This story is categorized as fan fiction. The characters of Xena, Gabrielle, et al, which have appeared in the series Xena: Warrior Princess, belong to the producers, writers and executives of Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal Television. I claim only to have borrowed them, without intent to profit or infringe these rights, for the purpose of creating this story for enjoyment of the series' fans, of which I count myself one of many.
Additionally, the story below contains references, explicit and implied, of a sexual relationship between two consenting adults of the same sex. If you are not of legal age to read this story, or such material is illegal where you live, or you do not feel comfortable with such content, please refrain from reading this story.
Timeline Notes: After "New Territory" and between episodes "A Comedy of Eros" and "The Furies."
CHAPTER ONE - INTERLUDE IN A SPRING
Gabrielle sat in front on Argo as she and Xena continued their explorations further east. They had been on the road again four days out of Notch. The bard was enjoying the new scenery, and the relative calm they found here in the eastern Greek city-states.
"Look, Xena. Quails." The bard pointed to the small gray-brown birds tottering on their small spindly legs across the path and into the nearby underbrush as Argo's hooves beat a steady rhythm. She laid a hand over Xena's arm wrapped around her waist. "See? Over there."
Xena looked, and then murmured against Gabrielle's ear. "Yes, but there's a more beautiful sight I'd like to uncover at the next spring."
Gabrielle sighed as the warrior's breath aroused her. She felt herself dampen between her thighs, and squirmed. Xena nuzzled her throat just below the bard's ear and turned Argo down a thinner trail with one hand on the reins. With the other she brought her arm up tighter against the bard's breasts which strained against her green top. Gabrielle arched into the contact, the fine hair on Xena's arms arousing her still further.
"My impatient little bard," Xena murmured, kissing Gabrielle's exposed shoulder. "You should be able to scream to your heart's content out here."
Gabrielle blushed. Xena had discovered Gabrielle's one terrible embarrassment: no matter how hard she tried, the bard couldn't be quiet at the moment of release. If Gabrielle didn't scream at least once while Xena was tantalizing her flesh, the warrior tried again, and again, until she was successful. Which had the unerring result of leaving Gabrielle a quivering puddle of sensation when Xena pulled her tight to her body for sleep.
The two women pulled up alongside a small spring, the hot waters steamed in the springtime air. "This is lovely," Gabrielle murmured as Xena lowered her to the ground. If the bard found something else to concentrate on, getting on and off Argo didn't give her stomach fits.
She started to walk toward the water. Xena scooped the bard up and cradled her against her chest while lavishing her face and throat with kisses. The warrior strode to the edge of the spring. Without letting the bard down, Xena skillfully stripped herself and Gabrielle out of their clothes. Heated bare skin mingled and she lowered them both into the hot spring.
Gabrielle sighed at the touch of the warm water on her skin. Xena continued kissing her while massaging the firm muscles of the bard's rear. "Shh," Xena murmured against Gabrielle's mouth. "This should relieve any stiffness from the ride."
She sighed again and laid her head against Xena's chest as the warrior continued the massage up the small of the bard's back and into her shoulders.
"That's good," whispered Xena. She cupped the bard's cheek in her hand and met green eyes. Gabrielle saw the passion, banking like the fires of hot coals. Though her backside finally didn't hurt and the warmth of the water made her sleepy, she put her arms around Xena's neck and kissed the warrior's throat, just below her right ear. The moan that elicited stirred Gabrielle's embers into full-fledged flames.
But Xena's fire was higher. As the warrior guided their bodies to the edge of the spring, Gabrielle noticed that the warrior's hands were already roaming to sensitive places, sensual places, eager to fully stir the bard's passions.
They slid and fit together in the water that didn't seem quite as hot as they were. Xena's hands stroked Gabrielle's breasts, teased nipples then slid her broad palms lower. A hot mouth and rough tongue replaced Xena's hands. Gabrielle was grateful for the warrior's length pinning her against the bank of the spring. Her legs went completely limp and would not have supported her.
When she met Xena's sky blue gaze, she glimpsed the glimmer of conquering triumph. To prove it to herself, Xena then began bringing the bard to ecstasy in earnest. Firm fingers stroked over thighs and penetrated the bard's core. Hot flashes appeared before Gabrielle's eyes and her head fell back.
Xena's mouth blazed another trail over Gabrielle's throat, down her chest, to each breast, then down still further to the apex of her need. Dimly Gabrielle realized she lay against a dry blanket on the shore. Xena's strong arms had lifted her from the water when her tongue first touched Gabrielle's hot center. The bard's hips bucked in response. She squirmed beneath the warrior's ministrations, feeling the pressure build from deep within, spiraling outward in waves.
The warrior against the hot flesh as she dipped her tongue in the liquid seeping from the bard's center, "Gabrielle, come for me."
Xena's husky tenor had always resonated a need for contact within Gabrielle, triggering something warm and comforting even when they talked by firelight in the earliest days of their travels. Now that same silky voice reached deep inside Gabrielle and seized the bard's heart, squeezing it tightly and giving it wholly to the warrior... forever. Gabrielle grasped Xena's head, holding the warrior against herself as the first orgasm crashed over her. The warrior replaced her tongue with a light sworling caress. She claimed Gabrielle's panting mouth with her own and stroked the bard's quivering clitoris.
"Xe -- na," screamed Gabrielle, grateful for the muting effect of the warrior's loving kiss.
Xena stroked Gabrielle's flesh through two more screaming releases. Then she rolled onto her back, pulling Gabrielle against her side. Their skin quivered where it touched. Exhausted, Gabrielle threaded weak fingers through the warrior's damp hair, thrilling to the silky feel of the thick raven tresses. Xena's touch changed from arousing strokes to soothing caresses. Gabrielle registered the murmurs of her lover and opened her eyes, falling into blue, storm-tossed seas. "Beautiful. My bard," murmured Xena, tenderly kissing both of Gabrielle's eyes closed.
Slowly Gabrielle slid down Xena's body, ready to bring the same pleasures to the warrior's flesh. She left a trail of soft kisses over the warrior's chest, around each nipple and over taut stomach muscles. She rested her head on the lean thigh, gently cupping her palm on Xena's mound. She positioned herself between Xena's legs, putting her hands on the warrior's stomach.
When the bard's tongue touched the soft hood of Xena's center, the white hot flash of passion that coursed through the warrior took her completely off guard. Her eyes flew open. As Gabrielle's tongue made its first contact with the sensitive bud beneath, Xena stiffened. Abruptly she sat up. "Stop," she said, pushing Gabrielle up.
Gabrielle sat up and moved close trying to hold Xena, but the warrior wouldn't let her. "What's wrong?" There was no answer. She sighed. It had been much the same each time. Xena would bring Gabrielle to the peak then crashing over into release. But when the time came for Xena, the warrior couldn't seem to let go. Gabrielle began to wonder if she was doing something wrong. "Is it something I'm doing? Or not doing?"
Xena shook her head, not meeting Gabrielle's questioning gaze.
The bard shook her own head, trying to rest it on the warrior's rock-hard shoulder. "Please tell me what's wrong?" When finally the blue gaze turned to her, there was an unmistakably deep pain in them. Comprehension dawned. "You can't let go, can you?" the bard asked quietly. "Even with me."
The thought made Gabrielle's stomach roll in tiny little fits of uneasiness. She laid back on their blankets and then rolled on her side away from Xena. The bard tucked her fist under her cheek and tried to sleep. Soon she felt Xena lay back and seek her own sleep.
Xena felt an ache in her chest and relieved it by propping herself on her elbows and drank in the smooth, creamy skin of Gabrielle's throat and breasts. How can just looking at you calm my soul, Gabrielle? Xena wanted desperately to awaken Gabrielle and love her insensate again. There was a safety, a security that Xena felt every time Gabrielle looked into her eyes, emeralds reflecting with the fire of arousal.
"Gabrielle. Gabrielle," Xena whispered. "Come back to me, my bard. I need you."
Gabrielle's eyes fluttered open and Xena fell into the languid pools, which reminded her of the wind-blown fields of the hillsides outside her home village of Amphipolis. Falling into Gabrielle's eyes was like falling back in time for the warrior. She let her mind float back to the life she'd almost forgotten, a carefree childhood she had long ago abandoned.
"Gabrielle, you are my heart," she said earnestly, not sure what she meant by it, but hoping desperately that Gabrielle would know, and understand. Gabrielle stroked Xena's cheek with the side of her right index finger. "These last few days with you have been incredible. I don't want it to end."
"I'm not going anywhere," Gabrielle murmured. "Ever."
Xena desperately wanted to believe that. Gabrielle had never spoken a false word to her since trying to hide the breast dagger from her in the town of Morpheus' temple over two summers ago. But everyone Xena had felt this strongly about, just when she considered surrendering her soul to them, thought of a future with them, she had been left.
Gabrielle watched Xena's face. The bard was trying to understand the emotions flitting across Xena's features, but the warrior could not speak of the uncertainties cluttering her head, or the aches of the past that made her heart brittle.
"Xena, what are you thinking?" Gabrielle stroked the warrior's collarbone as Xena rolled them over slightly so Gabrielle spread her luscious body over the warrior's muscled length.
Xena smiled, and, not wishing the bard to know her uncertainties, she kissed the rising swell of a breast near her cheek. "I'm thinking how much I want to love you right now," she answered, sliding the bard down her body, letting the heat of their bodies mingle. Gabrielle's mound pressed to Xena's stomach as the bard bent close for a passionate kiss.
Gabrielle pulled away first. "You're thinking something, I know, Xena." The warrior raised an eyebrow. "I know it. But it's all right for now. I'm hungry actually. It's well past lunch."
Xena nibbled on Gabrielle's bottom lip and teased, "Are you sure you're hungry for food?"
Gabrielle nodded. "Yes, definitely. Can't you hear my stomach growling, oh ye of sharp hearing?" She pressed the warrior's hand to her stomach. "See?" she added, when the muscles of her stomach rippled under Xena's light touch.
"Time to go fishing." Xena pulled the bard upright and led the bard back to the water.
"Oh, please," Gabrielle moaned. "I'm exhausted."
Xena relented and let Gabrielle sit dangling her feet in the warm spring water. The bard watched the warrior make quick work of catching two fish. Just as Xena waded ashore, Gabrielle found the strength in her legs to recover her clothes. She was about to tie together the sides of her top when Xena walked around her and laid a gentle hand on the soft skin between her breasts.
Gabrielle looked up and Xena thought she saw distress. So she kissed it away, lightly touching her lips to the corners of Gabrielle's mouth and the corners of her soft eyes. "It's all right, Gabrielle. I'm here."
The bard smiled and Xena left her to clean and prepare their lunch.
"What did you catch?" Gabrielle asked, as she finished tying off her top and settled her skirt on her hips. Xena, unabashedly, set the fish down while still nude. "I'll clean them while you put on your leathers," she offered. "You'll catch cold."
Xena looked up as Gabrielle's hand came down on her shoulder. "Just your eyes meeting mine sets my body on fire."
"To think my warrior is a bard at heart," Gabrielle chuckled. "Go on. Get dressed. I'll take care of lunch."
"You're still leery of my cooking."
Gabrielle laughed. "Xena, if I didn't do the cooking we'd starve. We can't survive on love alone."
Xena laughed, thankful a million times for her bard, and the events that brought them together. While she dressed, she watched Gabrielle leaning over the fire and knew she wanted her again. They were about a day out from a small village. Argo could use rest and a few nights in a stable. Xena could then pamper Gabrielle in proper surroundings, like the fireplace-lit room of a cozy inn.
"How about we stop in town for a while? Take in a few sights," she suggested to the bard as she came up behind her.
Gabrielle looked up, a sparkle of excitement lighting her green eyes. All she could think about was the soft down of a goose-
feather bed, a hearty stew, people to talk with, and a market.
Chapter 2
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