Fantasies are funny things. They can be terribly complex or as simple as a sentence. Mine are always complex, detail after detail conjured in my mind, from the color of things to the texture against my skin. Maybe that's the bard in me. I thought for a long time that everyone's fantasies were as intricate as my own.

Really though, looking back it, the emotion and desire behind my fantasies were simple, it was the setting that was complex. I was young though and my experience was limited to some extent. I'd been travelling with Xena for a few years, and we'd been lovers for the last year or so before we started talking about our intimate fantasies.

I think I started the conversation and then proceeded to manipulate it, pouring out my every idea to Xena, who listened patiently. Finally, I'd run out of my own fuel and looked at her. Her blue eyes held an amused look.

"Well?"

She raised an eyebrow at me and responded. "Well, what?"

"Your turn. What's your biggest fantasy?" I asked hesitantly. I knew that I wasn't Xena's first female lover, and that she'd been with many men, including Hercules. There were times in the back of my mind when I wondered how I compared to them. Did I fulfill her? Was I able to giver her what she needed? She never led on that I didn't, but still, it was a question I asked myself during my darkest moods.

"Hmmm...to be dominated by someone I trust and love." Her answer was quiet, which was good considering that we were sitting in a tavern full of people.

I sat across from where she sat with her back to the wall. Her eyes weren't focused on me now; instead they seemed to be starring off at something just over my shoulder.

"With who?" I choked on the question. Did I really want to hear that she fantasized about someone else? I could see how Hercules would be good in that role, his strength adding to the fantasy.

Focusing on me once again, her face took on a puzzled look. "Huh?"

Oh good gods above, she was going to make me repeat myself? "Who is it that you fantasize about in that...mmm...way?"

"You don't mean that do you?" She didn't say this harshly, just with total disbelief.

"I was just wondering, sorry." I felt stupid. Obviously Xena thought this was something I should know the answer to.

"Gabrielle, it's you."

It was my turn to look at my partner in question. "Huh?"

Her finely sculpted face took on a look of understanding. "You really didn't know, did you?" I shook my head in response. Taking my hands in her larger ones, she held them tightly. "You are my fantasy, Gabrielle. Anytime I ever think about anyone in an intimate way, it's you that I see. I thought you realized that any fantasy, any desire, I have directly involves you."

I swear, she was able to make me melt by just looking at me, but when she spoke as she did that day, I would become like molten lava. My mind began to understand even as it formed a plan. Fantasies are meant to come true.

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