Author's Note: This is the eighth chapter to the "true" story of Xena and Gabrielle. You will find this section extremely subtext-friendly. If two women showing their love for one another is not your cup of tea, please find another story you'd like to read. This story will be submitted in several parts and is based off the series, yet the "history" has been changed somewhat to suit the purposes of this story. Not all sections will contain erotic sex scenes as there is a plot.
Also, I'd like to note that I do not own Xena: Warrior Princess, the series, or the characters and I will not be receiving any payment whatsoever for writing this story. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.
(This chapter doesn't contain the usual sex scenes, although there is a brief description of forced sex involving a demon. Despite the lack of erotic scenes, I am hoping you will continue to enjoy the story.)
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After leaving the Amazon Village, Xena and Gabrielle traveled to Anphipolis, the city of Xena's birth. There, Xena's mother, Cyrene lived, along with her oldest son, Xena's only living sibling, Torris. After Xena had rescued Gabrielle from the slave traders, she had made amends with her mother with Gabrielle's help. Now Cyrene missed her only daughter greatly, wishing Xena would return for a visit. On this particular day, her wish would come true. Not only would Xena come home, but she would bring along Gabrielle, the young woman who had brought her precious daughter back to Cyrene.
Xena walked into the inn her mother owned, Gabrielle by her side. Cyrene immediately rushed forward upon seeing her daughter, grasping Xena tight in her arms. "My daughter, you have come home!" Cyrene exclaimed, looking Xena up and down, so glad to see her offspring.
"Mother, you have been missed!" said Xena with a huge grin. "How do you fare? And how is Torris; breaking young women's hearts as always?"
"I am well, daughter. And Torris is, too. He was recently married. Too bad we couldn't reach you. Your brother really wanted you here for the wedding."
"I'm sorry I missed it. I have been quite... busy," Xena spoke, her eyes moving over to Gabrielle who was listening to the conversation intently. Xena reached out, wrapping an arm around her beloved. "Gabrielle and I have been fighting for the greater good. I wanted to make you proud, Mother... after all the wrongs I have done."
"You do make me proud, Xena. I'm glad you've come home. Will you be staying with us permanently?" asked Cyrene hopefully, although she knew instinctively that her daughter was unlikely to settle down. She then glanced at Gabrielle, giving her a bright smile. She loved Xena's little blond companion very much. There was something about Gabrielle... she was full of so much light and goodness. She was exactly what Xena had needed to fill the empty dark spaces in her daughter's heart.
"No, Mother.... we are just here for a visit. There is so much we need to talk about...." Xena spoke, her words trailing off. How would she broach the subject of she and Gabrielle's joining to her mother? Her mother knew that Xena had a wild past with various men, but to her knowledge, her mother knew nothing of Xena's other side, her love for women. How would her mother handle the news? Of course, Cyrene deeply admired Gabrielle, but would she accept the fact that Xena loved her little sidekick as more than a friend?
"Indeed there is," Cyrene agreed, smiling once again at Gabrielle, who had not spoken a word yet which was very unusual for the talkative young bard. Lately Gabrielle had been hauntingly silent, as though something was troubling her once ever-so-peaceful state. Xena didn't know how to handle the unsettling silence.
Gabrielle smiled back, then went into Cyrene's embrace for a warm hug. "I missed you, Cyrene," she said affectionately, kissing the older woman softly on the cheek. "I especially missed that sweet nutbread you like to make."
Cyrene's chuckles echoed Xena's. "She does have an insatiable hunger for nutbread," said Xena with a hearty laugh. "Did I ever tell you about the time she got drugged when eating the stuff?"
"No... ummm... you haven't..." said Cyrene as her curiosity peaked, but Gabrielle cut the conversation off.
"Come on, Xena... you mustn't tell your mother all the gruesome details of our adventures," Gabrielle insisted, grasping Xena's hand and giving it a small warning squeeze. She always got embarrassed when Xena told the story of her getting drugged out of her mind when eating an entire nutbread loaf that had been laced with a drug called Henbane. Xena loved telling that story, but it always made Gabrielle blush.
Cyrene covered a smile, then lead Xena and Gabrielle to a table near the bar. "How about a hot meal and some wine, then we will talk?" she suggested, knowing that soon the patrons would be leaving for the night. Then there would be plenty of time to catch up on the many lost months they had been apart. Xena looked as though she had something very important to say. Could Cyrene's hunches be right? Could Xena have possibly met someone special and decided to settle down? Cyrene could only hope; she longed for many grandchildren.
"That sounds wonderful, Mother. Thanks," Xena said as she and Gabrielle were seated at a particularly large wooden table. Soon a hot meal was brought to them and wooden goblets of wine. Xena drank greedily, but Gabrielle sipped hers like a lady. The crowd began to disperse, and Cyrene came to sit with her daughter and her companion, watching with a mother's pleasure to see the both of them eating quite heartily.
"What brings you here, Xena? You haven't came here since we reconciled. This isn't just an ordinary visit, is it?" Cyrene questioned.
"No, Mother, it isn't," Xena spoke, not quite ready to divulge anything; she was too busy enjoying her mother's delicious cooking.
"Well, she's not talking, Gabrielle," Cyrene said, turning her attention to the green-eyed blond. "Would you tell me what's going on with Xena?"
Gabrielle looked up from her plate, meeting Cyrene's eyes. "Xena's here to ask you something," Gabrielle answered.
"Really? What do you have to ask me?" Cyrene looked at Xena, watching as her daughter finally ceased shoving food into her mouth.
Xena swallowed, then took a long sip of wine, savoring the potent taste upon her tongue. The wine in Anphipolis was the finest in the land. It had a delicious flavor Xena had greatly missed. "Mother, I've known for a very long time you have hoped I would marry and have children," Xena began, choosing her words carefully. "There have been lovers for me over the years, but no one I ever wanted to settled down with.... in fact, I am not certain I ever can... "Settle Down."
"I have been in love, but never have I given anyone my whole heart... not until now. Mother, what I am trying to tell you, is that it means so much for me to ask your blessing. I have found someone I love very much. Someone I wish the share the rest of my life with... someone who is EVERYTHING to me...."
"Well, where is he?" Cyrene cut in to demand.
Xena shook her head. "No, Mother, you do not understand," Xena spoke. "The one I love sits here before you now. It is Gabrielle. She's the one I love."
Cyrene's eyes went quickly from Xena, to Gabrielle, widening greatly. This was not what she had expected to hear. She began to speak in a strange babble, too shocked to form a coherent thought. "Gabrielle? She... you.... ohhhh myyyy!" she gasped, holding on tight to the edge of the table as though the room were spinning haphazardly.
"Mother, please try to understand. Gabrielle is special to me. She has my heart. I love her in a way I could never love a man. Please give us your blessing. It means so much to the both of us. Gabrielle loves you greatly," Xena went on to explain. "We want to be joined in the Amazon village. We would like you to be there, if you can attend. But we have to talk to Gabrielle's parents first. We seek their blessings as well."
Cyrene didn't say anything for several moments, as though trying to absorb the heavy weight of the information. Gabrielle held her breath. She didn't want to be the cause of a rift between Xena and her mother again, not when she had so recently helped them to reconcile and see beyond their differences. She crossed her fingers, hoping that Cyrene would understand and grant her blessing.
Cyrene turned her gaze to Gabrielle, looking deeply into sea-green eyes. "Gabrielle, you brought my daughter back to me. You helped to mend the wounds between us with your goodness. There is no way I can repay you for that. It is a gift which is priceless.... I am so glad to have my Xena back... my little one... there are not enough thank yous I could possibly say to convey how indebted I am to you. You gave me back a piece of my own heart."
Cyrene reached out, taking her hand and placing it over Gabrielle's. She then took Gabrielle's small hand, laying it upon her daughter's larger one, joining the two. "If you make Xena happy, you have my whole-hearted blessing. No one has ever reached her the way you have. You brought my daughter back from the dark place she was enslaved. That kind of love is amazing and should be celebrated. I will be there on the day you join.... and I will be proud. I want you to be happy, Xena," Cyrene then said to her daughter. "That's all I ever wanted for you."
A smile broke out over Xena's face and her eyes welled up with tears. If only she could make her mother's other wish come true... and there could be a whole bunch of grandkids; her mother always wanted babies to rock. But that would be up to Torris now. Solan, Xena's only child was no longer hers to love, and she could not give Gabrielle a child. If it were possible, she would give Gabrielle as many babies as her heart desired, but no matter how hard the two of them wished, that dream was unlikely to come true.
"Thank you, Mother," said Xena as she wiped away the lone tear that escaped from her eye. "That means so much to me."
"Welcome to the family, Gabrielle," said Cyrene, smiling at her daughter, then opening her arms to Gabrielle. Gabrielle hugged Cyrene tightly, feeling loved and accepted. In her own family, the love had never flowed this freely, but oh how she wished it would. She was fairly certain they wouldn't have the reception they had received here in Anphipolis. In Potedia, their love was unlikely to be unaccepted. Gabrielle wasn't sure what she would do or how she would react if her own parents refused to grant blessings on she and Xena's union. She only knew one thing, she loved Xena... and nothing ever could come between what she and Xena shared. It was rooted into her very existence. She didn't know how to breathe without Xena. It would tear apart if she lost her love.
"You are my daughter now," Cyrene said, lovingly stroking Gabrielle's long blond hair. "Here, you are accepted and loved. This is your home too, don't you ever forget it."
"I won't, Cyrene," Gabrielle said as her own eyes filled up with tears. "I love you, too."
"Is this a family reunion?" a deep voice said at the door.
