Chapter 17: Unexpected Twist

One moon had waxed and waned since the entwining of Ares' and Xena's hearts. Ares seamlessly integrated himself into Xena's daily life. His visits to her quaint cottage became a regular routine, a waltz of shared moments and stolen glances. The cozy warmth of their connection mirrored the flickering flames in the fireplace, drawing them together. Gabrielle became accustomed to their wrapped embraces. Daily, she greeted them nonchalantly after returning from work. Ares' teasing banter evolved into a comforting melody, in which she looked forward to.

~XA~

Xena returned home early in pain. As she was leading her hiking expedition today, a mishap unfolded. One of the participants stumbled over a protruding rock. Rushing to offer assistance, Xena extended her hand to help the woman up. However, in an unforeseen turn of events, the hiker unintentionally put extra weight on Xena's outstretched hand, causing an awkward twist to Xena's left ankle, which became wedged behind a nearby rock. This caused the outing to be canceled early.

She limped into her house. She really didn't have time to examine her injury fully, more concerned with leading everyone back to the starting point safely. As she sat on the couch, she winced while taking off her boot. Slowly, she rolled the sock off. Her ankle was completely swollen and very painful. Using the arm of the couch as leverage, she pulled herself up, placing all of her weight onto her right foot and hopped to the freezer. There was an icepack in there and now she desperately needed to find it.

After finding the blasted ice pack at the bottom of the freezer, she hopped back to the couch. Wincing, she lifted her leg and placed it on the couch pillows. Carefully, she leaned forward and gently sat the icepack on her ankle. Once the weight of the icepack made contact with her swollen ankle, pain shot through her body, causing her to cry out. She threw her head back panting. Maybe her ankle was in far worse condition than she had examined. She looked at the clock, 4:00pm. Gabrielle was off and would be walking in at any moment. She sighed, disappointed she let this happen to herself. The woman that fell was a bigger lady and she knew she should have braced her footing more firmly before attempting to pull her big ass up. Looking through the open windows from the couch, Xena saw Gabrielle get out of the car. She prepared herself, knowing that Gabrielle was going to give her an earful.

"Hey Xena and Ares," she casually greeted on her way to her room to run her bath water. Xena lowly laughed through the pain.

"It's just me, Gabrielle." Gabrielle immediately stopped in her tracks. She could tell something was wrong by the sound of Xena's voice.

"Xena are you okay?" she asked on her way back to the front room. When she made her way around the couch, she dropped everything she was holding, phone included. She covered her mouth and went to Xena, kneeling on the floor next to her.

"By the gods, what happened?" Gabrielle inquired while her face showed deep concern. She moved down to touch Xena's ankle when Xena's firm grip stopped her.

"Don't," was all she said.

"How did this happen?" giving a visual inspection. Now her ankle was swollen and purple.

"One of the participants fell while we were going up a hill. I tried to help her up and my foot got caught behind a rock."

"I'm calling an ambulance to take you to the ER," Gabrielle announced as she picked her phone up from the floor.

"Gabrielle now is not the time to overreact. I'm fine. I just need to rest it today and I'll be back doing back flips tomorrow." Xena lamely tried to convince. She hated going to the hospital.

"Has Ares seen this?" Gabrielle inquired in her motherly tone. Xena put her head down, looking off. Gabrielle had her answer. Xena shook her head, realizing there was no convincing Gabrielle against calling 911. Mentally preparing herself for an impending trip to the hospital, she braced for the possibility of spending the rest of her time there.

Both women heard the siren nearing and Gabrielle walked to the door waiting for their arrival. As they pulled up, she flagged them down, letting them know about Xena's condition before they stepped inside. The EMT carefully placed Xena onto the bed and rolled her into the ambulance truck. Gabrielle jumped inside too, and they headed to their nearest hospital, which was about a 40-minute drive.

~XA~

Xena felt much better once her I.V. was started. Morphine slowly dripped, taking her pain away and making her feel light as a feather. Gabrielle sat at her bedside, waiting for the doctor. There was a knock at the door and a nurse entered.

"Hi Xena, I'll be your nurse for this evening. The doctor has ordered an x-ray. Is there any possibility you could be pregnant?"

"No," she answered with her eyes closed. Gabrielle immediately turned her face towards Xena's. She whispered in her ear saying...

"Now Xena, you and Ares have been together alot lately and..."

"I said NO," Xena cut her off, raising her voice. She gave Gabrielle an annoyed frown. That was the hardest part. Being around Ares and not having sex with him every time he was around her. She longed for his touch when he was near her. She'd been the one to tell him that they weren't going to have sex right now and she was starting to regret that decision. She was like a bee, and he was fresh honey. So many times, they had been so close, and Ares stopped them every time before it happened. She appreciated his respect for her choices, recognizing that this might be more challenging for him than it was for her. Nevertheless, it was a decision she intended to maintain for the time being. She was sincere when expressing her desire for them to establish a foundation of friendship first.

"Okay," Gabrielle held her hands up in front of her chest, not truly believing Xena's answer. When the nurse left, Gabrielle slipped out the door behind her and pulled her down the hallway where she knew for sure Xena couldn't hear her.

"Hey, whatever reason it was that you asked Xena if she was pregnant, could you do it anyway? She does have a significant other that she spends all her time with, if you catch my drift." The nurse smiled at her lightly.

"You're a good friend. I hope to one day have a friend like you." The nurse touched her shoulder lightly, giving it a light squeeze and walked away. Gabrielle walked to the elevator, heading to the first floor, to grab some snacks.

~XA~

Ares opened a portal to locate her presence. He was fresh off of work and couldn't wait to see his princess. His face frowned once the portal became clearer. A hospital? Why was she in the hospital and why didn't her or blondie call me?Pissed off, he sped to the hospital. He walked towards the entrance with a frown. Once he entered, he was taken back at the unpleasant smell he wasn't accustomed to. Briskly, Ares approached the front desk in the unfriendliest manner.

"Tell me where Xena is now," he growled in a low angry voice, about to put his hands around the collar of the worker's shirt, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Ares! Thank the gods you're here." Gabrielle casually walked up to him while eating her bag of chips. She hadn't eaten dinner yet and hoped she would find some actual food soon. Ares experienced a surge of panic, uncertain about what to anticipate. She grabbed his hand pulling him with her. Once they were on the elevator, he snatched his hand from hers. She laughed inwardly. Casually she told him,

"We're waiting on the results for Xena's pregnancy test." Ares stopped the elevator with a wave of his hand.

"Come again, blondie?" he asked, facing her with the most serious expression.

"Tell me everything right now and you better not forget a detail," he threatened. She tensed. She wanted to believe that he wouldn't hurt her but with his temper, she was never really sure, especially since Xena wasn't around.

"She hurt her ankle at work today, trying to help one of the participants that fell. It looks pretty bad too. It's all swollen and purple. She can't put any pressure on it. The doctor wants to do an x-ray, but we need to make sure she isn't pregnant first."

"I can guarantee you that she isn't," stressing the word guarantee. The thought annoyed him.

"Xena seemed pretty confident too, but we just need to make sure since the x-ray would do damage if she were." With a wave of his hand, the elevator began to move again. Gabrielle hoped that was a sign that he was satisfied with her answer. She walked into Xena's room first. The lights were off, and Xena's head dangled to the side. She was sleeping. Her leg was propped up by a stack of pillows. Gabrielle took the seat next to her bed. Ares walked in next and tapped Gabrielle on the shoulder, making her get up. Gabrielle huffed and then faced him holding her hand out.

"And what could you possibly want?" he asked, slightly irritated with her.

"Let me use your car. I'm starving. We haven't eaten dinner yet and there are only snacks here." He reluctantly handed her the keys and some money.

"Bring her back something too. And blondie, if you scratch my car, you're dead." She snatched the keys and money out of his hand and turned to leave just as the nurse was coming back into the room.

"I assume you are the significant other?"

"Yea, what of it?"

"No need to be nasty about it," she noisily set down the clipboard, waking Xena up, "I just needed to know who you were before I went over her test results with her." Just then, Xena's hoarse voice captured his attention.

"Ares?" He immediately turned her way and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips. The nurse was taken back. He had totally changed from an angry lion to a gentle puppy at the sound of her voice.

"Xena, all your test results came back negative. I'm going to take you to x-ray now. Sir, I need you to stay here, and we'll bring her back once we're done." Ares was just about to protest when he felt her gentle hand squeeze. Very unwillingly he shook his head in agreement.

~XA~

Gabrielle returned with their food just as the doctor was about to give her the diagnosis. They found out Xena's ankle was moderately fractured, and she would need to stay off it for 10 weeks. They wrapped her leg in a cast and gave her the discharge papers. Ares helped a reluctant Xena into a wheelchair and the trio headed to his car.

Once they arrived back at their cottage, it was well after midnight. Ares was tired of doing things the mortal way, so he zapped him and Xena to her room, while Gabrielle was still getting out of the car. Softly as he could, he placed Xena on her bed and stacked pillows underneath her ankle. He placed her medications on the nightstand next to her bed and materialized a pitcher of water and a glass. Xena was still slightly out of it due to the strong pain medications. Ares was about to leave when he heard her stirring. He sat down on the other side of her bed. Her hand slowly crept towards him. He grabbed it and placed a kiss on the back.

"Stay," she drowsily stated. Ares snapped his fingers, changing them both into their sleep clothes. Gabrielle was about to turn Xena's doorknob but decided to knock first. Ares answered the door, shirtless.

"I wanted to make sure Xena was okay before I went to sleep."

"She's fine," he irritably responded and tried to immediately close the door, but she stopped him.

"Can I at least see her?" His possessiveness was starting to irk her. They'd barely been together a month and he was already acting like he owned her. He stepped aside, letting her enter. She went to her bedside just to make sure everything was in order. She saw her meds were laid out, water available, foot was propped, and she looked comfortable under the covers. She rubbed her face and whispered to her,

"Call me if you need anything. See you in the morning." She kissed her forehead and left the room without looking in his direction.

~XA~

Pain surged through her body waking her up. She groaned. Her hospital medications were wearing off and the pain was rearing its nasty head. Ares felt her stirring and immediately tended to her. He poured a glass of water and held her head up so she could drink.

"There, there my sweet. Here, take these and everything will be just fine." He swiftly placed her pills into his hands, hating to see her in pain. He knew he could heal her, but she would never let him. He gave her the medications and water, hoping they would kick in soon. She drifted back off to Morpheus' realm.

There was a knock at the door, waking Xena out of her sleep. She slowly tried to open her eyes, but the bright sun shining through the window burned them.

"Ares, can you close the curtains and let Gabrielle in, she's probably worried to death." He rolled his eyes at the sound of her name. She had done nothing, yet she was annoying him like she did in their ancient days. He opened the door and walked away without looking her way. Gabrielle didn't acknowledge him either, walking straight to Xena's bedside. Turning to Ares, she asked..

"When was the last time she had her medication? The doctor said…"

"… I know what he said, I was there too, remember?"

"Aresss," came Xena's strained voice. She sighed, tired of their bickering. Ares had been on edge ever since he'd seen her in the hospital. Trying to limit their interactions, she spoke.

"I'm okay. I took my medicine about 10 minutes ago. I could use some of your breakfast though." She smiled weakly.

"Coming right up." Smiling, Gabrielle left the room, closing the door behind her.

~XA~

Ares slowly crawled in her bed, careful enough not to cause her any additional pain. He grabbed her hand and began to speak.

"Xe, I've been thinking."

"What, you can think?" she playfully questioned. He smiled lightly at her response.

"I think you should quit your job and come work with me. I could really use another trainer as it's only me right now. Some members have asked if there was a woman trainer available. You're the only person I trust with my members without me around. You don't have to give me an answer now, but just think about it. I promise I won't smother you at work."

"Ares. You know, they say it's bad when couples work together because they quickly get tired of each other."

"No Xe, it wouldn't be like that with us. I'll give you plenty of space. You wouldn't even know I was there." Ares gave her the most pleading look his brown eyes could conjure.

"Luckily, I have 10 weeks to decide," she grimaced.