“Not as much as it used to, no.  I find it disturbing you can move to me so quickly after Xena.” 

 

“I’m a god Amaranda.  I’ve lived for more centuries than you can count. I could spend a thousand years with a woman and it would mean very little to me.  Time is relative.  I will bring your things to our quarters.  Whenever you want to come home, just say the word, and you will be there.” 

 

Amaranda knew Athena was lying about time being relative.  She’d loved Xena, and now she was forcing herself to move on as if her former Champion had meant nothing to her.  There was something wrong with that, and Amaranda was determined to find out why.  All in due time of course. 

 

“I accept that I am your Champion my goddess.” 

 

“You can drop the formalities,” Athena claimed Amaranda’s lips in their first kiss, then turned away.  Amaranda had no doubt in her mind it had felt as wrong to Athena as it had to her.  “Athena will do just fine.” 

 

As Athena disappeared and Amaranda turned to find the new champions uniform laid out neatly on her bed, she wondered what she would do when the time came for her to go into battle against her friend Xena.  Would she be able to stay faithful to one over the other?  She resented the predicament Athena now had her under, but then there were a lot of things in her past she resented.  This was just one more to add to the pile.  

 

 

She dressed in the Champion’s uniform, and as she studied her reflection in the mirror she took no joy in her newly elevated status.  Xena belonged in this uniform, not her. If the opportunity presented itself, Amaranda would do all she could to make certain she traded places with Xena as Athena’s Champion and lover.  That’s what friends were for after all, and she was definitely Xena’s friend.

 

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

 

“Can you believe the storm that’s brewing outside?”  Gabrielle asked Callisto as she entered the room Xena had rented for her and Callisto for the night.  Gabrielle knew the story told by her alternate had greatly disturbed Callisto, but part of her felt more annoyance than the pity she knew she should be feeling.  Callisto had barely spoken two words to her since they’d found out young Gabrielle was destined to be with Xena.

 

“Callisto?  Are you going to talk to me or what?”

 

Callisto turned to Gabrielle with a wounded expression on her pretty face.  “Don’t you think we should be out looking for Lila instead of holing up in this Inn?”

 

Suddenly an object in the room next to theirs began to hit their wall rhythmically, quickly followed by grunts and moans of pleasure.  Callisto threw her arms up in disgust as Gabrielle began giggling. 

 

“For the gods’ sakes!” Callisto exclaimed.  “We’re in a den of filth!”

 

“Since when did you become such a prude?”

 

Callisto stormed past Gabrielle and plopped down on the room’s only bed. She stared out of the window as the sound of their neighbor’s passion increased its intensity.

 

“You won’t be happy to know they’re a newly wed couple,” Gabrielle informed her.  I’ll go across the hall when they’re finished and ask them to move their bed away from the wall, how’s that?”

 

Callisto’s voice had that pinched sound it always got when she was upset about something and Gabrielle knew her friend wanted her to prod and plead until she told what it was that was bothering her.  It was a familiar routine so Gabrielle lay down next to her.

 

“This is so sick.”

 

Gabrielle poked Callisto playfully on her side.  “It’ll be over soon.”

 

“No, I mean this thing with you and Xena.”

 

Now Gabrielle was just confused.  “Sick? I think it’s wonderful!  I’m destined to be the soul mate of the legendary Xena!  I feel like I’ve won some kind of prize. Or better yet, I feel as if I’ve been betrothed to a king.”

 

“You never displayed an interest in women before. Why now?”

 

“Is that what’s bothering you Callisto? That I’m meant to be with a woman?”

 

“Well, yes!”  Callisto jumped as a bolt of lightning struck a tree outside their window.  Both girls gave a scream of terror and rolled off the bed as pieces of bark flew through their window. A piece of wood struck Gabrielle before she could fall back, cutting the flesh above left eye.  Seconds later Xena and Gabrielle came rushing into their room.

 

“Are you ok?”  Xena went to the younger Gabrielle and pulled her up.  She began to examine the younger girl with expert hands and despite her pain, Gabrielle found herself smiling under Xena’s ministrations.  Her crush on the Warrior Princess was abundantly clear to everyone, especially Callisto. 

 

The banging noise was still going strong and Callisto kicked the wall.  “Would you cool it in there!”  With that she stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her.

 

“I’ll go see to Callisto.”

 

“Make sure she doesn’t go outside.  She likes to run outside whenever she’s angry.” The older Gabrielle nodded an acknowledgement to her younger double then left the room.

 

“You know Callisto pretty well it seems,” Xena said, laying pressure on the wound to stop it from bleeding.  The younger woman shrugged but only stared up with her one good eye into Xena’s exquisitely shaped ones.  Gods they were as blue as the waters that surrounded Potidea. 

 

“You’re so pretty Xena.”

 

“Thanks. You’re pretty too.”

 

Xena said the words the same way Gabrielle had heard her mother speak to the younger children of the village whenever she was blowing them off in order to get back to work and it angered Gabrielle.  That anger flashed through her remaining open eye bright enough for Xena to see it and the warrior stood back. 

 

Xena was surprised by the experience.  It was almost as if she could feel what Gabrielle had felt.  She’d never had anything like that happen before.  Not even with the older, wiser warrior Gabrielle she had fallen in love with.  “What’s the matter?”

 

“You’re talking to me as if I’m a child, that’s what’s the matter.”

 

“I am not.”

 

“Yes you did.  I’m not a child Xena.  I’m a young woman.  Don’t tell me after what Gabrielle said about us you can’t see that.”

 

“Gabrielle was talking about her life, not ours.  You need to understand that you two are completely different people and we’re…”

 

Gabrielle tried, unsuccessfully, to push Xena’s hand from her wounded eye.  She didn’t want to hear the rejection she was about to receive from Xena, but the Warrior held steady, wrapping her other hand around Gabrielle’s neck to hold her still.  “Hey, calm down.  What’s the matter with you?”

 

“Nothing’s the matter with me.”

 

“I came in here to talk to you.  Now are you going to listen like the woman you claim to be or storm out in a childish fit like your friend Callisto?”

 

“Listen to what?  You tell me you don’t like me?”

 

Xena sighed, trying to relieve the frustration building within her.  Despite this annoying display of childish petulance on Gabrielle’s part, Xena did have to admit the girl was as cute as she was stubborn.

 

“You had guts, charging in there with Callisto to save us like that.”

 

“I did it for Callisto.”

 

“Yeah, I know.  Athena would have blasted her to oblivion had you not tackled Marcus and bowled him into her.  Very brave.”

 

“What’s your point?”

 

“Ooh,” Xena said, smiling despite herself.  If she only knew the effect it was having on young Gabrielle’s heart.  The poor girl was beginning to feel a desire she’d never known before, and in the light of the rooms fire Xena was more beautiful than Gabrielle had ever dreamed another person could be.

 

“A real ‘get-to-the-point’ kind of girl.  I like that.”

 

“You just don’t like me right? You like her.”  Gabrielle flung herself back onto the mattress and Xena leaned onto one elbow next to her. 

 

“I do like you Gabrielle.  You’re a very sweet gir-young woman.  You’re very brave and very pretty.  It’s just…I don’t feel that connection with you the way I feel it with the other Gabrielle.”

 

“What would you say if I told you I felt it for you? What would you say if I told you that I felt…complete when I looked into your eye’s for the first time.  I still do.”

 

Xena sat up from the bed.  She didn’t want to hurt Gabrielle’s feelings but she didn’t want risk leading the girl on either.  She wondered if perhaps she should just walk away now.

 

“Xena, didn’t…don’t you feel anything when you look at me?”

 

“I feel something when I look at Gabrielle. Not you.”

 

“I am her.”

 

“No, you’re not.  She’s the one I am to be with.  I’m sorry Gabrielle, but this thing with us being soul mates just doesn’t click with me.  I’m sorry. ”

 

Xena took this opportunity to finish dressing the small wound over young Gabrielle’s eye, all the while remaining coolly silent.  When she was finished she made a beeline for the door, but stopped to study the girlish face that had looked at her with such disappointment.

 

“I’ll uh, do something about your neighbors.”

 

Gabrielle watched her turn her back and walk away.  Though Xena had shut the door to the room softly, she couldn’t help but feel the door to the relationship she’d begun to hope for had been slammed in her face. 

 

There would be no Xena and Gabrielle in this universe.

 

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

 

A strong hand grabbed on to Callisto’s arm just as she reached the door to exit the Inn.  When she turned to face the woman who’d so forcefully halted her escape into the driving winds outside, she was more than bewildered to find the alternate Gabrielle.

 

“What do you want?” Callisto asked rudely.

 

“I want you to stop acting like a spoiled child.  Boy, you’re nothing like the Callisto I know.”

 

“Yeah?” Callisto said, a bit of the mischievous devil Gabrielle had known in her world coming through for the first time.  “Well you’re nothing like the Gabrielle I know and lo-“

 

“Love?” Gabrielle said, trying to finish the thought for her.

 

“Yes I love her.  Not in way you’re thinking, but I do love her.  Let go of my arm!”

 

Gabrielle allowed her to pull free, but not before she could insert her body between the feisty blond and the Inn’s exit.  “We need to talk.”

 

“About what?  Love.  Losing my friends?  What do you want to talk about that I don’t already know.  This is just so…wrong!  You came down here to tell me I’m wrong but I’m not.  I hate Xena for what she’s doing and I hate you for bringing her here.”

 

“There is nothing wrong with love Callisto.  Only hate is wrong.  That’s a lesson I suppose nothing short of a miracle with ever succeed in teaching you.”

 

Confusion replaced the righteous bigotry on Callisto’s face.  “What do you mean by that?”

 

“I mean even in my world it took major sacrifice to turn you around.  You just seem to be destined to hate.  Don’t you see what’s happening here?”

 

Under Gabrielle’s motherly stare Callisto could only squirm like a scolded child.  “No, so why don’t you fill me in?”

 

“Xena and Gabrielle.”  The words seemed simple enough to the woman speaking them, but Callisto was having a more difficult time wrapping her mind around the concept.

 

“What?”

 

“Xena and Gabrielle.  The words are more than names.  They’re an ideal.  They represent what’s right in the world.  Untainted friendship, true love.  Completeness.  No matter which universe they’re in, the souls of Xena and Gabrielle are meant to be together. One is incomplete without the other.”

 

“So you’re saying I should accept this?”

 

“Yes, you should.” Gabrielle pulled Callisto over to a table away from the lightning flashing outside.  The Innkeeper and his employees rushed to pull the shutters closed to keep out the leaves and bits of debris flying outside.  The storm was worsening and Gabrielle wondered when the rain would start to pour.

 

They took a seat at a table and Gabrielle waved an approaching serving winch away. She wanted to speak to Callisto alone before Xena or her alternate had a chance to interrupt them.

 

“That girl upstairs is the soul mate to the Xena of this universe.  They belong together Callisto.  Gabrielle knows it but Xena is fighting it.”

 

Callisto nodded, and Gabrielle could see that the girl wasn’t completely closed-minded.  Perhaps there was help for her yet.  “She wants what this Gabrielle is meant to become.  She wants you.”

 

“I wouldn’t say I’m what your Gabrielle is meant to become.  There’s nothing wrong with her choosing a different path, just as long as it’s not separate from Xena’s.  My presence here is disrupting everything.  She needs you right now Callisto.”

 

“I don’t see why.  She has Xena.”

 

“No, she doesn’t.  I have no doubt in my mind Xena has blown her off completely.”

“Let’s assume you’re right about Xena and Gabby.  How are we going to get them together with you around?”

 

Good question Gabrielle thought.  She listened to the raging storm outside and wondered just what she was going to do about the situation.  She couldn’t imagine a world without Xena in it, yet she knew that unless she found a way to get back to her home world then that was exactly the kind of life she was going to have to live. 

 

Even if she were wrapped in the arms of this world’s Xena there was no way she would ever forget that the woman holding her was only a pale copy of the woman she loved.  Her Xena was all but dead to her, so the least she could do was see to it the people who belonged together stayed together. 

 

But what about Callisto?  Gabrielle asked herself.  These two had a strong friendship and now Callisto believed she would be losing her best friend for the sake of and ideal she’d never heard of before.  Gabrielle could understand her anger better than Callisto would imagine she could.

 

“Just because Xena and Gabrielle are together Callisto, doesn’t mean you can’t have a place in her heart.”

 

“Of course it does.  What would I do?  Follow them around fighting bad guys?  No.”

 

“You wouldn’t be bad at it,” Gabrielle said, taking one of Callisto’s hands in her own. “The way you charged into that temple and went up against Athena herself.  I am duly impressed.”

 

Callisto found herself blushing despite herself.   Praise from a real warrior, even a friendship-wrecking warrior like Gabrielle, felt good.  “Nah, I’d be a third wheel.”

 

“Three wheels can be better than two…”

Callisto watched as Gabrielle’s eyes widened in shock.  “What’s wrong?”

 

“Oh gods!”

 

Callisto followed Gabrielle’s eyes to find a group of warriors entering the Inn to take shelter from the storm.  They wore rich blues and crisp whites of the temple of Poseidon.  As far as Callisto could tell, Poseidon had nothing to do with their situation.  Did he?

 

“Gabrielle what’s wrong?”

 

Gabrielle’s eyes were glued to the man who was obviously Poseidon’s Champion.  He was tall with black hair and experienced good looks.  He seemed to have an easy laugh and a quick smile, and Callisto wondered if perhaps he were someone Gabrielle knew.

 

“You know him?”

 

“Yes I know him.”

 

“Who is it?”

 

Gabrielle spoke but her voice was choked with emotion.  “His name is Joxer.”

 

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

 

Joxer entered the Inn with his men.  They’d been returning to the temple headquarters in Corinth when this mysterious storm had picked up, and luckily his second knew of the only adequate shelter for miles around.  He wasn’t disappointed.  The structure was solid and the prices reasonable.  Not to mention the room was filled with beautiful women, one of who had her eyes glued to him.

 

This wasn’t something that was new to Joxer.  Women loved a man in uniform, especially if that man were the champion of his god.  He was no stranger to female adoration, but there was something different about this woman.  She felt familiar, as if he should know her.  Besides that, the look on her face wasn’t one of lust, but of intense recognition.  As if she knew him as well. 

 

His men encouraged him to go talk to her.  She was incredibly beautiful after all, but the timing didn’t feel right.  If she wanted to talk to him then she would approach on her own terms.  He just hoped she did approach.  There was something about her he found special, and he hoped that during his time here he’d at least get to speak with her.

 

 

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

 

 

Xena came down the steps of the Inn and from the look on her face the time she’d spent alone with young Gabrielle had not gone well.  Her beautiful blue eyes were clouded and the normally smooth skin of the ridge of her nose crinkled with her frown.  Gabrielle could only imagine what had been said between them.

 

The snorts and rude comments from the men in the tavern did nothing to lift Xena’s mood either, and Gabrielle could tell it was all Xena could do not to take out her aggressive urges on them, and she had to give the warrior a silent round of applause for her self-restraint.

 

“Xena.  How did it go?”

 

Instead of answering, Xena’s eyes went to Callisto.  It was obvious that Xena feared anything she said in front of Callisto would get back to Gabrielle so she just folded her arms and lay her head back, exposing her long, graceful neck. A neck very similar to the one her lips had caressed many days and nights in passion. 

 

Callisto could tell Xena wouldn’t speak around her so she stood to return to her room.  “I’ll leave you two to talk about us behind our backs.”

 

When she was gone, a throaty chuckle escaped Xena’s full, rosy lips.  “What’s so funny Xena?”

 

“Her.  If I hadn’t met you I could see myself having one hell of a fling with Callisto.  She’s just my type for…”

 

“For?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

Gabrielle knew exactly what was on this woman’s mind.  “Sport?”

 

“Something like that.”

 

Gabrielle pushed her half finished mug of mead over to Xena who pushed it back.  “Thanks but I don’t make it a habit of drinking after people.”