By Chelsea – [email protected]

Disclaimer: Nebula, Iolaus and Gabrielle are owned by the people who own the rights to Xena, Warrior Princess and Hercules, the Legendary Journey

Background: This story takes place after Sierra’s A New Life, and it’s intended to be the second part of the trilogy that Sierra is working on for her site, The Soulmates’ Corner. Sierra had wanted me to write the part on Ares & Gabrielle, but since I’ve done a lot A/G, I just wanted to try something different. It is a stand-alone story, but if anyone is confused over the conversation between Iolaus and Gabrielle, please reference "A New Life".

Summary: Gabrielle unknowingly comes between Iolaus & Nebula.

Iolaus hurried over to the tavern, anxiously looking around for the longhaired blonde. He had promised Hercules that he would keep an eye on Gabrielle to make sure that she doesn't get into any trouble. Unfortunately Gabrielle had been moving fast, faster than the hunter could keep up. He had run into a couple just outside of town that told him of her whereabouts. It would seem that the bard had certainly been keeping busy. The merchant and his wife had said that it was all thanks to a certain young blonde carrying an amazon staff that they are still alive. The man had thought the bandits would have killed them as well as robbed them. Luckily for them, a beautiful amazon showed up and saved them. Iolaus had known immediately that they were talking about Gabrielle. He started to smile as he thought of her; he had always had a fondness for the blonde bard.

As he entered into the tavern, he let his gaze travel through the room. But before he could locate Gabrielle, another lady caught his attention. A tall woman with dark curly hair and eyes that shine like midnight stars. His reason for being in the tavern completely forgotten as he stared at the beautiful pirate queen sitting by herself in the middle of the room. Without him even aware of it, his feet carried him over to her.

Nebula felt the shadow hanging over her and looked up into the face of the golden hunter. Her face broke into an 800-watt smile. "Iolaus, what are you doing here?"

Iolaus sat down beside her; "actually I'm here looking for someone as a favor to Hercules. What are you doing here?"

"Our ship docked just outside and I thought I'll give the crew a few days off." She glanced at him from beneath her incredibly long lashes. "I've just ordered food, care to join me?"

Iolaus just stared at her. He couldn’t even begin to tell her how much he has missed her. Her invitation put a big smile on his face. "I would love to..." He started off but stopped when he saw Gabrielle sitting in a corner, totally oblivious to everyone else around her. The bard had her scroll lay out in front of her and was furiously writing something on it. He considered leaving her alone for a while, but he did promise Hercules. Nebula is here for at least few days; they have all the time in the world. Gabrielle, on the other hand, had been disappearing faster than one of Zeus’ lighting bolts. He sighed but decided to check on Gabrielle first. "I'm sorry Nebula, but I need to go talk to a friend first. Maybe I can join you later?"

Nebula followed his gaze and her smile disappeared as she caught sight of Gabrielle. "Sure Iolaus, don't let me keep you." Her tone cooled considerably as she watches Gabrielle flicked her hair back over one shoulder. Someone that young and beautiful could make any man go running.

Iolaus noticed the change in her, "what's the matter?"

"Nothing." Jealousy had hardened her voice.

"Nebula..." Iolaus looked at her in surprise, not sure if he had done anything to offend her.

"It's been nice seeing you Iolaus. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around." Nebula turned her attention to the food that was just brought to her. She welcomed the distraction as it gave her a perfect excuse to dismiss him.

Iolaus stood up, unsure of what to do. "Alright Nebula, I'll catch up with you later." He said uncertainly and then turns and walked over to the corner where the bard was sitting.

"Hey Gabby," Gabrielle looked up into the familiar face of her friend and smiled in surprise. She stood up and gave him a warm hug. "Iolaus, what brings you here?"

"Actually you did. I heard you were in town and since I was in the area, I thought I would come by and see you." He ruffled her hair playfully. To the woman sitting on the other side watching, it was way more than just a friendly gesture. Jealousy surged through her as Nebula sat there, unable to tear her eyes away from the two blondes standing so close together.

"It's been a long time Iolaus. I was surprised when I didn't see you at Xena and Hercules' wedding." Gabrielle sat down and rolled up her scroll.

"I was in Delphi at the time and by the time I got the message, they had already been married." He looked at her in concern. "I heard what happened afterwards, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine now. But I think I really scared Xena. She thought I was going to die." Gabrielle laughed.

Iolaus looked at her and started to lecture her on taking better care. Gabrielle interrupted him and tried to take his mind of the subject by introducing other topics. She told him about some of the adventures on her travels, deliberately leaving out all the dangers and emphasized on all the fun things. Pretty soon they were both laughing as they caught up on each other lives.

To Nebula, it looked like a lovers' reunion. She looked at the blonde and wished her a thousand miles away. I hate her. She threw down some dinars to pay for her food, food that she hasn't even touched, and walked out of the tavern.

Nebula started to walk back toward her ship, but stopped in mid stride. I can't just give up so easily. When did I ever run away from a fight before? And he is worth fighting for. She stood in the middle of the road, still trying to decide on what to do next. I want to tear out all that blonde hair. I want to throw that little girl off a cliff. I want to give her a black eye and break that pretty little nose of hers. I want to...I want to…I just want him to leave her and come to me. She closed her eyes and leaned back against one of the wagons serving as a market stall.

"Hey lady, are you going to buy something or did you think this is a rest stop?" The man behind the wagon looked at her and snarled.

Nebula opened her eyes and turned to looked at him. She stared at him until the man backed off, "okay, I didn't mean anything by it. You can stand there all day long if you like."

Without a word, the pirate queen walked away, back inside the tavern. Once inside she immediately looked to the corner where the two blondes were sitting just a moment ago, but the table was empty. She stopped as one of the tavern servers passed by her with a plate of food. "Where did those two go?" She asked indicating the now vacated table.

The man has been having a really bad day and was in no mood to answer questions. "How should I know? It’s not my turn to watch them." He said sullenly.

Nebula was in no mood for insolence and she quickly grabbed the man by his collar, lifting him off his feet. "I ask you again, where did they go?"

By now the man was trembling, realizing that this isn’t a woman to be taken lightly. "I don’t know. If you are looking for that cute little blonde and that other guy, they probably went up to her room. She has a room for the night."

Nebula was steaming with uncontrollable jealousy. She dropped the man on the floor and not even bothering to apologize for the spilled food, she marched up the stairs in search of her victims. She turned around at the top of the stairs and barked out, "which room?"

"The last room on the left, down the hall."

Nebula continued down the hall until she reached the room at the end. Without knocking she kicked open the door to hear a woman screaming at her. But the woman was not who she thought it was. This woman has short, dirty blonde hair and was in the middle of undressing when the pirate queen walked in. Nebula quickly searches the room only to blush when she caught a sight of a naked man staring at her. "Uh, sorry." She quickly backed out of the room.

She ran back down the stairs and caught hold of the same man who gave her the information earlier. "I meant the long haired blonde, the pretty one. She was with another man, another blonde."

"Oh her, yeah, she sure is pretty, isn’t she?" The man face splitted into a wide grin, but Nebula was not amused. The grin quickly disappeared as he saw the scowl on her face. "I think they left."

"Where did they go?" She asked impatiently.

"I don’t know. She paid for her food, and they left together."

Giving the idiot another killing look, Nebula stormed out of the tavern.

Once outside, she was blinded by the sunlight for a while, which was probably why she didn’t see the two people walking up to her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and immediately went on the defensive. She pulled her dagger out and pointed it to the man’s throat by sheer instinct.

"Nebula?" The voice that she dreamt about squelched at her.

Nebula pulled her dagger away and looked at the two stunned faces in front of her. It didn’t help that up close the blonde is even prettier than she thought. Her voice was icy, "what do you want Iolaus?"

"I was going to introduce you to my friend, but now I’m not so sure." Iolaus looked at her, a little angry at her behavior. He had been telling Gabrielle all about her, and the bard had wanted to meet her. They had gone outside looking for her and was on their way back when they saw her coming out of the tavern. This display of anger was so unlike her, and after how he had been singing her praises to Gabrielle, he’s now embarrassed by her behavior.

"Your friend?" Nebula gave Gabrielle one of her icy stare, meant to intimidate. With her height, she could easily stare down at the little blonde in a menacing manner, but nothing intimidates Gabrielle anymore. After all, her years spent traveling with Xena had ensured that she got used to someone constantly towering over her. In a way, Nebula reminded her of Xena, and that thought alone had helped her to give Nebula a wide, friendly smile. The pirate queen felt disconcerted. Damn, why did she have to go and do that? I could hardly stay mad at someone who’s so beguiling. And the worst is that the smile was genuine. She wasn’t pretending to like me, she really wanted to like me. Ahh…why does she have to go and act all friendly on me? Why couldn’t she be a stuck up, self-centered little witch like I thought she was?

Gabrielle was watching with interest the various expressions running through Nebula but wasn’t sure why the pirate queen appeared to be angry with her. But being the diplomatic soul that she was and willing to support her friend on any issue, she stepped closer and introduced herself. "I’m Gabrielle, and I know you are Nebula. Iolaus has been telling me all about you. I’m so glad that I got a chance to meet you before I have to leave." Nebula continued to scowl at her, and Gabrielle had to make an effort not to loose her temper. Well, if Iolaus is in love with her, she couldn’t be all that bad. "Come on, we can all go back inside and you can tell me all about yourself."

Nebula had already lost the rest of the conversation right after the word ‘leave’. "Leave, you are leaving?" She turned to Iolaus, "and I suppose you’ll be leaving too?"

"Why? Do you want me to leave?" Iolaus said a bit belligerently.

Gabrielle looked from Nebula to Iolaus and back again. She was a little surprised at the pirate queen’s icy behavior, but she’s starting to get an idea of where her animosity is coming from. She had to force herself not to laugh out loud, but still a soft chuckle escaped. Nebula turned and stared at her, "what is so funny? I would really like to know if I’m the cause of your amusement."

"Well actually I was just thinking that you and I should really have a talk." She turned to look at Iolaus, "sorry old friend, but it’s a girls chat, so why don’t you run along and go take a walk or something."

"Wait a minute…" Iolaus started off, but Gabrielle was already pushing him away. She turned and nodded her head in the direction of the tavern. "Come on, let’s go get something to eat, I’m famished." She started to walk inside, and unable to help herself, Nebula followed her with a puzzled frown on her face. Iolaus statement of "didn’t you just eat?’ followed them inside.

Once inside Gabrielle went and sat down at the table that she was sitting on earlier and Nebula reluctantly sat down across from her. The same server that Nebula was questioning earlier came over to serve them. He started to smile at Gabrielle then saw whom she was with and the smile disappeared to be replaced by a look of fear. "So you found her, everything is alright now right?"

Gabrielle tilted her head to one side; "you were looking for me?"

"No, I…" Nebula started but the server interrupted, "yeah, she was looking for you and that guy that you were with, and she was really mean. I thought she was going to kill me. She even broke the door in one of the rooms upstairs, scaring our customers away…" The man just babbled on and on until Nebula gave him a murderous glance which quickly shut him up.

Nebula shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her attention focused on the salt shaker on the table. She knew Gabrielle was looking at her strangely, but she refused to look up. This is so embarrassing. She must know by now why I did all those stupid things. She’s probably laughing herself silly over my antics. No doubts she’ll be telling Iolaus all about it, how am I ever going to face him again?

Gabrielle quietly gave her order and dismissed the server. She glanced at Nebula and started, "Well, to think that we were running all over the place looking for you when we should have just stayed in here." She shook her head and smiled, "I’m so glad to finally meet you Nebula. I’ve heard about you from Hercules, and I know Iolaus thinks the world of you. I’m so glad that he finally found someone like you. He deserves the best."

Nebula looked up and gave her an uncomprehending look. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Well, now that Hercules had married my best friend, Iolaus is somewhat left on his own. I worry about him; he’s like my brother. I’m just so thrilled that he has finally found someone that he cares so much about." Gabrielle said quietly.

"He cares about me?" The question was asked barely above a whisper.

"Don’t tell me you have doubts. I know he doesn’t. When we were in here earlier, he was telling me all about you. How he is in awe of you, how he thinks you are the prettiest woman in the world, and how he misses you when you are not around." Gabrielle smiled as she saw how her words were affecting the other woman. "He is a good man Nebula. Put him out of his misery, okay?"

Nebula looked at the blonde, not really sure how to handle all the information that was just given to her. "I thought you and him…"

"Oh please, don’t even go there!" Gabrielle laughed. "He’s my friend. I love him, but not that way. I was happy to see him, but I would be much happier if I see him together with the woman that he loves."

"When he first came in and saw you, he just completely forgot about me."

Gabrielle caught the note of complaining in her tone, "really? I think he was spying on me for Xena and Hercules. He was probably cursing Hercules for taking him away from you." There was no anger in her tone, just amusement. "I guess Xena is so used to taking care of me of that she doesn’t think I can take care of myself."

"Spying on you? Why that little…"

"It’s okay, he meant well. Besides, spying is probably too harsh. I guess I should have said observing." By now Gabrielle was giggling uncontrollably, and Nebula joined in. After a few moment Gabrielle was the first to stop, "seriously, go talk to him okay?"

"I don’t know…" Nebula began uncertainly.

"Well, I do. You stay here while I go ask him to come in." At that point the server came over with her food. Gabrielle stared at it longingly and sighed, "actually why don’t you go find him yourself."

Nebula thought about it for a short while. She was never one to shy away from a difficult situation, and she is not about to start now. She smiled at the blonde, "don’t let us interrupt you. I will go find him myself." She stood up and ruffled the blonde’s hair just as Iolaus had done earlier, "and Gabrielle, don’t just disappear. I won’t be very happy if Iolaus has to go around chasing after you. I will see you again, right?"

Gabrielle had already focused her attention on the wonderful sight in front of her, and she just nodded. "You can bet on it."

Once again Nebula stepped out into the sunlight, and the first thing she saw was Iolaus leaning against a tree just staring at the entrance to the tavern. He pushed away from the tree when he saw her, but he did not move. Instead he just stood there and watched her. Nebula broke into a tentative smile, but it was enough for the hunter. He came across and pulled her into his arms. Nebula lean her head on his shoulder for a while and then her confidence returned, "come on, let’s go back to my ship. You have a lot of explaining to do."

With his arm around her, Iolaus started to walk with her toward the dock, then he stopped. "What happened to Gabby?"

"I think she’s doing what she loves best. How does such a little girl eat all that food?"

The End