Iolaus laid awake that night, thinking over the conversation (or lack thereof) that he’d had with Hercules. After twenty-some years of friendship he’d never known his friend to keep his opinions to himself.

Why was this different?

It must have been four hours before he distinctly heard, “Oh, what the Tartarus does it matter? Marry the girl already!” He sat straight up in bed. Who had said that? He normally wasn’t one to shout out random things in the middle of the night… what had caused that? But, he somehow felt better. He’d said it out loud.

He laid back now, surprisingly comfortable with the prospect before him. He knew he was going to have to ask her now, and was pretty cofident that she would say yes.

 Iolaus woke up late that morning, after a very long sleep. The sun was already shining and he could smell breakfast being cooked in the next room. Happy with the decision he’d made the night before, the hunter took more than his usual care in dressing today – he wanted to look perfect. As he dressed, he contimplated on how to get Hercules and Xena out of the way today. He figured it wouldn’t be too hard, the way the heroes had been acting recently, but he didn’t want to raise anyone’s suspicions either. He washed his face and looked in the mirror, and began skeptically studying himself. What if she says no? he wondered. What would I do without her?

"Gabrielle," he began addressing the mirror, "would you do me the honor of bestowing upon me your hand in-" No, that’s way too long winded.  "Gabrielle, would you ever consider, maybe possibly joining me in-" Sweet Zeus above, could I be any more awkward?  No!  Gotta sound confident.  "Well, Gabrielle, since things are going so well, I wondered if perhaps we should – " what am I doing?   Offering her a job as a bookeeper?  No!  Sound more personal, more familiar.  "Dear, darling Gabrielle… it occurs to me that we could-" dear darling?  She’d definately know something was up.

"Ah, enough of that!" he said out loud, splashing his reflection cheerfully as he left the room.

He entered the kitchen and was surprised to find Gabrielle alone. She wasn’t aware of his presence yet, and was cooking away happily. He took a second to watch her from the doorway. Everything about her seemed perfect today. The way she’d tied her hair up, the curve of her hands as she worked, and the way the light was coming through the window to highlight the redness in her hair.