the whole of her face, he felt himself smile, too.

"Well then, I'm done talking to you till you start taking me seriously," he said mockingly, and watched her for another moment, as she chuckled, rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Then, with a snap of his fingers, he was gone.

He went home; reappeared on his throne in the Halls of War, and wondered, why the hell did he want to go back there so badly?

Bloodshed; that was what he needed to set his mind straight.

And women.

Maybe he just needed to fuck someone else to clear his mind off her. A little orgy; that should help.

#

It did help.

For a day; and not even a whole one.

He couldn't sleep; took himself to Sparta, walked around the barracks, planning how to best regroup the regiments with a view of his next step towards Athens.

Now was the moment to act fast, while Thebes and Corinth were still recovering from how he whooped their asses the last time. If he really put his time and mind to it now, he was going to walk over them and straight to Athens.

Athena was delusional; yes, Athenian navy was something to respect, but the truth was, when on land, Athenians were no match for Spartans. It was only Thebes, Corinth and Argos that got in his way last time, saving his sister's sorry ass.

If he acted fast now, she wasn't going to be that lucky this time.

Actually, this was what he should be focusing on right now, not getting sidetracked with that damned—

He snapped a portal open before he could finish the thought.

She was in a bedroom, unhooking her scabbard, throwing it on the bed.

This! This was what he needed for this campaign — a strong leader — a brilliant commander, whose name covered the enemy's flesh in goosebumps, the sight of whom paralyzed them — and gods, she was born for this. And made everyone else pale in comparison. Even his best commanders were an abyss away from her when it came to — well, pretty much everything.

First, they'd take Greece; Corinth, Thebes, Athens, then Macedonia… Egypt… Persia first, then Egypt… with her at the head of his army, they'd be unstoppable.

Exhaling, he snapped the portal close and clenched his fists, the static running through him head to toes. Damn her and her — fucking redemption or whatever other insanity she suffered from. Really — sometimes, he just wanted to grab her and — and he knew he shouldn't act on an impulse and risk what he gained with her so far, but — gods, his patience was wearing thin.

But maybe it wasn't all lost.

As long as her mother was still alive, it still gave him time to cook something up.

Didn't have to be big. A minor warlord with a little army would do, and not even raise suspicions — after all, there wasn't really a reason why someone of the sort couldn't just stumble upon a random village like Amphipolis.

It was life, those things happened.