SEXUAL DISCLAIMER:

This story is Alt-Xena in nature; in other words, it depicts scenes of sex between two mature women. Readers who are disturbed by or sensitive to this type of depiction may wish to read something other than this story. If ya don't like the beat, get off the dance floor.

VIOLENCE DISCLAIMER:

Hey.. this is Xena Warrior Princess. You know what kind of things happen.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This story is based loosely on happenings during the First Season of Xena: Warrior Princess, and takes place just after the episode The Athens Academy for Performing Bards. It is also the follow-up to my Alt-Xena story, Dream Lover.

FEEDBACK:

Please feel free to send comments, burnt or otherwise to [email protected]

* * *

RIPPLES IN THE STREAM

by WLMcCord (copyright) 1999

Part One

A bird sang liquid notes overhead; it was early dawn. Gabrielle awoke slowly from a wonderful dream of gentle lips and sweet caresses. She sighed with remembered joy. Then she felt the weight pressing softly on her left breast and moved a cautious hand to investigate. It encountered long silky hair. Raising her head carefully, the bard saw a beautiful upturned face with high cheekbones and full lips lying amid a tangle of raven hair. It was Xena; the warrior was asleep, breathing deeply and her bare arm was draped across Gabrielle's naked waist.

Gabrielle smiled tenderly and examined Xena as if she had never seen her friend before. The Warrior Princess was more relaxed than the bard had ever seen her; no tension lines marked her face for almost the first time since they had met. She was lying across Gabrielle's naked body, with one lithe leg entangled between both of the bards' and her bare breasts pressed against her lovers' warm side.

The petite bard looked at Xena with joy and a certain disbelief that this woman could be hers; could care for and want a silly little girl from Poteidaia. She laid her head back and breathed deeply of the scent rising from Xena's hair and entangled her fingers in it. The night before, she had instigated their love, by crawling naked into Xena's bedroll while the warrior was dreaming of and calling the bards name in her sleep. Now, the love for Gabrielle that the Warrior Princess would never have allowed herself to reveal while awake had come true in all its glory.

When they had declared their feelings for each other and had haltingly made love for the first time (but not for the last) it had been unbelievably sweet and intense. Gabrielle could feel the grin spreading across her face; it felt as if she let it go any further her whole face would crack from smiling with joy.

Xena, oh, Xena, my warrior, she thought lovingly; you have captured my heart. Drifting with thoughts of last nights sweetness and a certain exhaustion, she dozed off once more.

Xena's eyes opened and she awoke to a strange feeling. What was this soft pillow her head rested upon; this warm muted thumping in her ear as if of a distant liquid drum? She felt something moving gently in her hair and almost jumped up thinking there was an errant mouse, when she saw something come into focus in front of her. A pink hillock topped with a darker bump arose against the trees and she caught Gabrielle's scent coming from it. What? It was a naked breast. Gabrielle! The slow liquid thumping was the bard's heartbeat against her ear. The something moving gently in her hair was the bard's fingers.

Terror filled her mind for a moment. By the gods! She had sworn to herself never to reveal her love for her friend. What had she done? Then it all came back and she let herself relax once more. Gabrielle; last night's sweet revelations.

She loves me, oh, she LOVES me! The one thing the warrior had never dared let herself imagine had happened. Gabrielle had returned her love and even her desire. Xena sighed as she remembered the fount of passion they had discovered between them. The small woman was inexperienced, but eager and more than willing to learn from someone who had many skills; Xena grinned at a stray thought of last night and yawned suddenly.

As she did, Gabrielle stirred beneath her and the warrior raised her head. "Good morning," she whispered.

"G'morning," the bard smiled.

Xena raised herself to partly cover the smaller woman and looked deep into her eyes. The green orbs that looked back were sparkling with love. Xena pulled herself up closer and stared from less than two inches into the face of her desire. She felt her chest tighten at the look in the bards eyes and the smooth soft breasts that were pressing into hers and making her nipples taunt with desire. "Oh, gods ... I love you," she whispered helplessly with joy. "I belong to you. Oh, Gabrielle, please ... I want you..."

Gabrielle swallowed. "Dear one," she whispered in a husky voice, "please, call me 'dear one,' like you did last night ... I-It just makes me m-melt inside when you call me that..."

"Oh, Gabrielle, my dear one," Xena gasped, "my so very dear one..."

"X-Xena ... oh, I love you so..." Gabrielle trembled beneath her and brought her mouth forward to kiss at first softly then more deeply. Her lips upon Xena's were smiling as they kissed and her tongue came slowly out to hesitantly probe the warriors mouth. Xena felt arousal building and replied in kind, her hands gently stroking the bards sides and up and down her smooth muscular arms. Gabrielle sighed into the larger woman's mouth and her warm hands ran over the warriors muscled back and buttocks. Somehow, then, without quite knowing how, Xena ended up with Gabrielle on top of her with the bard kissing and caressing her.

"Well, now. Ain't that nice," said a rough voice. "Me next..."

Xena went cold and Gabrielle froze on top of her. The wide-eyed bard turned her head this way and that and a small sound of fear escaped her. They were naked and without a weapon nearby, hemmed in by seven men in ragged clothing, wearing armor and with swords at their belts. They had not drawn the weapons as of yet, but they could quickly enough.

My fault, flashed through the warriors mind, I was so ... busy, I didn't hear them coming. DO SOMETHING! She felt her lover begin to tremble, but this time with fear as the small woman looked this way and that for an escape route as Xena had always taught her, but there was none. They were surrounded.

Part Two

Two of the men were reaching for the terrified Gabrielle with ugly grins and one of the others was already fumbling with his breeches; there was no doubt at all of what was in their minds. Xena acted. Raising Gabrielle in a swift motion of her arms, she brought her feet beneath the smaller woman's stomach and pushed upward and away with all of the strength in her muscled legs. With a squawk the surprised bard seemed to levitate backwards up into the air and flew over the men and twenty feet away to crash into some bushes.

At almost the same instant the bard took to the air, Xena rolled into two of the men's legs, knocking them over like rotten fence posts. She sprang to her feet and backhanded one man, spinning him away. She kicked at another, but there her luck ran out. The man ducked under her kick, grabbed her bare leg and held on. She was forced to dance about on the other foot as he pushed, trying to bowl her over. The others were moving in quickly as Xena hopped into the air and kicked him in the face with her free foot. If she had been wearing her boots, she might have broken his jaw, but her bare heel merely stunned him and he fell backwards with her on top further driving the air out of him.

She rolled to her feet and found herself encircled by the remaining five men with swords who looked ready to kill. The sixth was still lying where she had fallen on him, but the one that she had backhanded earlier was staggering to his feet. It didn't look good; she was naked with no weapon; there were seven enemies who were armed. True, she had her hands and feet; in fact her entire body was a weapon, but any good hit could incapacitate her and she had nothing parry a blow with.

"Alalalalalaaa!" Voicing her battle cry she feinted at one man, making him jump back, but she sensed another moving in behind her and could not press her advantage. She kicked backward into his stomach, but her driving bare foot only staggered him into one who was moving up and she had to jump aside from a sword blow from another. The man she had backhanded was coming up and the one she had fallen on was moving again. That this contest could end in only one way she knew with certainty, but the Warrior Princess was determined to sell her life if needs be to give the woman she loved a chance to escape.

In the meantime, the wind had been knocked out of Gabrielle by Xena's thrusting legs and her own none too soft landing into the bushes. Gasping for air, scratched and dazed, the bard heard Xena's war cry and stumbled to her feet. Peering out of the bushes, she saw the kick, which knocked the two men together, but it was obvious that they were not finished and that Xena was in grave danger from the other five. Xena had always told her "When a fight starts, run away if possible," but there was not a hint of fleeing from this fight in Gabrielle's mind. She had just last night discovered that the woman she admired most on the earth loved her; running away was no longer any part of the equation. She saw at once that Xena was at a disadvantage in this battle and looked for some way to get her lover a weapon.

The sword! The chakram! She peered frantically about for the weapons; there!

They lay on the ground on the other side of the fight but Xena could not reach them and neither could the bard without going through the middle of the melee. However, Gabrielle's bedroll was nearby on this side, along with her camp supplies, scroll case and ... Ephiny's staff with the birds-head end.

The Amazon warrior had given the staff to Gabrielle as a gift of friendship and respect after the combined Amazon and centaur army had defeated Krykus. The bard liked carrying and playing with it, but mainly as a walking stick. She had very little knowledge of the staff as a weapon, despite the tricks Ephonin had tried to show her on that one day at the Amazon camp; never mind, it was all there was. Xena knew how to use a staff equally as well as a sword; in her hands the weapon could cut the odds significantly. Rushing naked out of the bushes, Gabrielle snatched up the staff and ran toward the fight with the intention of somehow getting it to her warrior.

Meanwhile, Xena ducked a blow and stop-punched a bearded ruffian, then grabbed his arm and sent him spinning away. He crashed into a second man and each impaled themselves on the others sword. Severely wounded they fell screaming out of the fight. However as she did this, Xena cried out as another man managed to land a slashing cut beneath her left breast. Blood spurted and she staggered to her knees as he howled in victory and began a killing blow. Just then came a scream of wordless rage as Gabrielle smashed the heavy birds-head end of the staff onto his shoulder. There was a brittle grinding noise as a bone snapped and he fell rolling and bellowing as the furious bard struck at him again and again. More by luck than skill one of the blows connected with his head and he was smashed unconscious.

Now another two of the men stepped in to finish the staggering warrior, and the remaining two made for the naked bard. Sobbing and nearly blind with fear and fury, Gabrielle swung the staff madly around her with all her strength but no skill.

"Xena," she screamed, tears running down her face, "XENA!" Her breath came in great sobs as she tried desperately to get past the men to her endangered lover. She was managing to keep the two men at bay, but only just. She could not land a blow and her hysterical strength was fading fast.

Part Three

On her knees, Xena narrowly avoided one man's sword strike, but in doing so she was open for a moment and the other kicked her between the breasts. The blow did not connect strongly, but still knocked her onto her back. It looked hopeless, but while the man was off balance from the momentum of his kick, the Warrior Princess acted. With a supreme effort of will and body, Xena rolled under the other mans legs and then flipped from her back onto her feet and ran up the staggered mans chest and clamped her thighs around his neck with her naked crotch in his face.

From there, she continued her momentum forward and pulled herself up his body to where she was sitting on his shoulders. He had one last bulging eyed look into her womanhood and at her bouncing breasts above him before she grabbed his head with both hands and snapped his neck sideways. There was a crack as if a rotten stick had broken and his dead body went on over backwards as the hard-eyed Warrior Princess flipped off of him before he hit the ground. She landed on her hands and her wounded side screamed, but she heard the remaining man running up to strike her. Before he could, she kicked out backwards into his face with both feet and broke his nose. The surprised ruffian flew backwards in agony, his scream of pain cut off when his head impacted a tree. The Warrior Princess hardly spared him a glance as she ran grimly towards the bard and the backs of the two men attacking her friend.

At this moment an upward sword swing by one of the men caught in the lower edge of the birds-head where it joined the staff. The shock of the blow tore the weapon from Gabrielle's fingers and sent it flying through the air over his head and behind him. The now weaponless bard stumbled away as the other man stepped in swinging his weapon and cut her right forearm. The petite woman cried out in pain and backpedaled but tripped over Xena's rumpled bedroll. Losing her balance, she landed on her back with a cry of terror as both men stepped forward for the easy kill.

"Alalalalalaaaa!" The shriek came from the Warrior Princess as she flew spinning through the air from behind them and landed between the men and her fallen friend. Naked and bleeding she faced them. In her hands she held the Amazon staff and the expression in her raging blue eyes was that of death itself.

The men hesitated for a moment eying the tangled raven hair, the heaving breasts with the bruise starting between them, the blood running down her side and her grim fighting mask, and for the first time wondered if perhaps a mistake had been made. That was all she needed. Quick as a striking snake the birds-head end of the staff licked forward and smashed the sword out of one man's hand. A quick spin about by the Warrior Princess and it crunched down on his head. There was a sound like a melon dropped from a second floor window onto cobblestones as he went straight down; dead without a word.

At this, the other man turned and began to run, but the raging Warrior Princess tossed the staff aside and leapt forward like a tiger on a helpless deer before he got ten steps. Landing on his back, they both went to the ground with Xena on top. There were twin cracks as she struck at the pressure points in his neck with her hardened fingers and he collapsed paralyzed in an instant.

She turned him over, noting the signs of the paralyzation on his face and his gasping moans and grinned a feral grin. "I've just blocked off the flow of blood to your brain," she smiled with no trace of humor. "You have about thirty seconds to live." She came close to look into his straining eyes. "And I want you to spend every one of them remembering how and why it was that your useless life came to an end, you piece of..."

"Xena..." Gabrielle's horrified voice came from behind her and her hand touched the warriors shoulder. The big woman turned like a cobra and the bard took a step back at her dead expression.

"Go away, Gabrielle," Xena said harshly, her face devoid of emotion. "You don't need to see this ... go get that arm cleaned up..."

Gabrielle swallowed. "Wh-What, are you doing? He doesn't know anything..."

"Go away," the warrior repeated in a dead voice. "I'll be there in a minute."

The bard stared at her and the man on the ground made a gargling noise. She looked down at him for a moment and her skin paled, but when she looked back at Xena her face had hardened with resolve. "No," she said quietly.

The Warrior Princess turned back to the man. "Fine, stay and watch then..."

"Xena," the bard pulled at her arm. "Xena, don't DO this!"

The warrior shook loose, said nothing and continued to watch the gasping man. Blood was trickling out of his nose and his eyes were wide and she smiled crookedly.

Suddenly she was spun around to face Gabrielle. She gaped at the angry expression on the little redhead's face. "Take it OFF him, Xena," the bard shouted. "NOW!"

The warrior stared at her friend. Blood was running unnoticed from the wound in the petite woman's arm, she was standing spraddle-legged and her naked skin was scratched from the bushes and flushed; she was trembling. In her green eyes was a snapping look of determination Xena had never seen before. "I mean it! Take it off him! They attacked us, we defended ourselves; they're beaten! You can't just murder him!"

Xena was bewildered. "They would have raped us with no qualms and left us for dead or worse..." her face hardened again. "Let him die..."

Part Four

"So!" Gabrielle hissed and her green eyes were frozen. "You would become like THEM? Do as they would do; kill without mercy when someone is helpless? If we do this, then why are we any better than them?" Her tone dropped to a whisper. "Is it so easy to slip back into your old ways, Xena ... Destroyer of Nations?"

The warrior recoiled at the words as if she had been slapped and her mouth hung open; her eyes filled suddenly and a tear slid down each cheek. She said nothing, but staggered to the gasping man and quickly struck him on the neck, relieving the blockages she had created. He choked with relief until she punched him in the face and he lapsed into unconsciousness.

Shaking, she turned helplessly to the bard and her expression was ashamed. "Gab-" she started, then swallowed as if trying to keep her gorge down. "Gab-rielle..." Her voice was low and trembling. "I was going to let him die; I WANTED him to die." She covered her face with her hands. "By the gods ... I-I'm still a killer at heart..."

"Xena..." the little redhead's anger was gone, leaving behind softness. "Remember how you once told me about the rock causing the ripples on the surface of the stream? The ripples stay only for a while, then the surface becomes calm again, as if nothing had ever happened..."

"Yes, but..."

"Xena, this morning was one of those rocks. It splashed into our stream and caused a ripple, now it's calm again..."

"B-But the rock is still under there affecting things..." the warrior choked. "It has changed us ... me. This has made me see I'm still capable of doing terrible things..."

"Xena, that rock, that change, does not have to be for the worse. It can be positive; it can aid our understanding if we let it and allow us to change for the better." Gabrielle smiled. "All life is change, is learning. It's up to us whether or not that change is bad. Look, if Draco's men had not come to Poteidaia for slaves, or if you had not helped us that day, I might be a slave or dead now, or stayed locked in Poteidaia forever. As it was, look at all the things I have seen and learned..." she took Xena's hand and kissed a scarred knuckle and held it to her cheek. "The love I never would have known ... the you, I never would have known..."

Xena found herself crying; she fell to her knees. "Oh, Gabrielle. How did you get to be so wise?" She hugged the small woman to her as tears washed down her cheeks. "I think I am s-so experienced; th-that I know so much, but I'm such a fool." She buried her face in the small woman's bare flat stomach and her words were muffled against it. "All my skills and experience are nothing compared to your simple wisdom and your love..."

"Xena..." the bard stroked her friend's raven hair lovingly.

The warrior looked up past Gabrielle's naked breasts to her face. "Gods, oh, please. Never leave me, Gabrielle. I need your wisdom and love so badly; I need YOU so badly. Without you, darkness would swallow me so quickly."

"That's not true," the bard said softly, "you are good and fine and you always do the right thing, no matter the pain or cost to you. Don't you know that? I do." She took the warriors hands and tugged gently at them and Xena rose shakily to her feet. "I'll always be here for you..."

"Gabrielle..." she whispered in a subdued voice, "I love you, and ... I'm sorry..."

"I know," the small woman said, standing on tiptoe to brush her lips across Xena's mouth. "And I love you. It's all over and done with; there is nothing to be sorry for and the ripples are gone again."

Xena smiled tremorously, then winced and pressed a hand to her bloody side.

"H-How is it," the bard asked, "let me see..."

"It'll be fine, dear one..." Xena said, refusing to move her hand, "It's just a shallow cut ... six, ten stitches and I'll be good as new. How's yer arm?"

"About the same I guess. Gods ... you look a mess," Gabrielle whispered, touching the growing bruise between Xena's breasts. She examined some deep scratches on her own thigh and twitched as she pulled a thorn out. "And I do too, I'm sure ... a morning flight into a prickery bush is a wake-up call I'd be just as glad to miss in future."

"Gabrielle," Xena smiled, "you look beautiful to me, no matter how beat up you are..." She bent her head and kissed her friend gently, during which Gabrielle closed her eyes for a moment, then the warrior straightened up with a grunt. "We'd better make sure these guys are tied up, and then doctor one another..."

Part Five

Several days later, the five surviving ruffians turned over to the local magistrate and the two dead ones buried, the two women and Argo were camped again in a cool woods. It was early evening of a hot day, with two hours before the sun went down. They were in a deep coverlet away from the road and sheltered so that their fire could not be seen once night fell.

The friends were stripped to only a breechcloth each, except for a bandage around Xena's torso and one around Gabrielle's arm. They were facing each other with staves gripped in their hands. The one Xena had was obviously makeshift, but the one the bard held was Ephany's Amazon staff with the birds-head top missing. Of the two of them, Gabrielle looked the worst. The bard was a bit bruised about the body and limbs and there was a mouse starting under one eye; she looked tired but determined. Xena looked untouched. Both were sweating in the warm air.

"Now," said the warrior crisply. "Again, and this time remember what I told you about feinting with..."

As the Warrior Princess spoke the last word, her small friend attacked with a downward swing. The surprised warrior staff-blocked and then the bard swung the staff towards her friend’s legs. But as Xena blocked to that direction, the bard pulled the blow before it was completed and spun the other end of the staff at the bigger woman's head.

Xena barely got her staff up in time and collected a light tap on the top of her head from just the tip of Gabrielle's flying weapon. The blow stung and her eyes crossed for a moment. The small women saw this and stopped dead, staring in horror.

"Xena! Did I hurt you..." she started just as the warrior whipped her own staff down to trip the bard, who landed wide-eyed on the ground with a startled squawk. The warrior swung a second blow, which sent the Amazon staff flying out of her friend's hands.

"Okay, that's enough ... it's too hot fer this, even in these woods." Sweating, Xena tossed aside the makeshift staff and pulled her friend to her feet; then offered her the drinking skin. Gratefully the bard drank some, then passed it back.

As Xena drank, the bard felt of her own various bruises and bumps. "Aughh," she groaned. "I'll never get the hang of this ... no matter what I do, you always manage to pop me one just when I think I'm winning."

"Sure ya will, I got faith in ya ... you just conked me, didn't ya?" Xena felt the top of her head, and crossed her eyes with a grin.

"Aw," Gabrielle colored slightly, "it was just luck; besides look what happened then ... ya knocked me right over." She picked up the staff and looked at it. There was a white tuft of fur on the end that had been under the birds-head.

"It's 'cause you froze. Yer doin' all right with the staff; in fact I think yer gonna be good with it," the Warrior Princess drawled with warm pride for her pupil and lover in her voice.

"Thank you." The bard smiled in embarrassment and her nose crinkled.

Xena saw the crinkle, and felt her blood begin to warm in a way which had nothing to do with the heat of the evening. Due to their wounds, she and Gabrielle had not made love since the incident two days before; they had only cuddled. Now she stepped forward as the bard continued to talk and examine the staff.

"Well, I will admit it's easier to use the this thing without that birds-head on the end of it. Seemed too heavy or something..."

"Yer not big enough to use it with that weight pulling down the end," smiled the warrior, "That's why I had you take it off. Yer doin' lots better now..."

Taking the staff out of the bard’s hands, she stepped forward and pulled her friend into an embrace. Gabrielle looked up in surprise as Xena captured her lips in a warm kiss and their bodies pressed together all the way down. Their breasts, Xena's resting on top of Gabrielle's slid against each other and their nipples scraped tantalizingly together.

"Speaking of 'taking it off...'" the warrior whispered thickly when they broke the kiss. Her hands roved down towards Gabrielle's taut waist and deftly plucked the breechcloth off.

"Eewww, Xena..." squealed the naked bard, dancing away, "I know I'm all sweaty from practice! I must smell like a stable..."

"You smell all right to me, Gabrielle ... my dear one," the warrior whispered as she enfolded the smaller woman into her arms again and bent her head for a kiss. Gabrielle twisted her face away and the warrior looked at her in surprise and let her go. "Gabrielle ... what is it?"

Shamefaced, the bard said, "Xena ... I'm not sure this is ... is a good idea..." She sat down on her bedroll and looked dejected. She picked at a scab on her leg.

"What? Why?" Xena was flabbergasted. "Don't ... don't you want ... me?" she asked in a frightened voice. Had she done something wrong?

"By the gods, Xena," whispered the petite woman with a sob. "Of course I want you, more than you know, b-but..."

Xena sat down beside her and put an arm around her friend's shoulders. "But what, Gabrielle ... tell me."

"Suppose ... suppose something happens again ... suppose someone finds us while we're, you know ... and ... and this time we ... Oh, Xena. If I was the cause of you being h-hurt ... I'd never forgive myself..." A tear rolled down the bard’s cheek.

Xena's heart filled with love. "Hey, hey. Come here," she whispered, pulling the small redhead against her chest.

"Oh, Xena, I-I'm sorry..." she sniffled.

"For what, for being concerned for me? For Us?" Xena tilted her friends face up and looked with love into the green eyes. She took the small hand into her large calloused one and kissed the smooth fingers. "Gabrielle ... now that we have found one another, we can never be parted. It's as if you are the other half of my soul."

"I feel it too," whispered the bard. "L-Like my s-story about people having been split into two bodies by the gods and searching forever for their other half ... but Xena, I can't let my love endanger you..."

"Look, whatever ripples there are and whatever dangers come on our path, we will face them together," smiled the warrior. "For I know just as surely as we are sitting here, that we will die together or not at all."

"But Xena, how can you know that?"

"Because I know you, dear bard ... Oh, yes, I know you, my dear one. You would never abandon me, and I will never abandon you." Her voice got husky with love as she continued, "and I tell you this, Gabrielle ... that even in death, we will never be parted..." She smiled like the sun. "Like you said, 'it doesn't have to be a good experience to learn good things from it'."

"I don't think that's exactly what I said..."

"Close enough, my wise bard, close enough." She stroked Gabrielle's red hair lovingly. "So let's live for now and to Tartarus with worrying about what might or might not happen..."

"Oh, Xena, Xena..." sighed the bard, "and you say I'm wise..." She raised her face to the warrior's blue eyes. "Oh, gods, how I love you..."

"And I love you, Gabrielle of Poteidaia..." said the warrior against her lovers mouth as they kissed for a long moment; then she snickered, "...even if ya do smell like a stable!"

"What? You'll pay for that, Warrior Princess..." shrieked the naked bard, breaking the kiss and throwing herself onto the bigger woman. "I know yer ticklish spots now, remember?"

As the two friends rolled and struggled on the blanket, each trying to overcome the other, the woods rang for long minutes with squeals and giggles of laughter, which subsided at last into warm moans and whispers, and the soft sweet sounds of two caring people in love.

The End