Summary:

Xena stood close in front of her, with Gabrielle’s bouquet of flowers filling the space between them. This was goodbye, but only for now. They would see each other someday for sure.

Gabrielle watched Xena’s gaze flicker down, just for a moment. Xena leaned slowly towards her, tilting her head slightly, and Gabrielle raised her face to meet her.

Xena’s lips brushed the corner of her mouth, instilling that commitment through her lips.

When they pulled back and hugged, Gabrielle’s heart squeezed.

Or

5 plus times Xena kissed Gabrielle. Set in season 2.

Word Count: 5000

Contains canon typical violence, questions about Gabrielle’s role in violence, and Xena’s relationship to Gabrielle’s violence. And kisses.

“Xena! …Xena, we’ve got trouble!”

An imperceptibly slow pulse instantly quickened. Gabrielle!

“Wait a second.”

A heart that had long known it was not whole thudded to protest the delay of its reunion with its newfound other half. Irritation spiked the warrior princess’s waning blood pressure. Step aside, you fool!

“Salmoneus, get out of my way!” that cherished voice echoed.

“Wait a second!”

“What?” 

Breath abandoned the lungs that were keeping two people alive.

No! Xena lost the little bit of consciousness she had left.

#

Am I dead? the woman wondered several seconds later. I must be, for she could hear each one of Gabrielle’s shattered, disbelieving thoughts as if they were rioting within her own head.

Xena, how could you? You promised me you’d be here when I got back! How- How could this happen? Why- …

Gabrielle, I’m here! she wanted to tell her companion. Do not be afraid. I have not left you. I am with you always.

This must be a dream. I’m dreaming…

You are a dream, my dream, my dream come true.

There were no words then, only soundless emotions; Xena, Destroyer of Nations and unfeeling warlord—dead, unfeeling warrior—acutely perceived everything coming from Gabrielle, the lively girl who had opened her friend up to feelings as only she could.

That unbearable and yet irreplaceable soft touch carefully albeit absently fixed Xena’s hair.

Soon, both pale hands were fussing with the long locks, the bard ruefully joking to herself that she could finally do whatever she wanted with them. Perhaps she’d spend the evening brushing them just to annoy their owner. Gabrielle smiled wryly and gave a slight head shake. The same irresistible compulsion that had drawn her to Xena’s hair in the first place, the warrior overall, drew the bard to her knees to kiss her friend’s cheek.

That smallest, lightest touch burned most of all. It banished the coldness that had settled into fast-stiffening limbs. 

But the response went unnoticed, or, perhaps, it was felt but not trusted. 

Gabrielle was only allowed a second to press her face to her friend’s before Salmoneus spoke and broke the spell that had been cast over her at seeing the impossible. 

Thus, the even more impossible happened. Following a last long look, the girl severed the connection between her and her soulmate with a simple, unspoken goodbye. Gabrielle stood and turned away from that which she could longer bear to witness.

Her warmth and light gone, Xena fell back into icy darkness.

.

“Go; go on!”

Well knowing that Gabrielle would not leave her alone in such a vulnerable state even if the girl’s life depended on it, Xena allowed herself several moments to soak in her friend’s comforting presence. Then the warrior princess tensed her shoulder muscles just enough so that Gabrielle alone would notice. She lowered her voice below Melas’s hearing range to make a rare entreaty. “Please. I just need a minute.”

Gabrielle reluctantly pulled away. “Alright.” Her hand still resting on the woman’s inner shoulder, she softly but pointedly added, “But I’ll be waiting for you…”

Xena’s jaw tightened as she nodded curtly. Nevertheless, she tossed a grateful smile at her friend to ease the bard’s mind.

That reassuring hand squeezed her one final time and then left her.

The warrior princess forced herself not to look back. 

#

As promised, she did not keep Gabrielle waiting long. Both surprised and not, need and wariness battling within her, she froze when the blonde enveloped her in an embrace that included each stocky limb. “Gabrielle? What- How- Why-”

A tearful, teasing, “There’s a sentence in there just dying to get out!” tickled the hollow of her throat.

“Why would you want to stay with me after what I told you? How can you-”

“You need me.” 

Xena shook her head. “Gabrielle, you need to get out of here!” she demanded close to bitingly despite being unable to get her body to cooperate in separating from the girl.

Gabrielle did it herself. Releasing Xena, she pulled back to say, “Fat chance. I’m not going anywhere.” A self-deprecating smile flashed across her face with the popping of an ember when she conceded, “But I will give you some space. Good-”

“Gabrielle, I mean it! Not- just because of me, but Callisto! She’s smart; she’ll know how much you mean to me! That p-”

“Puts me in grave danger. What else is new? Good night, Xena.” The bard settled on her side with her back to the woman.

Huffing and scoffing in one, Xena mirrored her.

#

Elven ears attuned to the nearly inaudible sniffling coming from behind them. Automatically, the body they were attached to rolled over to reach out and make contact with its upholder. Gabrielle once more attempted to dry Xena’s face.

Rather than pull away again, Xena could not stop herself from snatching her friend’s hand and holding it to her cheek. She smiled, which made her cry harder, when the little bard scootched closer to both provide her with warmth and ward off the smothering flames of the past.

#

Gabrielle echoed Xena’s tossing and turning throughout the night. Her instincts kept her catering to her hero, no matter her state of consciousness. Liquid pain from the brunette required caresses from her small hands. Reciprocal stroking compelled Gabrielle to remain utterly still, biting back grins at the profound gratitude and wonder emanating from her soulmate.

“You’re still here,” that deep voice whispered each hour. 

“You’re not alone,” her sleep-roughened one murmured back.

.

500 words. Hm, should I stop with the end of season one? No one seems much interested in these any more, besides perhaps @scentedflowersong and sometimes @dulcie13. Hmm… Either way, I think I’ll include links to all the previous EFs and the Google Doc at the bottom of each post from here on out.

Episodic Ficlets: #1 #1 (Truncated) #2 #3 #4 #4 (Alternate) #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 

“I mean, come on. If you didn’t do it, then who…?”

The pair stared up at the sky for a few beats.

Xena broke the moment with a playful full-body shudder and then exclaimed, “So, I lied to you last week!” just before realizing that wasn’t quite what she’d wanted to say nor how.

Gabrielle whirled around to face her friend, eyes glaring and hands clapped over her ears once more. “Honestly, the Olympians-” but she tapered off at the look on the woman’s face.

Xena retreated toward Argo. Her fidgety hands had trouble opening the saddlebag nearest her, and when she saw what was inside, she hesitated. Bright blue eyes flitted up to green-blue ones that were draining confusion and filling with wonder. The warrior princess hitched an awkward smile onto her face, untied the bag from Argo’s saddle horn, and then thrust the gift into Gabrielle’s hands. “Um, well, ah- What I was trying to say is that I was really coming back by Potidaea last week because I didn’t want to miss your birthday. This is from me… and the Amazons, but mostly me.”

Never breaking her visual lock on the brunette, the girl slowly undid the rope around the top of the velveteen sack. 

Xena piped up once more. “Well, don’t look at me! See what I got you!” Her face nearly cracked from the effort of maintaining her grin.

“Oh, it’s beautiful! …But-” The blonde got cut off by Xena grabbing the new staff from her and assembling it. 

“See? It’s collapsible! Much more convenient for you, so you never have to go anywhere without a weapon! …To… To keep you safe. Because you’re precious, and I don’t ever want anything to happen to you.” There! Xena triumphed internally. I said it, and now she won’t be able to complain that I- 

“What did you say?” Gabrielle asked, unable to believe the final, speedily spoken sentence she’d heard.

“I- I said… Um…” Xena closed her eyes, put her hands on Gabrielle’s shoulders, and took a deep breath. But before she could open her mouth again, she got crashed into and nearly suffocated by her little companion. The woman froze for a moment, remembering how the girl had similarly held onto her in the well and then smiling from the understanding that, then, it had been from frightened survival instinct; now, it was an expression of joyful appreciation. Peacefully, she lay her cheek on top of orange hair before hugging Gabrielle back.

“It’s okay; you don’t-”

Xena shook her head but did not lift it. “No, I do have to say it. It’s important to you. …A-and me too. You- You’re- You’re very precious …to me. And I would hate for the light you bring into my life to be dimmed, let alone go out.” Images of Gabrielle announcing she was going to the Athens Academy; hanging from a collapsed bridge; trembling with Thersites’s knife at her throat; lying facedown by the side of the Alconian Lake; cringing within Sinteres’s cruel grasp, twice; frozen in the path of a fast-approaching cart of sharpened trees; waving, teary-eyed, as she turned toward Potadeia; strewn facedown in the dirt yet again mere hours ago; wincing with Mael’s knife at her throat; and nearly plunging to her death in the well made Xena squeeze Gabrielle just as hard as Gabrielle was squeezing her. Her voice wavered when she demanded, “You need to be more careful! I can’t lose you, Gabrielle! Do you hear me?” She wanted to shake the girl but could not get either one of them to loosen their grips on each other.

Gabrielle smiled just as softly as she promised, “I will, Xena. You’ll see! With this new staff, the world will have to watch out of me!”

“It’d better!” the warrior princess grumbled.

Silence reasserted itself for quite some time.

“Ah!” Xena shook her head and released Gabrielle to swipe at her eyes before the girl could see their water. “Anyway, happy birthday, kid,” she said gruffly.

But Gabrielle knew that the harsh tone only came from the tears and lump in her friend’s throat. Still not opening her eyes and giving her hero one last squeeze, she replied, “Thank you, Xena.”

.

700 words. Also, if you didn’t know, then nineteenth episodes are always Gabrielle’s birthday, and my tracing of Gabrielle’s staffs has further led me to believe that her main one was a gift from Xena. What do you guys think? Either way, happy birthday, Gabrielle, and happy pride, everyone! 😆 

Check the Directory / the Google Doc if you want a full listing of my posts, or go here if you’d like to read the ficlets all in one place. Thanks! / You’re welcome! 🤣

So, as you probably know, I’m an avid fic-writer and sometimes reader. A curiosity I have: Where did the idea of candlemarks come from? The term is so strange to me; I don’t think I ever heard it on the show. Am I missing something?

In “Maternal Instincts,” Xena enumerates the years, months, and days it's been since she last visited Solan. “Them Bones, Them Bones” has Gabrielle quantifying Xena’s gestation in a more archaic way, seasons. Were any other time markers name-checked in the show (besides the obvious one of the [variable] seconds that the pinch takes to kill someone)? 

One fic series I found referred to years as seasons, which got me really confused at first because there are, of course, four seasons in a year. Everything couldn’t possibly be a quarter of the age it’s implied to be, right? Is that another thing I’m missing some part of? Please let me know!

“It’s Gabrielle who performed the miracle. …Din’cha?”

Grandmother? Uncle Meropes? Dazed orbs sought the faces of her loved ones with whom she had just reunited. The young bard gasped at what she saw instead. Xena’s looking at me with such love in her eyes. She’s even tearing up. No! Gabrielle mourned when the warrior princess pulled back from kissing her on the forehead. I don’t want this dream to end. A stuttered breath later, the girl panicked. Unless Xena’s dead too! Th-the temple!

Those strong arms cinched tighter around in her limp frame. “Ssh,” that voice soothed her. “It’s alright, precious. You’re safe. You’re safe now; I promise!”

“...Xena?”

“Yes, lovey?” Her voice catching on the endearment, the woman still laughed beneath watery eyes.

Gabrielle knew then she was still on the other side.

Or maybe not. The center of her chest began to ache terribly.

“I-it hurts,” she whispered. She soon passed out, for Xena immediately parted her top and kissed the forming bruise there.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” 

It had to be a dream.

#

“I love you.”

Elven ears perked up, and Gabrielle let herself grin. “I know,” she told her dream lover. 

“Oh, ya do, do ya? I guess I don’t have to say it anymore then.”

Green-blue eyes shot open at that warm, teasing tone. Her hand rose to ensnare itself in the long, raven locks spilling into her face but found itself full of another hand. She’s even still holding me, the bard mused, utterly amazed.

“How-” Xena’s voice broke again. “How’re you feelin’, hon- huh?”

“Safe,” the bard murmured as she snuggled even closer to her hero.

#

For the next few days, Gabrielle would not wake without dark hair in her eyes, warm breath tickling her temple, and powerful hands cradling her in some way.

We’ll have to come through this forest more often, she thought to herself with a soft but naughty grin. Then she would whine or whimper, and Xena would instantly spring to attention to wait on her hand and foot. Definitely challenge the warrior princess to stop a war at least once a season from here on out. 

A pointed poke in the nose and huff told her to not even try it. 

But Gabrielle knew that she would.

.

Woo! 300th post! I debated writing this bit, figured it’d be a better conclusion to the season, and so went ahead and did it. Sue me. 😛 But yay! So much is complete now!

Season 1 FFLMs: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 + MFLMs: #1 #2

Season 2 FFLMs: #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 #32 #33 #34 #35 + MFLM: #3

Episodic Ficlets: #1 #1 (Truncated) #2 #3 #4 #4 (Alternate) #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 + full Google Doc

Also, Adrienne Wilkinson is working with me on getting my first novel ready for publication. COOOOOOL!!! She’s seriously the best, y’all. Also-also, another Xenite helped me download all the Rift Arc episodes in HD. Now I can redo the images for a bunch of my posts! Yaaaaay! Which one should I do first? Lemme know! And celebrate this milestone with me, if you will! Thanks!

“I wonder what adventures Xena’s into now.”

Gabrielle’s smile faded as she imagined the warrior princess alone. Dueling images of Xena finally enjoying peace and quiet without the incessant chatter or similarly lying awake but with a heavy heart and empty stomach expanded into dreams as the young girl drifted to sleep.

But Morpheus’s realm did not show Gabrielle Xena’s escapades.

Instead, the bard remembered.

Watching her incogitable rescuer and knowing instantly, I will follow you to the ends of the Earth.

Waking up her first morning next to the warrior princess beaming, then reaching out and caressing soft, raven locks to prove to herself that her dream woman was real.

Those captivating eyes snapping open in response and seemingly telekinetically flinging her hand away.

Becoming inexplicably and yet irrepressibly enamored with Xena’s hair, offering to comb out its tangles each night.

Getting rejected often and then stopped much too soon every time she did gain permission.

Except that once.

The confused, concerned glances Gabrielle received upon becoming upset by yet another thoughtless action of the warrior princess.

The totally unexpected but absolutely perfect gifts Xena would wordlessly thrust upon her before retreating to go do some unnecessary task.

Each budding attempt at consideration and kindness of her friend, successful and not.

Every lesson the warrior patiently and not-so-patiently taught her.

How pride kindled within her whenever she caught amazement on Xena’s face while displaying fast-learned moves with her staff or cooking a favorite treat of the warrior princess.

The wholeness, warmth, and security she only knew in those strong arms.

Yes, Gabrielle would miss Xena very much; perhaps Xena would miss her too. The bard could only dream.

.

275 words because this is my 275th post. Yay! Also, what timing, eh? Happy Lu Day!!!

I have a question to pose to you all that I have been wondering about for a while now. Does anyone else think that Gabrielle might have spared baby Hope partly out of fear of Dahak? I mean, look what happened to our battling bard as a result of her first kill! I highly doubt she’d be gung-ho to kill again mere days later, anyone, let alone, a/her own newborn. Most pressingly, who’s to say that Dahak couldn’t better use a calculated murder to just grab Gabrielle up and impregnate her again?

[Obligatory, illustrative fic-excerpt (from Rapprochement):

“How could I take a life again? S-so, so soon after the terrible price I’d had to pay for killing Meridian? And beyond seriously doubting that killing a sweet little baby could ever be good, I feared: what would Dahak do to me for killing his child? Look at what he and his followers did to me when they thought I was innocent, and that was all they wanted from me! Can you imagine what he’d do to me for being guilty? Guilty of murdering a child, our child? I couldn’t; dream of it… Or, worse, I could. I-I couldn’t bear to-”]

After all, a god, his cult, a round table of knights, a lynch mob, and a trio of shade-spirits all asserted that Gabrielle was the chosen vessel for evil to become flesh. Perhaps she thought she’d have to birth and prosper Dahak’s child, no matter what. The sole requirement to bring that plan to fruition was for Gabrielle to give up her innocence of evil to the god. Her first kill was practically an accident. Not only was it a trick designed to play upon all her best attributes, she had instinctively whipped around and struck out the same as she had seconds prior but that time with a dagger in her hand. Her purity might still be at least partly intact. It could even be said that Hope’s later inability to be fully evil could be attributed to the incomplete sacrifice of her mother’s goodness on Dahak’s altar, no? But put the bard into a situation where she had to first plot a murder and second carry it out in cold-blood, that would be the true, total loss of her blood innocence. How much more could Dahak use that to his advantage? Imagine what he and his offspring could have done and been had Gabrielle wittingly sacrificed her purity of heart to them.

Conversely, Dahak might have re-victimized Gabrielle from spite alone. She already thought her pregnancy was some sort of cosmic justice. It’s not a stretch to think that killing Dahak’s baby would result in him punishing the killer by making her undergo another supernatural pregnancy and childbirth, the built-in bonus being the reinforcement of the inevitability of her forced role in the destruction of the world as she knew it (a full loss of her hope), no? Hmm… What do you guys think?