“Well it's about danged time!"
Aphrodite yelled at the pool before her. Hercules and Xena hugged
each other and out of nowhere Cupid appeared popping the cap off a
bottle.

“Congratulations, Uncle Herc, you pulled it off.” He
clapped his uncle on the back.

“Thanks, Cupid. What’s this?”

“Something Dionysus has been toying with. He calls it
champagne. Figured this called for something special.”

“Hey, Cupie, it was all my idea remember?” Aphrodite
obviously wanted attention, and her son just laughed.

“No, Mom, I’d call it a group effort, wouldn’t
you?”

“I wouldn’t,” said Hercules, accepting his
glass. He looked at the pool where the newly engaged couple was
still embracing. “It wasn’t Aphrodite, or you, or me,
or Xena. It wasn’t even the Fates. It was them,” he
pointed at the water. “It was just them.”

“You’re right,” an old woman appeared in the
middle of the room. Nobody asked who she was, they all knew.
"It was meant to be. Xena and Hercules have proven their case.
The tapestry will be redone now, and you need never go back to the
way things had gone before. All is as it should be." The
occupants of the room all looked at each other.

The woman crossed the room and looked into the pool at the newly
engaged couple. "I give you the blessing of the Fates on this
one condition. They are never to know, and you are ever to tell
them what might have been. No mortal may have two destinies known
to him. They are to accept their fate for what it is, and never
question it.” The mortals and immortals all nodded to each
other their silent agreement.

The Crone moved on. She turned to Xena. "You will also no
longer know of the way things might have been. It is no longer your
right to know."

Xena's head snapped up and she fixed an icy blue stare at
her. "I'm going to lose my memory of it?" The old
woman nodded.

"It's already fading for you. Soon it'll seem like
a dream, and then a dream within a dream, and then a forgotten one.
A way things might have been can be no more." Xena wasn't
happy to hear this, but she had to bite her lip. She knew it was of
no use, but she immediately began running through those days in her
mind. The days when Gabrielle had sworn off fighting in favor of
peace. And then of breaking that vow. Of returning and seeing Joxer
an old man. And seeing Iolaus sad and broken. That was the memory
she lingered on. Iolaus terribly sad and lonely. And Gabrielle with
a broken heart. These were the memories she clung to – they were
the ones she wanted to keep. She looked at her friends now. Young,
smiling, and ecstatically happy. Wasn't this what she had
fought for from the beginning?

The Crone moved on to Hercules. "I don't have the power
to erase your memory. You will be able to remember, but it would be
in your best interest to try and forget."

"I won't forget," he said more to himself than the
Fate. He looked at his best friend, who couldn't stop smiling
now if his life depended on it. Hercules had to smile too. "It
makes it that much more precious, knowing…" he didn't
finish his thought. The Fate nodded, although she obviously
didn't agree.

"It'll be your burden alone, now. No one but you will
know how things might have been." Hercules smiled as the Fate
disappeared from sight. It may be a burden sometimes, yet memories
were always precious – even the painful ones.

Iolaus and Gabrielle had stepped out into the garden where the
sun was shining down on them. They had their arms wrapped around
each other and were delighted in everything they saw. They were
talking happily and busy making plans. They'd never know
anything else, and their world was better because of it. Xena lost
herself in the image before her. Soon she would be like that and
remember nothing, and now she wished for it.

Aphrodite watched all of this unfold before her. She was so
proud of this one, even though, as Herc had rightly pointed out,
she wasn't really responsible for it all turning out the way it
did. But she had been the one to get the Fates involved. And she
and Cupie had moderated the whole thing so Herc didn’t open
his big mouth too much or Xena lose her temper. Whether she had a
right to or not, Aphrodite was proud. And she was so happy Gabby
finally had found her soul mate. She was someone who truly deserved
her happy ending. Aphrodite couldn't believe it – she even had
a couple small tears forming in her eyes.

A handkerchief appeared in front of her. She took it and looked
up. "Hephy?!" she was so happy to see him. And he was the
one who had noticed. She threw her arms around her boyfriend and he
lifted her off the ground.

"Come on, Dite, let's go home." She nodded her
agreement and the two disappeared in a cloud of silver and
pink.