ForevaXena's FanFic . . .

Joyous Reunion

by Daniel Stevens

DISCLAIMER: The more familiar characters in this story are the property of Renaissance Pictures, Universal/MCA, and Studios USA.  No copyright infringement is intended.

SYNOPSIS: I (or Aphrodite) finally put Xena and Gabrielle back together in this one.

WARNING: Definite subtext here, though nothing that should merit an NC-17 rating.

There is a quarrel going on atop Mt. Olympus.  Aphrodite's patience has finally run out.

"Can't you two see what you're doing?!  You've got one of them climbing the trees from loneliness, while the other has climbed into an amphora!"

"I'm sorry, Dite.  There's nothing I can do."

"'Can do', or 'will do', Artemis?!"

"Hey, it's not just me.  Athena had just as much to do with this, and she's just as adamant that they shall never be reunited as I am.  That's all there is to it.  End of discussion."

As Aphrodite departs, 'Oh, really, now?!  We'll just see about that!'

********************

On her lonely island, around sunset, Gabrielle is once more bedding down in her lean-to, which she has built against a cliff.  She is the perfect picture of a person who has all but forgotten what it is to *not* be lonely, as she contemplates the likely path of her remaining future - continued isolated solitude until the day she dies.

After a while, she is sound asleep.  Only then does a pink starburst appear just outside the lean-to, and resolve into a tall blonde garbed in a very thin pink material that reveals nearly as much as it conceals.

"Girlfriend, this whole grody business has gone on for way too long.  Especially the part about you being allowed to go on thinking that Xena still wants to kill you, even after all this time.  Well, if Artie and The Nerdette want to blow a gasket, let them!  I don't care what they think any more! This ends here, and now!"

With that, Aphrodite reaches into the lean-to, and takes Gabrielle's hand.  Then, both vanish without trace in a pink starburst.

********************

Well past midnight the same night, in Amphipolis.  At Xena's Inn, to be exact.  The one-time Warrior Princess is sound asleep in her bed, on the second (and top) floor of the place.  Actually, she's passed out, from too much wine (again!).  Flora, Lila, and Sarah, her three live-in employees, are likewise asleep, also in their rooms upstairs.  The three women had once offered to build and move into a separate home for themselves, adjacent to the Inn, so that the rooms would be freed up for customers, but Xena wouldn't hear of it.

("There are more important things in life than money and profit!"  Then, ruefully, "I should know.")

Even passed out as she is, though, Xena sleeps but fitfully.  As if something still weighs on her, even in her sleep.

At length, she begins to have a dream, which finally settles her down.  One in which Gabrielle suddenly appears in the bed, next to her, likewise sound asleep.  The one-time Destroyer of Nations' immediate response is to ever so gently take the long-lost Bard in her arms, and spoon herself against the smaller woman, who responds in kind, more out of instinct or reflex than anything else.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Aphrodite stands over them, clearly pleased with her handiwork this night.

'Not only are they back together, but Xena's all detoxed, and when they wake up later this morning, neither of them will have to use the chamber pot or the out house.'

Passing through the locked door, the Goddess of Love hangs a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door, and then vanishes again.

Somehow, Xena's *very* pleasant dream continues.  What she doesn't yet know, cannot yet know, is that this is, in fact, no dream at all.  A completely nude Gabrielle is, indeed, sound asleep in her arms.  In fact, towards sunrise, Gabrielle turns over, and puts her arms around the stronger woman.

********************

As the first sunlight of the new day filters into the room, Xena's apparent dream becomes ever more vivid.  As she begins to awaken, her senses begin to register that this is no dream, but reality.  First, she smells the sweet scent of Gabrielle's hair, just as she remembers it from so long ago.  Then she feels the soft, smooth warmth of her Beloved.  Finally, her eyes open, to confirm that Gabrielle is, indeed, asleep in her arms, a peaceful, contented look on her face.  Xena smiles, as tears of joy begin to flow. 

'Sweetheart, you're just like what Cecrops once said of Tarae.  Even as you aged, you grew ever more beautiful!'
Xena now, ever so gently, begins to stroke Gabrielle's cheek and hair.  Her heart aches, from feelings she had long thought she would never know again in this life.  Almost like a long unused muscle aches when finally used again.  Still, Xena fears losing the moment.

Then, Gabrielle begins to awaken. As she begins to become aware of her surroundings, a look of increasing alarm replaces the peaceful look of earlier.  Xena, fearing to do otherwise, tightens her hold on the smaller woman ever so slightly.

All at once, the Bard's eyes do open - and widen into fear-wrought saucers.  Xena reacts almost instantaneously, by kissing her lips most tenderly, and yet most passionately.  A tender passion fueled by twenty years of having been unrequited.

Before Gabrielle knows it, she is on her back, with Xena atop her, still passionately kissing her.  Clearly realizing that there is nothing else she can do, she begins to return the kiss with a passion that soon equals Xena's, even as her arms reach up about the stronger woman's still-broad shoulders, and her thighs part, allowing Xena's down between them.

At roughly the same time, Xena's tongue engages Gabrielle's in a welcome-home dance.

Finally, needing to come up for air, Xena breaks the kiss, but only to commence bathing the rest of Gabrielle's face in a series of tender kisses.  By now, any tendency the Bard might have had to panic has long since dissipated.  Implacably mortal enemies *don't* act this way when they get you in their hands, after all.  At least, not the last time she had checked, they didn't..  Long-parted lovers do, however.

Finally, Xena ceases kissing Gabrielle, and positions her face just inches above the other woman's, so they can gaze into one another's eyes.

"Gabrielle, Darling, just let me look at you!", with a tender, loving smile.  Then, "So many years stolen from us!  And in case you're wondering, I forgave you years ago, for what I came to realize was your entirely unwitting and unintentional part in Solan's death."

"You… *did*?"

"Mm-hm, I did.  Both you and the Olympians should have known that I couldn't stay mad at *you* for very long, no matter what."

"Honey, I suspect that in the latter case, they knew, but most of them didn't care."

"You're probably right.", with her trademark wry sideways smirk.  Then, "So, where were you all these years?"

"Stranded alone on some island a *long* way from any other land.  Where that island is, I have no idea." A moment later, "To tell you the truth, Xena, I don't know if being put on that island alone was meant to protect me from your wrath at the time, or as a far more subtle punishment than anything you could have come up with."

"Probably both, knowing them!"

"Well, whichever one of them finally got me out of there, and back here where I have always belonged - probably Aphrodite, we owe her a big one."

"Quite true.  Which is why, since I suspect that it was Aphrodite who brought us back together, I'm going to have a temple put up in her honor, on the site of Ares' old temple - as soon as the ruins are cleared away."

Then, they hear a familiar feminine voice.

"Girlfriends, I didn't undo twenty years of Olympian overkill for the sake of a temple, but for your sakes."  Then, "Not that I'd turn it down, though."

After a moment, the two women, Warrior/Innkeeper and Bard, sense that Aphrodite has left, and both sit up..

Then, "So Xena, how did you spend the last twenty years?  After you forgave me, that is."

"That will be a *long* story."

"I can imagine." Then, "What about my family?"

"Your parents died some years ago.  And Lila works here."

"She does?"

Yeah.  I hired her soon after reopening the place."  A moment later, "Mom had died while I was out looking for you, and the place had shut down.  When I got back, I found that she had left it to me, so I had to reopen it, and settle down - finally."

"So, how long did it take for you to forgive me, and how long did you look for me?"

'Oh, boy!  Where do I begin?..."  A moment later, "After the funerals, while you had gone to Themiscyra, I had gone into the Caucasus Mountains to mourn Solan's death, when Ares came to me…"

********************

Later that day, the two women are up and about.  Gabrielle, now wearing one of her niece's dresses, has been introduced to Sarah, and has been reacquainted with Flora and Lila.  There had been absolutely no question whatsoever about adding Gabrielle to the Inn's staff, or that she'd share a room with Xena from now on. 

Also, the decision had been made that Sarah and Flora would travel to Themiscyra, to ask the Amazon Queen (nowadays Marga) to grant Xena either a full pardon for having once assaulted Queen Ephiny, or at least a temporary suspension of the Warrior's exile, so that the entire family could go there, for a long overdue wedding.  They would set out the very next morning.

THE END

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