“c1″> 

The first one
still was burned in her memory. It was after she stopped the war
against the Centaurs and began to lead her army through half
of Greece “EN-US” class=”c1″>to conquer “c1″>Corinth. Once again, her
hands were covered with blood when she held the battered body of a
dead man in her arms. This time fighting and killing did nothing to
end the dreams, and so she learned to live with them. Over the
years, they became as much a part of her as her battle cry or her
sword.

“c1″> 

The
first night she spent with Gabrielle, sitting in this chair, and
holding her hand, was the first night without those dreams, the
memories of blood and carnage, burning houses and screaming
villagers, of lost friends, and lovers, and…. She
didn’t know it then, and it took ten more days and Gabrielle
to point the obvious out. When they finally decided to spend the
nights together, sleeping side by side, for the first time in
almost fifteen years Xena began to look forward going to
sleep.

“c1″> 

But soon the
Conqueror of Greece and “c1″>Rome was facing a problem
of a different order. The first nights the young woman was careful
to keep her distance, only her hand touching Xena’s. The
warrior’s keen senses took in the blonde’s scent, her
breathing, and soon found their breathing rhythms surprisingly
matching one another.

“c1″> 

The
fifth day a slight tickling brought her to her senses in the middle
of the night. Gabrielle practically was wrapped around her body,
her head resting on Xena’s shoulder, her right leg loosely
draped over the larger woman’s thigh, her right arm stretched
over her abdomen. To her utter surprise Xena found her own right
arm comfortably resting at the small of Gabrielle’s back,
while her left hand was on top of the other woman’s hip. She
couldn’t recall a time a living being had managed coming this
close to her without her body automatically defending itself.
Gabrielle’s hair still was tickling her nose but she
didn’t want to disturb the young woman by brushing them away.
So she kept still and marvelled at the peaceful and seemingly
deeply content expression of her younger companion. The next
morning, when Xena woke to the predawn glow creeping through the
two large windows, Gabrielle was gone. Xena found her in the
library immersed in a scroll.

“c1″> 

The
scenario repeated itself for the next half moon. Xena awakening
with Gabrielle safely tucked around her, their chests rising and
falling in the same rhythm. The mornings found her alone in bed,
and Gabrielle already up and reading. The tall warrior
couldn’t help but feel a growing sensation of loss every time
she found herself in bed without Gabrielle, and during her waking
hours, she found her eyes following the scribe around ever so
often, taking in her beautiful features.