Disclaimers: The characters of Xena: Warrior Princess and all other associated with the television series of the same name are owned by MCA/ Universal Pictures. This is a work of fan fiction and no copyright infringement is intended.

Subtext: I guess with my writing so far we'll just quit calling it subtext and call it maintext. Yes they are in love with each other.

Sex: Nothing graphic

Violence: Umm…yeah<g>

Language: Mild

Other: Part Thirty-five in the series "Raising Melosa". Take place about six months after "Heir to the Throne".

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By T.Novan

She pulls me into her arms. My body relaxing as the last wave of pleasure sweeps through my body. "Hmm…that was sooo nice."

"Happy anniversary wife." Xena purrs as she pulls me close to her and runs her hands up and down my back.

"Happy anniversary Xe." I caress her face and give her a soft kiss. Ten seasons. Ten seasons we have been joined. It doesn’t seem possible.

"So you know Your Majesty, we really should get out of bed now. We have a treaty to negotiate today."

I groan. "Why today? Oh they had to show up three days early. We should make them wait until tomorrow."

"Oh that would be bad form Your Majesty." She nuzzles my neck.

"Then behave. Or we’ll never make it." I give her a little shove.

"As you wish Your Majesty."

"Oh wish they’d take a long walk off a short dock."

Xena laughs at me as she rolls over and sits up. She hands me my robe and slips into her own. "This is a very important treaty Gabrielle. Hopefully we’ll get through the negotiations quickly and we can get back to the far more important issues." She looks at me and wiggles her eyebrows with that leering little smirk.

"Ohhh if you insist Warrior." I sit up and put my robe on. "I’d much rather negotiate your surrender."

"No negotiations required Ri. I surrendered to you ten seasons ago and I’ve never regretted it." She caresses my cheek and gives me a soft kiss. "Now however I have to go put on my warrior face and scare the Tartarus out of our guests to make your job easier."

"If they could see what you were doing a quarter of a candle mark ago there’s no way they’d buy the warrior bit." I tease as I get up and dodge her as she lunges for me.

"Oh you think so huh?" Xena gets up and pulls me into her arms. "You don’t think I could intimidate them while…" Her lips move to my neck, my knees go weak as she supports us both.

I straighten up in her embrace and put my hands on her shoulders. "Umm no and don’t even think about trying. Just put on your warrior face and let’s get this thing done. Then we can get back to…other things." I push away from her again.

She shoots me another mischievous grin and moves to the cabinet that holds her gear. She tosses her leathers to the bed and I find myself staring down at them. She doesn’t wear them that often any more and some part of me misses them. I make a mental note that she is going to need to keep them on tonight. I smile and head for a bath.

Just as I finish filling the tub and slide in, she comes in and strips off her robe. Without a word she gets into the tub and pulls me into her arms.

"Xena…behave or we’re going to be late…"

"Let ‘em wait…"

We enter the council chambers. Luckily we are only half a candle mark late. Xena is in full warrior mode now. Her demeanor is protective, almost on the verge of threatening. I take my seat at the head of the council table as she takes up her position behind me. I look at our visitors. Delegates from a small village on the southern border. I had managed to sign treaties with all of the surrounding villages expect for this one.

The village elders feel like they had a little something they can hold over my head because the main road onto amazon land runs right through their own village. As a result they had seen fit to refuse any attempts at negotiating a treaty with us. These six men had been sent to us to go another round as it were. This treaty is important because I don’t want to commit amazons to the task of building another road around the village. I hope that we will be able to settle this once and for all.

Gregon, the leader if this delegation doesn’t like Xena either. This certainly doesn’t help matters. He seems to be patronizing to me on purpose and I believe a lot of that is to see if he can get a rise out of her. She always maintains her composure even when he is being the most obnoxious human being (I use the term loosely) in the world.

After three candle marks of battling back and forth with these men I decide to call a break. I’m getting a Tartarus of a headache and I know Xena has to be getting tired. She has been standing behind me the entire time without moving a muscle. I can tell Gregon is being difficult just because he thinks he can.

As the council adjourns several of our members come to me and tell me they were ready to commit amazons to building a road around the village just because this man is being such an ass. I have to laugh as we walk outside into the bright sunlight. Xena comes out a couple of steps behind me. I turn to say something to her when Sol comes up and takes her by the arm and they wander off to the side of the group that has exited the building.

Melosa cuts through the crowd and comes up to me. She stands there patiently and waits for me to finish my conversation. As I continue to talk I hold out my hand and pull her to me, placing my arm around her shoulder and holding her close. She wraps an arm around my waist and waits quietly. Gregon comes through the crowd and stands there grinning at me. All conversation dies down and our ‘guest’ continues to stand there. I draw a deep breath and wait. Then it becomes quite clear what exactly is going through his mind by the leer on his face.

"Melosa?"

"Yes Mother?" She looks up at me as she shades the sun from her eyes with her hand.

"Plan Beta." I smile down at her with a wink. She slips away from me without another word. "Yes Gregon can I help you?"

"You know Your Majesty. I’m sure that if you and I had some ‘private’ time to talk, we could ‘negotiate’ a very nice treaty." He leers, looking me up and down.

My stomach literally turns over when he makes his disgusting little suggestion. This man is truly slime. Then he makes the fatal mistake. He actually puts his hand on me. Stroking my arm with his hand to emphasize his suggestion. I hear the bones breaking before he feels it I would imagine. I look over and see Xena she has his hand in her own and continues to squeeze. Gregon drops to his knees as he yells in agony over the broken hand.

"You bitch!" He manages to keep on being stupid even as Xena continues to hold onto him.

"That’s my wife you just touched!" Xena twists the broken hand. "I have had it with you Gregon. I’ll build the damn road myself just for the pleasure of kicking your ass." She twists his injured hand again. "First you come here and make a fool of yourself and then you use even more bad judgement and touch my wife. Just not your day huh slick?"

"Give me half a chance Xena and you’ll be sorry you did this." He growls at her.

"Oh puullleezeee." She rolls her eyes and lets go of his hand and motions to him. "Come on slick give it your best shot."

The crowd backs up as Gregon gets to his feet and calls for his men. He cradles his broken hand. Ep and Sol rush forward, but Xena motions them back. Normally I would have stopped this a long time ago, but I have had just about enough too and today is our anniversary, I have to let her have some fun.

"What’s matter Gregon? Can’t handle one woman by yourself?" She taunts him as his men encircle them both.

I stand there watching the whole display realizing for the first time how stupid these men really are. They are on Amazon land, in the main village. Picking a fight with the Queen’s champion, while surrounded by two hundred fifty of the fiercest amazon warriors. If they do manage to get through Xena they’ll never get off the land alive. They won’t even manage to get out of this ring alive.

"Get her you fools!" Gregon yells at his men.

Melosa slides her hand into mine. "Oh that was just stupid." She just shakes her head.

"Un-huh. I should stop this before they get hurt."

"Mom will be furious if you do. You should have seen the look on her face when I gave her the code word. Oh she was hot."

Gregon’s men rush her and she proceeds to beat them senseless. She sends the first man half way across the square with a kick to the chest.

"Oh he’s gonna feel that in the morning." Mel snickers as we watch him land with a thud.

The sound of the second man’s nose breaking rings out and the entire crowd groans with him. Mel just shakes her head again. "That’s gonna leave a bruise…"

"Be nice…"

"I could go get him a cold compress."

"You’d better not. You’ll get sent to your room. She’s actually working up a sweat here."

The third man makes the mistake of charging her with a knife. After capturing his arm and breaking it she takes the knife and drives it through his foot.

"Oh I hope that doesn’t get infected." Mel continues with her caustic little comments.

Four and five are taken down at the same time when she simply knocks their heads together and they slip to the ground.

"Not enough herbs in the world that are gonna help that headache." Mel looks up at me. "You think they learned their lesson?"

I chew on the inside of my mouth for a moment and wait to see. None of the men get up and Gregon just stares at Xena as she towers over him. "Your turn." She purrs at him as she draws him up by the shirt.

"Xena that’s enough."

She turns around and looks at me. I see the silent plea in her eyes. I shake my head no. She growls and lets him go, but not before delivering an elbow to his jaw that snaps it as he falls to the ground. I drop my head and shake it. She walks way from him. Several amazon guards begin collecting the men and prepare to escort them off our land.

She walks back over to me. I look at her and raise my eyebrows.

"Hey is it my fault if he fell into my elbow?"

Mel giggles. I give her a look too. She rocks back and forth on her heals. She and Xena exchange looks.

"Guess this means the treaty talks are off huh? Mel smirks as she takes Xena’s hand.

"Well since Gregon won’t be doing any talking for a long time to come. I’d have to say yes, the talks are probably off. Xena wipes the sweat from her forehead with her free hand.

"So you wanna go fishing?"

"All right would you two behave please?" I swear, sometimes together these two could almost be too much. Xena grins at me as she squeezes Mel’s hand. This is their signal that they are about to drive me insane and they need to be good.

As I prepare for the party I can’t help but feel a little guilty about the fact that the treaty negotiations had fallen apart. I sigh heavily as I sit at my table in our sleeping chambers. Xe comes out of the bathing chamber tugging on the sleeves of her robes. She finally had them altered so they would fit better in the shoulders. She knew I’d want her to wear them tonight so getting them altered was a matter of necessity really. She comes up behind me and nuzzles my neck.

"Hmm you smell good." She looks up and stares at me through my reflection in the polished metal. "What’s wrong Ri?"

"Oh I guess I’m feeling a little guilty about today."

"Don’t. Ri we tried everything to be reasonable. Gregon was just here to annoy and irritate us. He got what he deserved. Besides tonight is the tenth anniversary of our joining. You’re not allowed to feel guilty about anything." She pauses and grins at me. "Except for maybe taking me out of circulation and denying other women a chance…"

"Oh just stop right there Warrior. Aren’t we just full of ourselves?"

"Hey it just so happens that I have a couple of young ladies over in the village who think I’m still worth a look or two."

"Do tell…" I rest my chin on my fist waiting to hear this.

"Nothing to tell really it just seems that a couple of your younger warriors have just a little bit of a crush on your consort."

"Un-huh. And I’ll bet you just love it don’t you?"

"Well I have to admit it is flattering. I mean come on Ri I’m not twenty-five anymore."

"No you’re not. Thank the Gods."

"Hey what’s that suppose to mean?"

I stand and put my arms around her. "It just means my love, that I wouldn’t trade these last fifteen seasons for all the dinars in Greece. I love you Xena. I’m proud that you chose me to be your wife and I’m so proud of everything that we have accomplished together, our home and our beautiful family. It’s a good life we have here Xe and I’m extremely happy that I still have you to share it with."

"Yeah I guess I’ve given you a scare or two over the seasons haven’t I?"

"Just one or two." I smile up at my warrior as I caress her face. Our eyes meet and the love is there as always. "As for your little admirers in over in the village Warrior. You tell them they are more than welcome to look, but they had better not touch."

"Yes Your Majesty." She leans in and kisses me and gives me her heart and soul once again.

Before leaving our home to go over to the village for the celebration in honor of our ten seasons together, Xena retrieves the box from the cabinet in the common room. She has never failed to bring it with us on every anniversary since our first one when I gave it to her. I have to smile at this gesture. It’s a small one but it means so much to me and she knows it. She never forgets.

We walk hand and hand slowly over to the village. The party has actually already started and even our children are there ahead of us. After so many seasons of celebrating this day with us everyone knows that we’re always going to be late. They come to accept it and even expect it. However upon our arrival the party really seems to kick into high gear and we spend the evening celebrating our good fortune with our friends and family.

Once again most of our friends have gathered for the celebration. Hercules and Iolaus are here as well as Autolycus (who keeps getting his face slapped, he’s never going to learn). Salmoneus arrived with Joxer and Meg and their daughter.

Our own children come to us as soon as we arrive and I have to smile as Xena is positively covered in little bodies. They adore her almost as much as she adores them. After many loving hugs and kisses from both of us they are off to play with their friends and enjoy the party as well. We are truly fortunate to have these bright and beautiful children.

Solan and Alana join us for a few moments. Soon we will be blessed with another grandchild. I take little Ri into my arms and give her a hug. She was our first grandchild and will always hold a special place in my heart. She wraps her arms around me and we enjoy a long hug, then as per usual she wants to squirm free and go to Xena. So I put her down and watch her go tug on her grandmother’s robes. She too adores the warrior and they are almost as inseparable as Mel and Xe when they are together. Xena bends over and picks the baby up without missing a beat in her conversation with Solan and Alana. I watch them with a very satisfied little smile on my face.

After we have said hello to as many people as possible Xena does something a bit

unexpected, she takes me into the center of the village and begins to dance with me. It’s a slow and soft melody that is playing and she wraps her arms around me and we begin moving with the music.

"Happy?" A smile plays on the edge of her lips.

"So very happy."

"Good. I never want you to be unhappy."

"I never will as long as I’m right here." I lean into her and her arms tighten around me as we continue to dance. I close my eyes and it’s just the two of us here in my private little world.

As usual we finally take our seats on the dais. The party quiets as Xena stands and reaches for the box. She opens it with almost ritual reverence. She removes the solid silver goblet and places it in front of me. She then closes the box and sets it off to the side, taking a bottle of wine she fills the cup. Turning and smiling at me she offers me her hand and I stand with her.

The goblet is actually two cups that I had crafted right after we were joined. They fit together in perfect unison forming a heart shape when combined. One of the cups has Xena’s name engraved on it and the other has mine. She takes the one with her name and hands it to me. Then she picks up the other one and holds it up in toast.

"Gabrielle, my Queen, my beautiful wife of ten seasons. You have given me more than I ever thought possible. We are of one heart, one soul. I adore you and I love you."

She lifts her cup just a little and then drinks from it. I smile and sip from mine as she pulls me into a warm hug and then kisses me. She makes a toast to me every year and always ends it with a declaration of her love for me. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes. My stoic warrior is really a very romantic woman, although I’ve been sworn to secrecy about that fact.

We settled back down into out chairs and enjoy the meal that is served in our honor. I simply love watching her. Even as she leans over and speaks with Ep about some thing or the other I simply can’t take my eyes off her. Ep has apparently said something that amuses her she breaks into a soft laugh and smiles as they continue to talk. I draw a deep breath and place a gentle hand on her arm.

She turns and smiles at me. "Yes my love?"

"It’s time for us to go Warrior." I grin at her, my meaning is perfectly clear.

As we walk across the village to our quarters here I simply smile. We always spend the night here on this night. The children are well cared for by Solan and Alana who allow us this time just for each other by keeping them for the night. Sol tries to stop Xena for a moment, but my warrior knows better.

She grins as she looks to Sol, "I’ll talk to you in the morning. Right now, duty calls."

…

The Raising Melosa Series Continues with Going Home

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