Memories II

By Easyreader

Intellectual Property Disclaimer: The characters in "Xena: Warrior Princess" such as Xena, Gabrielle, Argo, and anyone else mentioned from the series are the sole property of MCA/Universal, Renaissance

Pictures, and their creators. No infringement upon anyone's copyrights is intended. The use of these characters in this tale is for personal enjoyment only.

Content Disclaimer: Nobody gets hurt. A loving relationship between two consenting adults of the same gender is described in this story. There's some cursing; but nothing that you haven't heard before. Anyone who's too young (<18 yrs.), lives someplace uptight, or just don't like stories like this, STOP

An unfamiliar weight pressed down on her ribs just below her right breast. Opening her eyes, Xena noticed the long golden hair blanketing her upper body, the arm circling her waist and the hand gently stroking her ribs just inches below her left breast. Another arm had found its way beneath her neck and a leg was draped over her left thigh. The foot which was slightly tucked between both thighs moved gently back and forth, the toes caressing the sensitive inner skin. All in all, she felt pretty much hogtied...but pleasantly so.

The slow steady breathing of her companion was a sure sign she was still sleeping, her movements evidence of her dreaming...apparently, a very pleasurable dream if the slow grinding of hips against her pelvis was any indication. Certainly the feel of hips gently thrusting against her was sending Xena's pulse into overdrive not to mention her imagination. Inhaling deeply and slowly in an attempt to calm the lustful thoughts, she closed her eyes in order to get both her body and mind under some semblance of control.

"By the gods, Gabrielle" she whispered pushing the golden strands away from her face to enjoy the youthful features of her lover "one night and yet I know it's only one of thousands...how I've missed you. I remember so much of our past life in Greece and yet so little after that. Where have you been these last two thousand years? I know we've been together a few times. I see little bits and pieces of them. Why can't I remember those lives. How many lifetimes have we found each other and how many have we endured loneliness? How many more before we can spend eternity together?"

At that moment, as if sensing the lonely thoughts of her beloved, dark emerald green eyes opened to stare sleepily into blue eyes the color of deep still waters..eyes saddened by years and lifetimes of loneliness.

"Xena, what's wrong?" Gabrielle questioned softly, blinking sleepily.

"Nothing, Love, go back to sleep."

"C'mon, Xena, why the sadness? I've seen that expression a thousand times, remember? It took me forever to get that look from your eyes."

Xena smiled "Yeah, I know. I think that's part of the problem. I see flashes of our other lives, but then I wonder how many we went through that I don't remember or that we never met. It's been over two thousand years, Gabrielle, and yet I can only recall a dozen or so past lives...and even those are just quick flashes or impressions. Were we together more than that and I just don't remember or did we live separate lonely lives...did we even exist beyond those few lives. Were my past ones like this one has been? Until you showed up on my door step yesterday I was a loner...I went from day to day waiting for the next crisis, the next thrill..my life was my work and everything else was meaningless. Oh, I never thought about it that way...wasn't really into analyzing myself or my life..but now, Gabrielle, now I realize something was missing...you were missing! How many more times are we destined to not meet? That thought alone drives me nuts! I don't ever want to be without you. How do I reconcile myself to that possible future life?"



"I don't know. I'd like to think we had always found each other." whispered Gabrielle reaching to push the auburn bangs away from Xena's eyes and gently running her fingers down the left side of her face. "As for our future lives, let's just live this one for now, Hmmm? The rest will have to take care of themselves, don't you think? Me, I'm grateful to what ever god or fate brought us together in this one... every minute we have together. Can't you be too?"



"Gods, yes, Gabrielle" Xena cried rolling her onto her back, eyes filling with tears. Slowly, she ran her hand across breasts .down ribs and across an amazingly muscular stomach that was anciently familiar but passionately new. Hearing the quiet gasp from her lover, she leaned close to her ear and whispered "I am grateful." Taking an ear lobe between her teeth she gently pulled. " I'll be grateful till the day I die." Lips continued down the sensitive chords of her neck

to the pulse at Gabrielle's throat "I love you so much... my heart...no, my very soul aches for you. Do you understand that, my love...do you feel what I feel?" she sighed taking Gabrielle's hand and placing it over her heart holding it firmly between her breasts.

Gabrielle looked down at the hand pressed to Xena's chest. The strong beat of her heart alone would have told her of Xena's love. Looking up she met Xena's gaze and was humbled by the love and passion she saw in those exquisite blue eyes. "Yes, my Warrior, I do. Now, no more talk...no more sadness...love me, Xena, just love me. Let me feel the passion I see in your eyes. Let me show you the passion I feel."

"Oh, Gabrielle" Xena whispered lowering her lips to capture those of the beautiful woman beneath her. "I'll show you all right. I'll brand my name into your soul"

"You already have, Xena, you already have."

Xena woke up to the sensation of a finger gently moving up and down the area between her breasts. Gabrielle who had awakened a short time before could not resist the temptation of touching her beloved. One thing that never changed in all their lives was Xena's magnificent body. It was as if once made, it could not be perfected any more than it was. She noticed the increased breathing and was pleased that her touch could still arouse Xena while asleep. Apparently that had not changed either. A flutter of eyelids gave her fair warning that the subject of her caresses was waking up.

"Good morning" she greeted sleepy blue eyes gazing dreamingly at her.

"Morning"

"Well, actually, it's afternoon, but who cares, right?"

"Riigghhht!"

"So, you hungry?"



"Yeah, a little." Xena smirked "you'd think I'd be satisfied by now."

"Xena!" Gabrielle exclaimed slapping the ribs beneath her hand "I'm talking stomach food!"

"Oh that! Yeah, I guess I could eat something. How about you?"

"Starvin!"

"Well, I see some things never change. Let's get something in that stomach of yours. I'm surprised I was able to sleep at all with all the racket it's making"

Slapping Gabrielle on the butt, Xena jumped out of bed, threw on a robe and walked over to the dresser where she pulled out an old t-shirt and tossed it at her friend.

"Try this on for size. Might be a little big but I bet you'll look great in it." Laughing Xena headed out the door and down the hall with Gabrielle in quick pursuit.

"So, Gab, whatcha want for breakfast..er..lunch..cereal, sandwich, eggs..you name it, I'll fix it."

"Un no thanks, Xena, unless you're cooking has gotten better over the millenium, I'll fix it. Besides, you still haven't recovered from those injuries from yesterday. I need to change the bandage on your arm too"

"That's ok, Gab, I still heal fast..a few days and you'll never even know I was injured"

"Well, in a few days, that'll be fine but today I do. Go take a hot soak. If you're lucky, I'll join you."

"On my way!" exclaimed Xena enthusiastically pretending to run towards the bathroom.

Giggling, Gabrielle searched the cupboards and refrigerator. "Looks like cereal for lunch" she thought and headed down the hall.

After thoroughly scrubbing each other and a few other enjoyable diversions, Xena reclined against the side of the tub, eyes shut, arms folded around Gabrielle holding her gently but firmly against her breasts. Neither wanted to break the intimacy of the moment. Finally, Gabrielle, shifted sideways.

"Xena, we have to move. I'm hungry and you must be starved."

"Not really, Gabrielle...I just don't want to let go of you yet. I close my eyes and think I'm dreaming and that soon I'll wake up and that's all it'll be...a dream. It scares me, Gabrielle, and I don't seem to be handling it well."

Turning slowly, Gabrielle took her face between her hands and gently kissed Xena on her forehead, then the tip of her nose and finally settled on her lips. The kiss held no passion, only the promise of understanding and of an undying love.

"Xena, I'm here. This is real. I am real. I'm not going anywhere. Believe it! Believe in me! O.K.?"

Xena took a deep breath wanting desperately to say she believed but in the end could only nod.

"Great! Now let's eat. I'm starved!"

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"So, when do you have to report back for duty?"

"The Lieutenant said to take a week off so I actually have about 8 days total. My shift won't start until a week from Friday. How about you? What's a writer's schedule like?"

"Well, nice thing about writing is I have to be inspired and that you just don't order up. I'm just going to call my boss and tell him I have writer's block and need about...oohh, let's say a week or so off. Rob's a nice guy. He won't protest too much."

"Who's going to write the next episode of Sheena, if the head writer doesn't show up?"

"Well, it's not like I'm the ONLY writer. There's actually six of us not counting guest writers. Rob's a pretty good writer himself. They'll survive. Besides, maybe they'll appreciate me a little more if I'm not there. I never took time off before. Rob's been ragging on me lately about 'writer's burnout' so I guess he's going to get his wish..Now, enough about work...what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"Don't really know. Guess we could eat, sleep and make out!"

"Works for me! Let's go!"

The sun was just peeking through the curtains when Xena decided she really had to do something. 36 hours of sleeping, loving and eating had been sheer bliss but even she could not do that forever. Uncurling the sleeping, prone figure from around her body, she eased out of bed and headed towards the bathroom for a quick shower. After toweling off she dressed and slipped out the front door for a quick 2 mile jog. Typically she would have run 5 but her body was still protesting the beating it had taken 2 nights before. Interestingly, she had been so deep in thought over the events of the past 24 hours she wasn't even aware she had arrived back home until her neighbor greeted her and handed her the morning paper. When she let herself back in the house, the smell of bacon was drifting through the living room.

"Xena, that you?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to take a quick shower."

"All right. Breakfast will be on in about 10"

When Xena entered the kitchen, Gabrielle was already sitting at the table drinking coffee and munching on some toast. Bacon, eggs and tomato slices sat on a plate in front of Xena's empty chair.

"Looks great! Thanks!"

Deep in thought, Gabrielle missed Xena's remark. Shrugging, Xena sat down and began eating all the while watching the various expressions playing over her lover's face. When she finished, she pushed the plate away and leaned back in the chair careful not to put too much pressure on the bruised area over her kidney. Finally, unable to stand the silence any longer and curious about the sudden smile appearing on Gabrielle's face, she commented "A penny for them."

"HMMM?" Gabrielle replied unconsciously.

"I said a penny for them..you know..your thoughts. Where are you now?"

"Oh, sorry! I was just remembering some of the trouble we used to get into. Do you remember when we camped in that swamp and I got this awful fungus and you got lice? I was so miserable and all you worried about was that Chakram of yours as if my using it to scratch was going to ruin it or something. You remember that?" Gabrielle asked laughingly.

"Yeah, I remember. I don't remember it as being funny at the time. Damn lice! Don't know where they came from. Then up pops Joxer promising to save that village from the whole Scythian Army. And Argo decides...well, we know about Argo and I'm still mad about that. I can still see the expression on those villagers faces when we came through the door of that tavern. What a sight we were. If we hadn't looked so awful and smelled so bad, they'd probably run us out of town. As it was, no one wanted to get near us. By the way, did I ever tell you how I finally managed to get rid of the lice?" Xena asked, eyes glinting from suppressed laughter.

"No! I asked, but you just glared at me and stomped off. Figured it had to be something really nasty. So how DID you get rid of them?"

"Well, You know how we tried soaking in that hot mineral spring .. and then the goat poop mud bath.. and only the gods know what was in that concoction the villages sent over to us after the army left. I sure was glad no one who knew me had seen me covered in that crap. Remember how it turned our skin orange and we smelled like a Numanian skunk? The goat poop would have been an improvement over that. We had to sleep in the woods that night because the villagers wouldn't let us near the town. Spent 2 hours in that cold river water scrubbing our skin almost raw and still couldn't get near enough to each other to sleep and it was damn cold that night. Anyway, the next day you had disappeared for a couple of hours and when I finally found you, the color was gone, the smell was gone and the fungus was gone. When you told me how you had finally gotten rid of everything, I decided it sure couldn't be any worse than the other stuff..so I tried it and it worked. Simple as that!"

"NOOO! You gotta be kidding." Gabrielle gasped

"Nope!"

"Come on, Xena, I don't believe it!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"Believe it! When you so courageously used Joxer's turnip stew as a dip for the fungus and it went away, I said 'What the Hades, if it didn't kill us eating it and you were brave enough to bathe in it, I certainly could wash my hair with it'..So I did.. After all, it had put the whole Scythian army out of business and had solved your problems. Short of possible baldness, what did I have to lose? I swear, Gabrielle, I could hear those lice puking and moaning as they bailed out of my hair. Reminded me of rats abandoning ship! I actually felt sorry for them. " chuckled Xena.

"By the gods, Xena, I was desperate. If I had to spend another day scratching I think I would have thrown myself in a well or something. I never did thank Joxer for making it. You know, if we could duplicate that recipe, heaven only knows what we could cure." Gabrielle laughed, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Or kill!"

Suddenly both Xena and Gabrielle grew quiet and simply stared at each other each knowing the other's thoughts.

"I wonder what became of Joxer, Xena. You know, I really liked him, goofy as he was sometimes. He was a good man and he did save our lives on a few occasions, albeit accidently."

"Me too, Gabrielle. Joxer may not have been a good fighter but he had the heart of a warrior. I really was thrilled when he and Meg finally got hitched. They were a good match. Remember when Meg thought she couldn't have kids?"

"Yeah, sure do. They had three. Handsome ones too and smart. Of course, with Meg looking so much like you, how could they not be! And Joxer wasn't all that bad looking either. You know Joxer turned out to be pretty darn good at wood carving. Meg displayed most of his stuff in her tavern and a lot of people bought them. We kinda lost track of them once we settled down. I think I always regretted that. Xena, do you think that Joxer and Meg were soulmates like us? I'd like to think so! I'd like to meet up with them in this life and find out how things turned out for them."

"Me too, Gabrielle. Me too!" Suddenly feeling restless, Xena quickly stood up and started pacing the kitchen.

"Oh, Oh!"

"Whaatt!" Xena exclaimed .

"I know that look and body language"

"Whhaatt!"

"You're restless.. you want to do something...maybe beat a few heads in...only you can't do that nowadays...sooo, let's go to the lake and see if we can catch some poor innocent fish...you could even try that finger wiggling trick of yours. You used to love doing that! Bet you'd impress more that a few fisherman with that one. Not to mention giving a few of them heart attacks. You know you always did wear water well."

"Gabrielle!"

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