Author's Note: You know the routine....I am well aware of the fact that Xena and
Gabrielle are owned by MCA or Universal or one of those television-owning places. No
infringement is intended by the following story. You should also be aware that this story
contains a hot, sexy love scene between two consenting women. You've been warned. Long
live Xena. Enjoy. Let me know what you thought
Gabrielle's green eyes swam out of focus for a split second, causing her to stumble along the wooded path. She caught herself with her staff and quickly regained her composure.
"Gabrielle?" Xena arched an eyebrow at her in question. "Everything all right?"
"Oh yeah. Fine. You know me. Always tripping over something." She chuckled and shrugged. She tried hard not to act nervous, but Gods, she was more than that. If Xena found out what she had done, there would be Hades to pay. She stumbled again and shook her head as a wave of dizziness washed over her.
Xena was instantly at her side, helping her to a nearby fallen tree trunk. "Here, let's sit down. Maybe you should rest a minute."
Gabrielle squinted at her companion, studying her face closely. Something should be happening by now, shouldn't it? The old wise man said the effect would be almost immediate. "Do you feel okay?" she asked Xena.
"I feel fine, Gabrielle."
Was that a mischievous smirk on the face of the warrior princess?
Gabrielle shut her eyes tightly and waited for the forest to stop spinning. Xena should be succumbing to the effects of the herbs by now. She had downed the entire cup of water Gabrielle had poured her. It was gone before Gabrielle got three swallows of her own water into her belly. That old wise man had ripped her off! Well, she would have a word or two with him on their way back through town, that was for sure.
"Gabrielle, let's talk."
The request from her friend surprised her, as talking was something the warrior did little of. "Okay." she replied, more as a question than an answer.
"Gabrielle, do you trust me?"
"Absolutely." The word was out of her mouth before she could think about it, almost as if her mouth had a mind of its own. She furrowed her brow.
"Good."
"I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone." Okay, that was weird. She couldn't recall the sentence forming in her mind at all, it just shot from her lips. She studied Xena again, the picture of strength and confidence. "Are you sure you feel all right?"
"Yes, Gabrielle, I'm sure." She arched that eyebrow, causing Gabrielle's heart to skip a beat, as it always could. "How are you feeling?"
"Dizzy, light-headed, sick to my stomach, and frankly, a little irritated."
"Irritated? About what?" There was that smirk again.
"Irritated that the herbs are having no effect. That stupid wise man gypped me out of 3 dinars!" She blurted the words, blinking her foggy green eyes several times and steadying herself with both hands on the tree trunk, her staff falling to the ground. "Wow. I am really not feeling right."
Xena was smiling openly now. "Gabrielle, have you ever heard of Bevany leaves?"
"Nnnyes." Did she say no? She meant to say no. She tried to feign innocence, which she could usually do quite well. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I just thought it was sort of a weird coincidence." Xena looked closely at her little friend. "The symptoms you're complaining of are the same symptoms caused by the consumption of Bevany leaves. Light-headedness, poor balance, saying things before you've had a chance to think about them."
Slowly, the realization of what Xena was saying began to sink in. No, it couldn't be. But how? When? Gabrielle thought back. I poured two cups of water, I sprinkled the Bevany leaf powder into Xena's and took it to her, I set mine down and opened the saddlebag to get.....She shut her eyes again, chiding herself for letting her own water out of her sight for even a second. The warrior princess must have switched the cups. How could she have underestimated Xena's keen sense of observation?
Their faces were only inches apart, but when Gabrielle opened her eyes, they were everywhere but on Xena. "Really. Bevany leaves, huh?"
"Do you know what Bevany leaves are, Gabrielle?" Xena asked with a hint of sarcasm.
"Yup. Truth serum."
"That's right. Did you put them in my water?"
Gabrielle clenched her teeth together, hoping to keep the words inside her head. They forced their way from her lips. "Yes I did." She slumped in defeat. "How did you know?"
"I saw you at the herb stand. That old wise man and I go way back."
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "Of course you do. You and everybody go way back. What's a girl got to do to keep a secret around here?"
"Why give me a truth serum?" Xena was genuinely baffled, but surprisingly, not angry. "If you want to know something, all you have to do is ask me."
"I wasn't sure if you would tell me the truth." Again, Gabrielle's mind was overpowered by her tongue. She groaned in frustration. She did not want Xena to know these things. She did not want Xena to know how she felt about her.
Xena knelt in front of the young bard. "Ask me."
"I can't..." she shook her head and looked away.
"Why not?"
The inner struggle was evident on her face as her voice forced its way from teeth once again tightly clenched. "I'm afraid it will change our friendship forever."
Xena smiled and merely said, "It will."
"Have you ever been in love?" A groan again escaped her throat as the question tumbled out.
"Only once." Xena said simply. "You?"
"Uh huh."
"With who?"
Gabrielle quickly clamped both hands tightly over her mouth, shaking her head back and forth.
"Gabrielle," Xena said softly, as she gently pried her hands away. "Tell me. Was it Perdicus?"
"No. I loved Perdicus, but I wasn't in love with him."
"Who then?"
There was a long pause while each woman looked deeply into the eyes of the other.
"You." It came out in a whisper. Gabrielle exhaled slowly, her shoulders slumping, her head bowed, like a balloon slowly deflating. She dared not look up, for fear of the horrified look on the face of the woman she had finally admitted she loved.
"How long?"
She shrugged, but still didn't look up. "Forever? It feels like forever. I can't remember not feeling this way about you."
She felt fingers under her chin as Xena gently raised her face to meet the most incredible blue eyes she had ever seen. Xena asked simply, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you?" Gabrielle laughed explosively. "Tell you? Tell Xena, Warrior Princess that her little storytelling wench has the hots for her? Uh uh. No way. I couldn't risk it."
"Risk what?"
"Having you laugh at me. I have learned to admire from afar." She touched a fingertip to Xena's soft, full lips. "I watch you dress and I watch you eat. I watch you practice with your sword and I watch you do battle. I watch you try to deal with your past and your future. You are a truly amazing woman. The more I watch, the more I love. I can't help it." She tried to smile through the tears welling up, threatening to spill down her flushed cheeks.
"Why the truth serum?"
"I needed to know the answers to some questions."
Xena took Gabrielle's hand in both of hers. "Ask me."
"I can't..." she shook her head.
"Gabrielle, please. You said you trusted me. Ask me."
Even as Gabrielle was shaking her head from side to side, the question forced its way from her lips. "Do you love me?"
"You know I do."
"I know you do. But..." She swallowed hard for this was the biggie and she knew she couldn't fight it. The Bevany leaves would make her ask. This was definitely not the outcome she had expected when she formulated this brilliant idea. She took a deep breath and looked intently into those crystal eyes, eyes she could lose herself in, eyes she wanted to lose herself in and whispered, "Do you want me? You know, like that?"
Xena let out a sigh of relief and it felt like the air had been cooped up in her lungs for an eternity, just waiting for the chance to answer that question. "You have no idea how much I want you." She smiled. "Like that." She took Gabrielle's face in both her strong hands and kissed her sweet, soft lips. She planted little kisses all over Gabrielle's face, her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, before returning to her mouth and kissing her deeply, exploring with her tongue, gradually becoming more demanding. Soon they were kissing fiercely, two years of desire suddenly released. A whimper escaped Gabrielle's throat as their mouths crashed together.
Then Gabrielle's hands were in Xena's hair and their kissing became so violently passionate and deep that Xena had to wrench herself away to get air. They were both heaving breathlessly. Gabrielle pulled at Xena's armor, fumbling with buckles and hooks, becoming frustrated with fasteners she dealt with easily every day. "I swear to Zeus, if you stop now, I'll run you through with your own sword."
Xena laughed out loud at the sight of her little bard teeming with such desire, something she had only seen in her dreams. She caught both Gabrielle's hands in her own. "Slow down, Gabrielle. We can take our time."
Gabrielle shook her head emphatically, freeing her hands and returning to the armor, finally pulling it off her warrior. "No, not slow. Not this time." She stood and stripped off her own clothing in a matter of seconds. She knew it was the Bevany leaves talking, but she couldn't help herself. "I want you and I want you right now. I've waited far too long."
Before Xena knew what was happening, Gabrielle had pulled a blanket from the saddlebag and spread it out on the leafy ground. She pushed Xena down, stopping to drink in the sight of the glorious woman beneath her. "Gods," she whispered in amazement. "You are the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on." Xena pulled Gabrielle's face to her, claiming the bard's tender mouth with her own. Soon, she turned them as one, so she was atop the younger woman.
She pulled her lips away to gaze into the green eyes, so clouded with desire they couldn't focus.
"Xena, please. Don't stop. Kiss me."
"Oh, I have no intention of stopping." She had a wicked glint in her eyes. "It just occurred to me that you are still under the influence of the Bevany leaves." She lowered her head to taste Gabrielle's neck, sending a shiver through the bard's limbs.
"Uh huh."
"So anything I ask you must be answered truthfully." She ran her tongue along Gabrielle's collar bone to the small hollow at the base of her throat. "Do you like this?"
"Yes."
She moved down slowly, running her tongue slowly around the pink aureole before taking the swollen nipple into her mouth. Gabrielle gasped, clutching a handful of Xena's dark hair. "And this?" the warrior queried.
"Oh, yes."
Xena continued to suckle one breast, while fondling the other with her hand. "Did Perdicus ever make you feel this way?"
"Not even close." A wave of want - no, need - coursed through her body, settling low. She had never felt anything like it.
Xena was slowly working her way down Gabrielle's body, nibbling and tasting. She playfully nipped at the flesh of the younger woman's side, causing her to jump. Xena looked up to meet Gabrielle's eyes, eyebrows raised. "Tickles," Gabrielle said matter-of-factly.
Xena reached back and grasped a delicate ankle, sliding her hand along the creamy skin of her bard's calf, then her thigh, reveling in the feel of it, unable to believe anything could be so silky soft. She brought her lips to the inside of Gabrielle's thigh and sampled the smoothness with her tongue. Gabrielle quivered beneath her.
"By the Gods, Xena, you're going to drive me insane," she whispered in ragged breaths.
Xena paused. "Should I stop?"
Gabrielle's head snapped up. "No! Don't you dare!"
Holding Gabrielle's gaze in her own, Xena slid her finger into the wetness between Gabrielle's legs. Gabrielle threw her head back, gasping, gripping Xena's shoulder so hard she left marks. Xena closed her eyes and breathed in the scent that suddenly surrounded her.
"Seems as though you've sprung a leak, little one," she said in a husky voice. "And me without my repair tools. Whatever shall I do?" She looked playfully at Gabrielle, sexily biting her bottom lip.
There was a moment when they seemed suspended in time, blue eyes fastened to green, connected as one being, the pent-up love and desire of two years fusing them together. Then, with a savage growl, Gabrielle grabbed Xena's dark hair and pushed her head down. "Now! Please, Xena, I can't wait another second. I need you to make love to me right now!"
"Far be it for me to disobey the orders of an Amazon Queen," Xena smiled and lowered her mouth, moving slowly at first, then increasing the rhythm, teasing and tasting her young love. Between strokes, she questioned Gabrielle, all the while bringing her closer to the edge.
"Do you want me, Gabrielle?"
"Yes!"
"Do you need me?" Xena's voice was low, just above a whisper.
"Gods, yes!" Gabrielle was clutching the blanket in one hand and Xena's fingers in the other.
"Do you love me?"
"Oh, yes!"
"Tell me." She slid a finger inside the young woman. Her back arched.
"I love you, Xena!" Gabrielle came violently, tearing a hole in the blanket and crushing Xena's fingers together. Despite the pain in her hand, Xena smiled in satisfaction at the strangled cry that escaped from her love's throat.
Xena laid with her head on Gabrielle's thigh and watched lovingly as this woman who was now hers recovered and her breathing returned to normal. Then she stretched out alongside her, propping herself on an elbow and gazing down at the young bard's contented face.
"It seems you did quite a number on our best blanket," she commented nodding toward the hole.
"Excuse me, Warrior Princess, but I believe you did a number on me. Therefore, the hole in the blanket is actually your fault."
"Okay. I'll accept that responsibility." Her ice blue eyes turned serious with concer