And he did.
Over the next days, they fell into some delirious frenzy. Sparring and fucking; sometimes, he had a feeling it was all they did, day and night; and gods, she was insatiable and equally skilled at both. That he had to admit, as a lover she was as much one of a kind as she was as a warrior. Not that he would tell her that, but his sex life from all the eons when he was a god paled miserably compared to those two weeks with her.
But it didn't result in what he had expected.
The spell wasn't wearing off; to the contrary — sometimes he'd get hard from just seeing her bite her lip, it was insane — it was as if his desire for her grew stronger with each time he filled her with his seed. He loved to imagine getting her pregnant, and it made him want her even more, to an incomprehensible, mindfucking extent.
It was just like Kyrillos had said, only much worse.
It wasn't that he hadn't had such thoughts before; but now, having those kids around the house, seeing her with the baby in her arms, it started getting a bit obsessive. If she hadn't been milking him of all his seed, he'd be touching himself thinking of her pregnant. Not that it would happen; he knew she watched out for that; not that he would touch the subject with her — no, the whole trying to get her to give him a child ordeal from the past left a sour aftertaste — and she'd still occasionally throw it in his face during an argument, he had to control himself not to lash out at those times.
And he did. Because being with her, waking up with her, it was still worth it. Even if it could come to an end any day now, he didn't care anymore, not about how long it would last, not about ambrosia, his godhood, no, it all somehow faded. They were here now, she was his, it was enough.
For now.
#
Walking out on the porch, Gabrielle couldn't believe it was almost sunset already.
With the two new, very young and very needy additions to the household, the days passed by quickly. Moments like this one, when she could stretch out on the porch and just let go, were starting to be a luxury.
There was always something to do around the house, and the girls were a handful, sick or not. Luckily, there was always someone around the house to keep an eye on them; and so it went, from day to day.
Gabrielle would join Pelagia on a daily basis now; with two other villages in a close neighborhood, there was always something to do health-wise.
It was so good to see Xena so relaxed, glowy and radiant — the effect of the short break from the road life they led for years — though, in all honesty, Gabrielle knew that a big part of the credit for that should be allocated to the copious amount of time Xena spent alone with Ares — and it wasn't just at night. Well, at least they kept their hands to themselves with others around — though, the way he sometimes gazed at Xena — Gabrielle didn't know that a look could make one blush like that.
But most importantly, it was even better to see her fully recovered. Gabrielle had never been as happy to see a swordfight between Xena and Ares as she was the other day when she first caught them sparring; they went on and on, before nonchalantly sneaking off to the barn — to discuss their duel, undoubtedly.
In reality, she was very much aware that Ares played a big role in Xena's overall wellbeing these days, and — as much as Gabrielle would've still traded him for Hercules any time — they did work, Xena and Ares. Not without bitterness, not without moments of doubt and second thoughts, but in the end it worked, somehow; and it was so good to see Xena so at peace. It was also good to see Ares gradually grow into quite a bearable human being by her side; though in all honesty, Kyrillos was making a significant contribution here as well.
Kyrillos. She was right — he adored the girls. Actually, she'd never seen him that happy before. It saddened her to think of the moment they would all need to say their goodbyes.
But not now — right now, at this very moment, life was good — and this life, the quiet country life — Gabrielle reveled in it. It was nice to not have to be on constant alert every hour of the day; she hadn't realized how much she actually missed the feeling. Throughout her life, there had been several instances where was close to settling down; it had never worked out in the end, and so she and Xena had been on the road ever since they met — which wasn't bad, she grew to love it, it was just that — the kind of peace they experienced now, it was exotic, the feeling long forgotten — she couldn't help loving it, basking in it; disturbed only by occasional realization it would have to come to an end one day, eventually, inevitably.
It was hard to believe that over a week had passed already. The family would be back any day now.
Gabrielle sighed; it was heavy to think about parting ways with the kids after so much time together.
Luckily, both girls were fine by now and recovered completely without visible complications, although Melitta had taken her time and gave them a serious scare. It was only just yesterday that her fever dropped.
Gabrielle smiled, remembering how Ares had been at Melitta's bed every night.
It had turned out quite early on, quite accidentally, that he was the only one able to put her to sleep effortlessly. No matter how loud she would cry, as soon as she was in his arms, she would calm down and fall asleep in an instant.
Melitta would often cry during the day when Ares was off working — yes, he had to get a job, to support the growing family, as Gabrielle liked to tease him — and then in the evening everyone would wait for him to go the girls' room and silence the crying for the night.
Naturally, Ares continued to manifest his discontentment with such state of the matters, but Gabrielle started to suspect it was just for a show. The big bad God of War couldn't admit his heart melted at the very sight of the baby girl, but details like that never escaped Gabrielle's attention; neither did the look on Xena's face when she watched Melitta fall asleep on his chest.
Gabrielle remembered the first time she saw it; two or three days after the girls' arrival. She'd just finished working in the garden and was entering the house when the familiar wailing reached her ears. The kids' room door was open, not much, but enough to see who was inside. Gabrielle didn't expect to see Xena there, seeing as she'd avoided the kids since their arrival, busying herself with scouting mostly — and Gabrielle understood — she was heartbroken herself with how Melitta resembled Eve. That was why seeing Xena holding the girl took her off guard for a moment; and that moment was enough to notice that Xena wasn't alone, and it stopped Gabrielle in her tracks for good. There wasn't any reason why she shouldn't have walked in, she just didn't; maybe it was the serene look on Ares' face, his eyes glued to Xena holding the toddler; or maybe the little shade of smile crossing his face when Xena asked him to hold the baby while she made the bed; or maybe just this and everything else in between. Xena turned back to him shocked when the baby suddenly stopped crying.
"How the hell did you do that?"
"I guess women just faint in my arms regardless of age."
"Okay, let's try to put her down. No, you go ahead, just make sure to hold the head, like this… There you go, you're a natural," Xena teased him.
"I don't think she wants to sleep," Ares exhaled as the unhappy whimpers could be heard just mere seconds after.
"Alright, hold her again and we'll sit with her for a while until she's asleep on you."
"I'd rather you be asleep on me…"
"You'd need to let me sleep first…"
"Oh, that, yeah… I knew I was forgetting something."
"Here, recline a bit and put her on your chest, like that… and move your ass so I can sit too."
"Xena, she's drooling on me…"
"Well, now you know how I feel…"
"I don't like that."
"You'll live, you've been through worse than that."
"I preferred when it was just crying."
"Too bad — you're making her smile," Xena said, the smile audible in her own voice.
"We can take her with us — she can be the referee."
"Well, a partial referee is your only chance at winning, so yeah — good thinking."
"Oh yeah? We'll see about that… what? Why are you smiling like that?"
"Nothing, just… you look good together."
"She's asleep."
"You're pretty good at this."
"Oh, I'm good at everything I touch, baby, you should know."
"I know… although, you might wanna exclude hammer from that list."
"You little — you just wait till we're outside…"
Gabrielle bit her lower lip, chuckling at the memory.
It was going to be hard on everyone, letting the girls go.
Maybe except for Pelagia; unlike her husband, she didn't seem to grow too attached to people. Gabrielle beamed, thinking about Kyrillos; it was such a blessing that life put him on their path. She would often hang out with him and the older girl, Agatha, who — despite being the devil child — adored Kyrillos to an extent that could only be rivalled by her sentiments for the God of War himself.
Gabrielle laughed, remembering how Agatha had once displayed displeasure with the fact that Ares would spend so much time with her baby sister and none with her. Gabrielle was then honored with a duty to be the messenger — and she laughed, watching his brows furrow in bewilderment when he asked what he should do, since the older kid didn't need to be held and put to bed like the little one.
"Ares, she's just jealous of her sister and wants your attention; sit with her, talk to her for a bit, that's it."
"Talk? About what?"
"Like, how she is, what she likes, you know. And Ares — try to be nice — at least pretend you are interested."
"Oh, fucking hell… Just when you think things can't get more absurd…"
"You're gonna like her, she's very uhm… spirited! Like, if you and Xena had a daughter, that kinda vibe."
"Now that sounds better."
Gabrielle sometimes wondered, what if.
She sighed, getting up from the porch.
For now — it was time to feed the kids they already had on their hands.
