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Tarsis, for everything and so much more.

"Promise me you'll never die on me again." Gabrielle said with mock seriousness. She knew it was a situation that could never be avoided, but at the same time she wanted a reassurance that Xena was really there with her and would do her best to stay with her.

"Oh, I promise." Xena returned, their usual bantering tone already firmly back in place. She countered Gabrielle's tone with one of her own. She knew the pain that her death had caused Gabrielle, she had heard it in her thoughts and she never wanted to put Gabrielle through that pain again if it was within her power to stop it.

Gabrielle slipped an arm around Xena's waist and uttered a silent prayer to whichever god had deemed it possible that she was again able to rest her fingertips upon the soft brown leather at Xena's hip. This time when she felt the shudder that rippled through the strong powerful body she knew it was for a different reason. For over a year now she had believed that that shudder had signalled Xena's discomfort with close intimacies of any kind; but with the lingering knowledge inside her head from Xena's possession of her body she knew that it had to something else. Something that was long overdue and needed to be dealt with fairly soon.

She could not stop the shudder, she never had been able to. Gabrielle's caress against her always had an affect on her. Usually she would keep her stoic warrior mask in place when it happened but she was just so happy to experience the sensation again that she smiled as Gabrielle laid her head upon her shoulder and continued to sharpen her sword.

* * *

The walk back to Amazon land was a quiet one. Gabrielle had finally allowed the exhaustion of the days since Xena's attack, death and resurrection wash over her. She had not slept in the days that it had taken to get to Niklio's healing hut, and her dreams of Xena's death had plagued her sleep every night since. The final battle with Velasca over the fire pit had taken what little reserve of energy she had left. Though Xena had been in control and she knew that her friend would never let anything happen to her, her body had never been trained to perform such precision movements and now she was paying for it. Her upper arms and shoulders burned from the strain of holding herself on the ropes, her legs ached from the vicious kicks she had bestowed upon Velasca and her whole body was sore from the ones that Velasca had bestowed upon her. But the one thing that had gotten her through it was Xena. Xena's thoughts in her mind, thoughts that the warrior would never speak out loud, and her own thoughts that if she could just get through this she would have Xena back in her life.

So lost in her exhaustion, or was it her thoughts? Gabrielle stumbled over an outstretched tree root and began to fall. Strong arms reached around her waist and held her steady as she regained her footing. Gabrielle looked up and lost herself in the blue eyes that she thought she would never see again.

"Are you alright?" Xena asked her voice low, her eyes full of concern and her arms still firmly around Gabrielle's body.

She just came back from the dead and she's asking me if I'm alright. "I'm fine." Was all that the bard said out loud, not wanting Xena to worry anymore than she had to. Xena began to slowly withdraw her hands from Gabrielle's body, a gesture which seemed unbearably slow to the bard now that she knew what was really behind those caresses.

The warrior was reluctant to relinquish her grasp it felt so wonderful to touch her again - to touch her in her own body - to feel the warmth and softness of the skin beneath her fingertips. Hesitantly she removed her hands and took a step back, almost bumping into Ephiny as she did. The Amazon had walked over from the other warriors when she had seen their Queen stumble, she wanted to make sure that Gabrielle was alright.

"I'm sorry." The warrior muttered as she side stepped to allow Ephiny to move closer to her Queen.

"It's okay, it just wouldn't be the same if I wasn't getting trampled by you." Ephiny offered, remembering their tree top encounter shortly after they had first met. Each of them smiled and Ephiny continued, "Solari and I thought that we should have a celebration this evening…" she watched both the warriors and bards faces turn to horror, neither one looked impressed with the idea of a party. "Just hear me out," Ephiny raised her hands to stall any protests, "We thought that you could put in appearance, show everyone that you're alright and by then everyone will be so drunk that they won't notice that the two of you have disappeared to spend some time alone together."

Both Xena and Gabrielle liked the plan and the grateful smiles on their faces told the Amazon so and Ephiny headed back to Solari to begin making plans. Xena hated celebrations at the best of times, but tonight would be worse, with everyone making her the centre of attention. Gabrielle, usually happy in the midst of a celebration was just too tired to consider it a possibility. All she wanted was a hot bath and a warm bed.

It was not until Ephiny had returned to the other Amazons that the last part of what Ephiny had said sank in. That the two of you have disappeared to spend some time alone together. On the surface it would have seemed like the sentiments of a concerned friend, when two friends had been separated and then reunited, but the implication went far deeper than that and Gabrielle wondered if her thoughts had spilled out in her restless sleep as Ephiny had kept a vigil over her.

For now though both Xena and Gabrielle let the comment pass, too pre-occupied with getting back to Amazon land while they were both still standing. Once more they picked up the pace and headed towards home and for Xena and Gabrielle home was not the Amazon village, but anywhere that the other was safe and well

* * *

Xena sat on a bench in a darkened corner of the village square, a mug of ale in her hand as she watched the celebration around her. She had noticed that Eponin and Solari had taken up positions not to far from her. Usually this would irritate her but when she saw that the two Amazon guards were deflecting most of the curious Amazons away from her she was thankful.

Gabrielle had not fared so well. Many Amazons wanted to speak with her, pledging their allegiance to their new Queen now that Velasca was defeated. Gabrielle met every compliment and pledge with her usual grace but the vibrancy in her movements was all but depleted as her fatigue threatened to overwhelm her.

"Not enjoying the party Xena?" Ephiny asked good naturedly, knowing full well that Xena was hating every minute of it, but she just could not resist the urge to tease her friend.

Xena turned her head and raised an eyebrow, but the weariness showed through, "I'm tired." She admitted.

"Why don't you both get out of here?" Ephiny urged, knowing how exhausted both of them were.

"She can't leave. She's their Queen." Xena replied, both pride and disappointment evident in her voice. She had sat watching Gabrielle for most of the evening, telling herself that it was just to make sure her friend was safe; but another voice nagged at her, So why exactly did you kiss her? And another voice answered, Because she's the best thing that ever happened to me. Because I came back from death for her. Because I wanted to show her how I felt and was too nervous to tell her.

"That's exactly why she can leave." Ephiny announced as she hauled Xena to her feet. "Head towards the Queens hut and keep out of sight, I'll get Gabrielle." The blonde Amazon gave Xena a gentle nudge in the direction she needed to go and then jerked her head to summon Solari.

* * *

The new Amazon Queen had lost track of the number of women who had pledged their servitude to her, and she was surprised when a couple had pledged something other than servitude. She had blushed at those but had let the prospective suitors down gently, right now there was only one prospective suitor that she was interested in.

As yet another woman was about to drop to one knee and offer her loyalty to Artemis's Chosen, as they were now calling her, Ephiny and Solari appeared on either side of her.

"Messenger my Queen. From the Centaurs. They say it is urgent." Solari supplied in her most regal voice.

Gabrielle's face fell and her heart sank, it was the last thing that she needed after the day she had had, but such was the responsibility of being Queen. Politely she excused herself from the throng of women who were gathered around her and followed the two Amazons to the Queens hut.

As they turned the corner around another hut Gabrielle's eyes fell upon the shadowed figure that was leaning against the wall and a little strength returned to her, along with a lot of confusion. "What's going on?" She asked her escorts.

"Bedtime my Queen." Ephiny said gently.

"There is no messenger." Solari added.

Gabrielle watched as Xena struggled to push herself away from the wall, she quickly went to her and slipped her arms around her waist, taking some of Xena's weight on herself.

"Thank you," Gabrielle told her guards, "But shouldn't you stay out of sight for a while?"

"Oh, I'm sure we can think of something to stay out of sight for a while." A sly smile spread across Ephiny's face as she looked to Solari.

It was then that she noticed that Ephiny and Solari were holding hands. "I really have learnt far too much for one day." Gabrielle said shaking her head in mock disbelief.

* * *

Candles were already lit in the Queens hut when they arrived, Gabrielle was pleased about that because she did not have the energy to search for them in the dark. Carefully she lowered Xena to the bed and brushed aside Xena's feeble attempts to remove her sword and scabbard from her back; the warrior could barely reach the weapon so Gabrielle knelt behind heron the bed and did it for her.

"Do you need help with the rest?" She asked, settling her hands lightly on the shoulder guards.

Normally Xena would resist and Gabrielle would persist until the warrior gave in, but tonight she was just too tired and did not think that her body would react to Gabrielle's ministrations. Slowly she nodded her head and felt Gabrielle's hands working on the buckles of her armour. She closed her eyes at the accidental touches of Gabrielle's fingers upon her exposed skin and realised that it did not matter how tired she was her body was still reacting.

Gabrielle tried to remove all the armour and leather as smoothly as possible, not wanting to jar the exhausted body too much. It was not until the warrior sat in only a shift that Gabrielle allowed herself the opportunity of looking at her friend. The elegant and powerful body was slumped and the head was bowed, ebony hair falling about her face and her eyes were closed. "Okay, you're done." She said softly and pressed Xena's tired body back onto the bed.

She then crossed the room to a cupboard and pulling out a shift for herself and began to change for bed. It was only as she turned to head back to the bed that she found cool blue eyes watching her, cool blue eyes that closed as soon as they were caught by blue green.

Xena was not quick enough to avert her eyes, cursing herself for being to tired for her reflexes and cursing herself for not having the courage to say what she should have said long ago. She closed her eyes and waited.

"Why did you do that?" Gabrielle cocked her head to one side as she approached the bed and regarded the woman lying on it, feigning sleep.

"Do what?" Xena mumbled.

"Close your eyes." Gabrielle continued as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I was just, you know…" Xena began but Gabrielle cut in.

"Hiding." Gabrielle finished for her.

Xena remained silent, praying to any god who would listen that Gabrielle was referring to hidden feelings, buried inside both of them. Cool fingers touched her chin, clasping it and turning her head, on reflex Xena opened her eyes and saw Gabrielle locking gazes with her. A small nervous smile tugged her lips and her eyes were full of something that was purely Gabrielle's unconditional love for her but tonight there was more to it.

"You can't hide anymore Xena. You were here," Gabrielle tapped the side of her head with her free hand. "You may have been focused on the fight but you thoughts were all over the place."

A strange exciting fear gripped Xena as she too remembered what she had thought during those crucial moments, what had fuelled her determination to get through the fight alive. "What was I thinking?" She wanted to hear Gabrielle say it, to be certain that it was those thoughts.

"That you had to win, you had to win to get back to me. That you had to see my smile, that you had to look into my eyes, that you had to hold me close and that you love me."

There was a long silence that passed between them, "I meant it, I meant every word of it." Xena's eyes were intense, as were her words. They had come this far, there was no use in denying it any longer.

"You never…" Gabrielle swallowed, not sure how to continue, she closed her eyes, breathed deeply. "You never thought about kissing me." She opened her eyes and noticed that Xena's were closer, the warrior was propped up on an elbow.

Xena reached out a hand and let it rest on the side of Gabrielle's face, "That doesn't mean that I didn't want to."

They locked eyes for a long moment, clear blue meeting misty blue green. An invitation was issued and an acceptance given. Xena lowered herself to the bed and the hand at Gabrielle's face drew her down aswell. Golden blonde hair cascaded down over both of them as Gabrielle moved closer. With her eyes still open and looking into Xena's she touched her lips to the warriors, looking deep into those blues for a reaction, when the eyelids flickered closed Gabrielle shut her own and pressed her lips more firmly against Xena's.

It was for real this time, nothing and no one could ever take that away from them. Xena lifted her hands to encircle Gabrielle's body as the willing bard stretched out along the length of the warrior.

Before she realised what she was doing Gabrielle had gripped Xena's night shift and was trying to push it upwards.

Reluctantly Xena pulled away from the kiss and grasped Gabrielle's wondering hands, stilling her frenzied motions. "We need to talk." The warrior would never have believed that it would have been her who was to speak those words.

Gabrielle placed a finger over Xena's lips and looked deeply into her eyes, "No, we don't. I think that we know all that we need to know."

Xena found herself hard pressed to argue the point. How many other potential lovers could claim that they had heard each others thoughts and shared the same body?

"Xena just let me lay with you tonight, like this. Let me know that you're really here and with me. And if you still want to talk in the morning we can." Reaching for the light sheet at the end of the bed and settling it over then she snuggled down next to Xena.

After the temporary burst of energy the exhaustion began to return and they began drifting towards sleep. On the edge of awake and asleep Gabrielle felt a familiar hand move down her body and rest on her butt. Oh, we are definitely going to talk about that, she thought as she pressed a gentle kiss to the exposed shoulder beneath her lips.

The slept until after the sun was high the following day and when they finally did awake the last thing they did was talk.

The End.

* * * * *

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