“storytext”> 

“No, no
one’s seen Ares around for quite awhile," Hercules
confirmed. "Apparently he’s got some new cause in Rome.
Don’t know what he’s planning or if he really is just
taking things easy. But I’m letting him go until I have a
reason to seek him out.”

“Well
that makes sense,” Xena observed. The two friends both had
their feet on the bar rail and were drinking heavily as they
swapped stories. “But what about Joxer and Meg!” She
laughed slapping her knee. “That was quite a
shock.”

“I guess
it would be. But they’ve been married for over twenty years
now, and are two of the happiest people I know. Got a ton of kids
too. They’re very lucky.”

Xena was
nodding her agreement when they were both interrupted by Gabrielle.
She was walking very slowly and hardly made a sound. Hercules stood
up when he saw her, but both he and Xena knew instantly that
something was very wrong. Her meeting with Iolaus had not ended
well, that much was obvious.

“Xena, I
need to talk to you,” her voice was a whisper. Xena stood up
and with a quick nod to Hercules she led her friend
upstairs.

Hercules stayed
behind at the bar and had another drink. It wasn’t like him
to drink this much, but dang it, he needed it. Pretty soon he was
going to have to go out and find Iolaus. And the weather
wasn’t encouraging. By the look of it, a storm was blowing up
and their camp would be drenched by the time he made it back there.
He was about to stand up when a man sitting next to him
spoke.

“storytext”>“They’ll be alright,” he
said.

Hercules turned
in surprise. He couldn’t see the man’s face but his
voice sounded familiar. “I’m sorry?”

“storytext”>“You’re friends. They’ll be alright.
I thought you’d like to know that.”

“storytext”>“Oh.” Another mysterious, cryptic messsage.
Hercules was a little annoyed as he knew he wasn’t going to
get much more information out of him, and he really wasn't in
the mood to try. “Thanks.”

“You
might want to give your sister a call.”

“My sis –
which one?”

The man stood
up and left. Herc watched him go and rolled his eyes. “Maybe
this is why I don’t drink anymore,” he mumbled to
himself.

“storytext”>“Don’t be offended by my friend,” a
young man appeared beside him. He must have been sitting at the
first man’s side. The boy couldn’t have been more than
eighteen, very handsome with blonde hair and green eyes.

“storytext”>“I’m sorry, do I know you?” He
couldn’t keep himself from asking. “You look very
familiar.”

“storytext”>“No,” he chuckled. “I don’t
think you’ve ever seen me before. But my friend just knows
some things. He wasn’t trying to be rude, he just wanted to
reassure you.”

“Uh-huh.
Um, tell your friend I said, uh – thanks for the
information.” He smiled and raised his glass in a toast. The
boy nodded and left.

“I gotta
stop drinking,” he said to himself.

“storytext”> 

“What
happened?” Xena asked. Gabrielle looked discouraged and even
a little helpless.

“Xena, he
doesn’t want me.” Her eyes were tearing up and Xena
couldn’t bear to see that. She put her arm around her friend
and gave her an encouraging squeeze.

“Come on
now, what did he say?” She wouldn’t believe for a
second that Iolaus would reject Gabrielle. This had to be a
misunderstanding.

"Please
Xena, it really doesn't matter. Not anymore. He's made up
his mind. I'm not going to push myself on him when he
doesn't want me."

“storytext”>"You're giving up?"

"Funny,
isn't it? I didn't even know I was in love with him until
he told me it was impossible. I…" she turned away so her
best friend wouldn't see her cry. "Forget it Xena. Really.
I just want to get out of here. I wish we'd never come
back."

“storytext”>“No,” Xena said firmly. “No,
that’s not what’s supposed to happen!” She clung
to her friend tightly. “It isn’t supposed to be like
this. This wasn’t meant to be!” The thunder clapped
overhead and the rain fell.