Disclaimer #1: This is a futuristic Uber-Xena work of romantic fiction. The characters of Xena, Gabrielle, Ephiny, Iolaus, Solari and, oh yes, Argo, belong to MCA/Universal, and are used without intent for commercial profits. Author's copyright does not extend to said characters. The author retains all rights automatically attached to the creation of this work and to the independently created characters. In other words, they're all MINE!

Disclaimer #2: This story depicts a love/sexual relationship between two consenting adult women. Nothing too graphic, just a PG-13 rating. I’m in this one for the plot ; - ). If you are under 18 years of age or if this type of story is illegal in the state or country in which you live, please do not read it. If depictions of this nature disturb you, have a cup of herbal tea and a long hot bath. You really need to relax.

Disclaimer #3: Violence warning. This story contains references to abusive behavior necessary for plot development. I’ve tried to keep graphic descriptions to a minimum, but if this sort of thing disturbs you, please stop now.

Disclaimer #4: Apologies and acknowledgment to Gene Roddenberry for the unauthorized loan of food replicators and holo suites. I found them to be rather useful home appliances. To get yours today, call Ronco at 1-888-555-1212.

This story is Book 2 in The Colonization Trilogy. Trying to read this before Book 1, The Amphipolis Expedition, will be like watching The Empire Strikes Back without watching Star Was first. You'll still understand the main story, but the nuances will be lost.

Special thanks to Barbara Maclay for her dramatic renderings of Commander Xandra Lawless and Dr. Brie O'Conner. To see them for yourself, just click the links or visit Barbara's Home Page at www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Bungalow/2591/graphics/. Be sure to check out her other delightful Xena artwork.

Also many thanks to my beta readers who tactfully smoothed out all the rough edges.

I welcome all constructive feedback, all bigots will be sent to the great recycle bin in the sky.

For the Love of Gaia
Part V
by Felioness

Chapter 17

Brie was getting worried. Now nearly midnight, Xandra had been laboring since sometime that morning. She was completely exhausted, had no reserves left to draw upon and still the child did not come. Her water had broken over twelve hours ago and with each passing hour, it was certain that the delivery would be a rough one.

The doctor sat quietly by Xandra’s side, holding her limp hand, waiting for the next wave of agony to engulf her soulmate. The contractions were only seconds apart now, leaving Xandra little time to rest in between and yet she was still not fully dilated. Something was very wrong.

Unable to determine the source of the problem through traditional methods, Brie was preparing to assist her partner empathically. Regardless of Xandra’s expressed reluctance to accept Brie’s help in this form, it had become necessary. At this point, Brie was not sure that she could save Xandra, let alone the baby. She had few choices left. The practice of delivering a child by Caesarian section had been abandoned in the early 21st century, except in extreme cases, since medical researchers discovered that any surgical procedure encouraged the growth of malignant cancer cells. However, at this point, Brie was considering even that as an alternative to losing Xandra completely.

Sara and Arianna had been with her almost constantly since she and Xandra had first stumbled into the infirmary. Most of the other women who had gone into labor that morning had delivered hours ago, only Xandra remained. The medical teams were exhausted and there had been some muttering among them about making sure that so many women weren’t inseminated so close together again. There simply weren’t enough beds in the infirmary and enough hands on the medical teams to handle the onslaught.

Xandra’s eyes fluttered as the next contraction took hold and tore through her without mercy. Jaw clenched against the pain, she grasped Brie’s hand so hard the doctor thought her partner would snap the delicate bones in her fingers. Panting hard, Xandra tried to resist the urge to push, knowing she would rip herself apart unless the birth canal was dilated adequately. The seconds passed slowly as Brie watched her soulmate’s face contorted in pain.

Unable to watch helplessly any longer, Brie held on until the contraction eased. She wiped Xandra's face gently with a cool cloth and kissed her tenderly. "Hang on Love, I’m gonna help you." She spoke soothingly to the exhausted woman. "Just let me get set up for Ari to monitor me."

"No, " Xandra murmured hoarsely. " I don’t want you to risk it. It’s too dangerous."

"It’ll be fine, at least now we have another empath to do the monitoring and that makes it much safer. Now let me go get ready before you have another contraction, okay?"

"I guess I don’t really have a choice do I?" Xandra muttered in disgust. "You’re gonna do it even if I say no, aren’t you."

"Yeah, I am…and you’re not in any position to argue with me either," she responded angrily. "I’m not gonna let your stubbornness keep me from saving your life." Fear of losing Xandra fueled her determination as she tugged her hand free from her partner’s grasp and turned to Arianna, allowing the young woman to attach the electronic sensors to her pressure points.

Ari’s hands fairly shook with nervousness as she made the final adjustments to the monitoring equipment. Brie laid a soothing hand on her arm and smiled gently as she attempted to calm the younger doctor. Arianna raised frightened eyes to meet Brie’s gaze and stammered, "I haven’t done this in a long time, and only in medical school…never for real."

"Don’t worry," the older woman replied reassuringly. "You’ll do fine. Just keep your eyes on the monitor and feel my body’s reactions. If my heart rate drops too low, you know what to do. Otherwise, you’re just along for the ride."

"I know," Arianna answered, tears glittering in her fear-darkened eyes. "But I’m so scared of losing her when I’ve just found her again. And you, I could lose you too." The young woman’s shoulders began to shake as she tried unsuccessfully to control her tears.

Brie looked questioningly at the other empath. "Come on Ari, get hold of yourself, I need you. I could do this without you, I’ve done it before, but I’d feel safer with an empath watching the monitor."

Arianna sniffed dramatically and squared her shoulders. "I can do this. I would do anything to help her – and you. You’re my family." Lowering her voice to nearly a whisper, she continued. "I love you."

A tortured scream tore from Xandra’s throat as another brutal contraction seized her in its relentless grip. Sara rushed to the laboring woman’s side as she spoke frantically to the two doctors. "Would you two save the sensitive chat ‘til later? I think she’s hemorrhaging again and she can’t afford to lose any more blood."

"Alright, I’m ready." Brie announced, looking at Arianna for confirmation.

Ari’s face lost all evidence of emotion as her cool features settled into a professional mask. "I’m ready too. Go ahead Doctor."

Breathing deeply, Brie laid gentle hands against Xandra’s distended belly. She could feel the erratic twitching of muscles beneath her touch. Closing her eyes, her mind gently probed her patient’s before plunging through Xandra’s natural mental barrier and stretching her psyche to reach deeply inside.

The first thing she felt was the steady heartbeat of the infant within. Thank all the Gods there are he’s okay. Spending a few precious moments soothing the child with loving thoughts, Brie met her son for the first time. The colors in his mind were bright and clear, his soul a beautiful shade of forest green. He welcomed her touch with delight and urged her to stay and play with him. She was honestly tempted but needed to pull away from him in order to help his mother. Their tentative bond allowed her to explain it all with a feeling of urgency and the tiny mind released hers instantly.

She felt regret as the exquisite feeling of pure love was abruptly withdrawn from her. I have to save them both…this is a very special child. He will teach us to love and forgive. Urgently, she probed Xandra’s uterus and cervix for the source of the problem. Again and again, she examined every muscle and nerve ending until she located the problem. The nerves that signaled the cervix to dilate in response to the uterine contractions were severely damaged and firing only intermittently. Without these signals, Xandra’s cervix would remain stubbornly closed against the powerful contractions racking her weakened body.

This I can fix! the young doctor thought with relief. I just need to… The thought faded as her mind spun abruptly out of control and she fell through time into a dreamscape much like the one she’s shared with Xandra once before.

Confused, Brie looked around her to see the familiar form of her lover, dressed in leathers and armor. She was seated on a boulder, her eyes fastened on the boy seated on the ground at her feet. The woman raised her eyes to Brie as the doctor approached. Smiling, the dark woman spoke aloud. "Solon, she’s come."

The boy turned and smiled at her. "I know Mother, I felt her too. She’s very worried about us."

"I know son, but it was the only way we could get her here and she has to know. She has to remember because you are too young and will forget as you grow up. And me? I’ll forget because that’s just who I am, the eternal skeptic. It’s only here, in this place that I recognize who we are."

"Xandra?…Xena?"

"Yes, Gabrielle, its me. We’ve been waiting for you. What took you so long?" Xena responded with an indulgent smile.

"Solon? Is it really you?" Brie-Gabrielle felt the memories flood her consciousness. With lightening speed she remembered meeting the child for the first time in an ancient centaur village. How brave he was then, risking his young life to battle the warlord threatening the only home he had known. With a stab of pain, she remembered watching as Xena held his lifeless body in her arms as she sobbed her grief. How could she ever have forgotten the anger in Xena’s voice as she blamed Gabrielle for his death. And what followed…what followed was the worst nightmare she’d ever experienced. Worse even than the ill-fated pregnancy that produced the demon child who had killed Solon.

In an instant, Brie saw who she had been in that life and how much they had lost by their inability to trust. She also realized that this was the first time since that first lifetime that all three would be together again as a family. This was their chance to heal the past.

"Why Solon? Why did you need to risk your lives to make me aware?" Brie asked urgently.

"Because one of us has to remember or it will happen all over again." The boy paused, struggling for the right words to explain their karmic obligation. "It wouldn’t be just like the past…I mean, Hope won’t be here or anything. She’s truly gone. Her time passed with Dahok’s power. But something just as bad could happen unless we remember to stay close and love each other."

Considering his words, Brie slowly nodded with dawning understanding. "Okay, so it’s my job to remember. Just how do I do that? The last time we were in this place I couldn’t remember a thing when I woke up."

Xena smiled gently and reached for her hand. "Touch me Gabrielle. Touch my mind and remember everything."

Shyly, Brie extended her hand. The instant the two touched, she was engulfed with memories of a lifetime together – many lifetimes. In each one the two women were partners. Sometimes merely as friends and other time as lovers, they were always soulmates. Nothing could keep them apart, even the loss of a beloved child.

In what seemed like minutes, she had collected enough emotion to short circuit the mind of someone untrained in the psychic arts. She understood that she alone could carry these memories into the future. In the dreamscape, they were all equally powerful, but in the real world, she was the only one capable of guarding the future from the past. This was their second chance and she was determined not to lose it.

Pulling away, she swallowed hard, struggling for control, she smiled grimly. "Okay, I think I’ve got it. Now you’d better get born or you’ll kill your mother before we’ve even begun."

Instantly, Brie was pulled away from the dreamscape, the image of Xena and the boy fading into obscurity. She found herself once more attending the damaged nerves of her partner’s cervix. Emulating the electrical signals that she knew would cause her partner to finally dilate, she stayed with it through several contractions until the infant’s shoulders cleared the birth canal.

Assured that her partner was out of immediate danger, she withdrew from her mind and fell forward against Xandra’s shoulder. Breathing deeply and slowly, she felt the last contraction sweep over her partners body and heard the sharp cries of the infant as he burst forth from his mother’s body.

Just before she lost consciousness, Brie whispered, "Welcome home Solon."

Chapter 18

Xandra rested comfortably in a recliner-like chair as the tiny infant in her arms locked his fingers around a hand full of hair and tugged on her long dark locks. Wincing as he tried to force his fist into his mouth, she gently loosened his grasp and flipped her hair back over her shoulders, conveniently out of his reach.

He gurgled happily, as Stephanie looked on, mesmerized. "He’s laughing Xandra," the stunned pilot exclaimed.

Xandra’s rich laughter rumbled through her chest, delighting the infant in her arms. "Nah, its just gas. They don’t start laughing for a few months. But he does look real cute, doesn’t he."

"Yeah," she sighed. "He’s just perfect. I never thought I’d feel so…so attached to him. I guess it really is instinctual, huh?" Stephanie gazed adoringly at the grinning baby as she spoke.

Xandra laughed again, shaking her head as she answered. "Yeah, it must be. A tough old soldier like me turning soft over a little thing like him? It has to be instinct." Pausing for a moment, Xandra lifted her eyes to meet Stephanie’s darker gaze. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?" the muscular blonde asked.

"For agreeing to name him Bret. You could have insisted on a family name or something. It was really important to me that one of his names be part of Brie’s."

"Bret Hunter-Lawless. It fits him."

Stephanie smiled as she watched her son rooting against Xandra’s breast, a sure sign his ravenous appetite was awakening. Rising from her seat, she reached out to stroke the downy soft hair on his head. "Well, I guess I’d better get back to work. Someone has to keep things going while you lay around up here being waited on hand and foot. Enjoy it while it lasts, Xandra. With Brie pregnant again, you’ll be the one working over time and waiting on her before long."

Both women laughed in delight as Brie’s rounded figure appeared in the doorway, scowling at their visitor. "You just wait Stephanie Hunter, your time’s coming. I hear you’re scheduled in the next group." Her gaze softened as she turned to her soulmate. "And you need to feed Bret and then get some rest. You lost a lot of blood and you need to rebuild your strength."

Ushering the blonde woman from the room, Brie returned to settle her growing bulk next to her partner, smiling indulgently as she watched the impatient infant greedily suckling Xandra’s breast. Leaning her head on Xandra’s shoulder, Brie smiled and closed her eyes. She did remember…everything. And with that knowledge, came the assurance that everything would turn out right – this time.

FINIS

What’s next? Well, that all depends on the muses. There will be a third book in this series. The working title is Poseidon’s Children. After all, we have to get the twins born and spend some time exploring this wonderful planet.

The other plot forming in this bard’s mind involves a tall, dark doctor; a compact, blonde computer hacker and a natural disaster that rocks their world. The working title of this one is Aftershock! I guess that sort of gives away the type of natural disaster I have in mind, doesn’t it? ;-)

Both of these tales will be lengthy, I can’t see anyway to do them justice otherwise. Since I’ve given up posting stories in parts, neither Poseidon’s Children or Aftershock! will be released before completion. So perhaps the next thing you will see is the short story sequel to The Head Mistress.

So thanks for all your support and…see you in my dreams.

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