ForevaXena's FanFic . . .

Taylor's Destiny

by amarice42

Disclaimer: These characters are based on two people who belong to Rob Tapert, Universal Studios and Renaissance Studios. I am just borrowing them for awhile. If you like my story you can e-mail me at amarice42@yahoo.com. If you don't like it, sorry but you can still e-mail me I just will ignore you if you are nasty about it. However, if you have valid points that would improve the story your e-mail is welcome. I am not sure where this story came from, it just was there and it nagged at me until I wrote it down. So here it is and enjoy.

Taylor lived alone except for a light colored cat named Argo. She was tired and had taken a vacation from her job as a writer when all her ideas just seemed to leave her. She just wanted to relax and enjoy the peace. No noise, no worries, no deadlines.

Journal Entry

I had that dream again. It's always the same. I went to sleep exhausted and soon I am in a dense forest surrounded by trees, water and I am running on uneven ground away from someone I can't see. Panic-stricken and panting, my clothes are torn and I'm bleeding from scratches in a few places. I smell wood smoke in the distance and hear water moving. I look back the way I have come when I hear what sounds like a twig break. Just as I start to turn back a hand touches the back of my shoulder and I jump. Before I can scream in surprise a hand covers my mouth as a voice whispers to me to make no sound. As I whip my head around in fear I see a small blonde who shifts to the side as in my view comes heavenly blue eyes. Then I woke up.

Taylor sat up in bed breathing heavily as she clutched at the sheets. I had fallen asleep writing in my journal again. I looked around the room to orient myself myself to my surroundings . I sat quietly for a bit to give my racing heart a chance to calm. I took a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair as I released the breath slowly. I badly needed a drink. As I made my way down the stairs and turned the corner of the landing something darted across my path. Swearing, I caught a hold of the banister.

"Argo, No!".

She looked at her cat who seemed to be almost smiling at her. As she shakily reached the bottom step and attempted to step down, Argo launched himself at her again.

"Argo, No, Don't."

She started to fall again but this time she missed the railing and with nothing to grab ahold of, she fell and hit her head on the landing and was enveloped in blackness.

Xena and Gabrielle had been chasing some nasty warlords and bandits when they saw a tall blonde run out from the forest and hide. Just as Xena made her way to her to see if she was o.k. she spun around and then passed out. Xena caught her as she muttered ,"Great." Xena and Gabrielle hid the girl and dispatched the warriors chasing her in record time. Then they took her back to their camp and attended to her wounds and left her sleeping peacefully.

As Taylor came close to consciousness, the first thing she noticed was a crackling sound and she smelled wood smoke. She could also tell she was outside on the ground on some type of coarse material. Gabrielle sat beside the girl and someone else sat at a distance away and it sounded like they were sharpening a big knife or something. Taylor's eyes fluttered and slowly opened. (When she opened her eyes she discovered it was a sword that was being sharpened. )

"Xena, she's awake."

Taylor noticed the green of the blondes eyes almost matched the shirt she was wearing. Taylor look up into the kind, green orbs.

"Who are you?" she asked. "Did you call your friend Xena?"

"Yes, and I'm Gabrielle." the green-eyed goddess answered. Taylor put her hand up to her head as she closed her eyes briefly and said, "Oh wow, I must have really hit my head hard this time." Xena put down her sword and moved over to Gabrielle and Taylor.

"No, your head injury isn't bad." Xena told her as she checked it again. Taylor opened her eyes again.

"What happened?"

"Don't you remember?" asked Gabrielle.

"It was like the dream I've been having lately. I was home and I had just woke up from a nightmare. I went downstairs to get something to drink but on the bottom of the stairway my cat, Argo, jumped up on me and I fell and hit my head. Then I was here and like my dream, someone was chasing me. I was running away from them and hiding behind a tree when someone with beautiful blue eyes touched my shoulder and I fainted. I always woke up there."

"Well, I don't know about the first part but that's pretty much how the rest of it happened. After you fainted Xena and I brought you here and fixed you up."

"Thank you, oohhh." Taylor rubbed her head. Gabrielle helped as Taylor struggled to sit up. "This must all be a dream brought on by the head injury. In my time Xena and Gabrielle are just a myth and if they were real, they've been dead for centuries."

"What about my scrolls? They should prove we were real."

"No, Well, There was a rumor they were discovered in the 1930's or 1940's by by Gabrielle's descendant, Janice Covington and Xena's descendant, Melinda Pappas. By and large it was never proved though. There are people who would rather believe that Xena and Gabrielle never existed. Fortunately, I am a descendant of a descendant of both you and Xena, Gabrielle. I've seen the scrolls but, I wasn't sure about them." Taylor smiled wistfully and said, "Guess there's no doubt about them now. They even made a television show out of them and it played around the world to over millions of people. Trouble is, they took liberties with your scrolls and the stories weren't as accurate as you wrote them, but, the story of Xena was one that was heard around the world."

Taylor fell asleep while Gabrielle and Xena stayed up for awhile. Xena was up every couple hours after Gabrielle went to sleep to check the perimeter to make sure that they didn't have any unwelcome visitors during the night. She noticed that Taylor seem to be sleeping peacefully during the night with no complications. Xena lay back down and slept for a few hours.

Xena crept away in the early morning hours to get breakfast and start cooking it then she would drill. She had just gotten warmed up fairly well when she felt another person close by. Taylor had gone to do some necessary business and on the way back to camp she came upon Xena drilling and decided to stop and watch.

Taylor had been pretty good with a staff once but have never moved onto swords. things had gotten hectic and she had gotten busy. She had always been sorry she had to stop taking lessons. Who knows, maybe in this time and place she would learn from the masters. The best of the best. Gabrielle had gotten up and was working with her staff and Taylor watched them as they twirled the swords and staff. She practiced by herself until she got good enough to twirl it almost as well as her two friends. As they started there routines one morning Taylor quietly slipped in behind them and matched every twirl of the staff perfectly. Xena surprised her by saying, "Very good Taylor. Tomorrow you can stand with Gabrielle and I . You've earned it." Gabrielle turned and looked back at Taylor and smiled.

One morning as Taylor was practicing, her staff hit the ground.

"Taylor," called Xena. Gabrielle stopped and turned around. "Taylor, are you o.k.?" the bard asked. Taylor became light-headed. Her eyes rolled back and she fell forward onto her face.

The red lights split the curtain of blackness that was the night as the sirens wailed piercingly. The rescue squad hurried inside led by an officer. "What we got?" asked Sheryll as her partner Brian looked on. A young woman apparently tripped coming down her stairway. She's breathing but totally unresponsive. She must have been lying here awhile. Her sister's been calling her all day. She couldn't get a hold of her. She had a key so she came over and let herself in and found her like this. The victim's name is Taylor Renee Pappas. As the two rescue squad workers came closer they noticed the crying woman telling to Taylor to hang on. Sheryll and Brian hooked up an I.V. line and Sheyll attempted to calm the sister, who's name she discovered was, Emily, and put her in the capable hands of the policeman to deal with so they could work on Taylor. Brian looked into Taylor's eyes and checked her head wound. "She hit her head pretty hard, she has a concussion." As they got ready to transport her, Taylor called for emily and grabbed her collar as she came close. Taylor said to her sister, "Em, Let me go, I want to go back." Emily cried harder.

''No Tay, stay with me. Please, I need you. "

" Please Em, I just wanted to say Goodbye. I want to go back to Greece, Xena and Gabrielle are waiting for me. Please understand. Someday you will be there too and we'll all be together." Emily nodded and at that Taylor's body jerked violently twice. She her eyes closed and her breathing stopped.

"She's flat lined," Brian called as he gently moved Emily away. "Clear ", he called as he zapped Taylor with the paddles. "Nope, " he waited for the paddles to charge again and called, "Clear," as he zapped her with the paddles again .

"Still no rhythm. Clear.." Emily reached out and touched Brian's as she shoulder and said, "No," as Sheyll continued to try and find some vital signs. Emily continued, "Let her go, it's what she wanted." Emily picked up Taylor's cat and walked out the front door as the paramedics called in the code zero.

Xena had carried Taylor back to camp and Gabrielle had been putting cold clothes on her head. Taylor's body jerked and she took a big, deep breath as her eyes flew wide open. Gabrielle cried out as Taylor's eyes adjusted and she saw Xena rubbing her partners shoulders she looked into Taylor's eyes and said, "Welcome back, We thought we'd lost you there for awhile."

"Yes," Gabrielle smiled self-conscientiously and wiped at her eyes. "Don't ever do that again."

Taylor smiled at Gabrielle as she sat up. "Nope, never again. I'm here to stay, but Gabrielle, Do I have a story for you."

As she gave the bard a warm smile they all went to sit by the fire and Taylor told her the story of finding her Elysia.

THE END

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