***This story takes place 2 years after "Motherhood"

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Begin Part 2

Warning: Adult Content - Not suitable for minors under 18

Ares and Gabrielle looked at each other and started down the road. "We should have about 4 hours of daylight left. How about we walk for a couple of hours and then make camp? I’m exhausted." Gabrielle said.

"Sounds like a plan" was all Ares would say. He was lost in thought about how it would be to be alone with the woman he loved for a few days. He was glad she was along even if she wasn’t.

Gabrielle still felt a little nervous with him so near. She wondered why because the last time he was mortal she had enjoyed his company. She thought about all that he must have been through and wondered if he still had the same dry sense of humor he had then. Her mood lightened at the thought of getting to know him again.

That first night Gabrielle was pleased to find out that Ares could hunt. She had been skeptical as she set up camp. But to her wonderment, he was back in camp with a rabbit just as she finished getting the fire going. Wordlessly, she took the rabbit from him and prepared it for cooking. She was careful in skinning it as she intended to keep the pelt. As the meat was cooking she staked out the pelt and tanned it. Ares didn’t seem to pay any attention to what she was doing. He hadn’t spoken to her since they started out this afternoon. Gabrielle hadn’t spoken either and the silence was getting to her.

She glanced at him as she came to sit by the fire "a dinar for your thoughts" she offered.

He didn’t look at her as he answered "I was just wondering what was a head for us." He clinched his jaw tighter and moaned a little at the double meaning that only he caught. ‘How am I going to get through this? It’s killing me to have her so close and not touch her, not hold her.’ He thought as he cursed himself for being 10 kinds of fool.

"Well, we could look at the map and see if we can find any hidden secrets on it." She suggested.

"No thanks, I think I’ll get some sleep when dinner is over." With a fleeting smile he looked at her. She smiled back. A smile to light the world he had always called it. He smiled back before he could stop himself.

Gabrielle’s breath caught in her throat when he smiled. She had forgotten how beautiful his real smile was. Not the smile he had when he was fighting or verbally baiting someone but the real smile. She liked this smile.

"There it is." She said. "I haven’t seen you smile at all. I was beginning to think that you couldn’t smile anymore. I’m glad you can."

Ares was surprised to say the least. "You haven’t smiled much today either." He pointed out reasonably.

"I guess neither of us has had much reason to smile lately. Too much killing." She was silent as Ares took the cooked rabbit and cut a chunk off for her. They ate in silence and true to his word when he was done; he lay down and went right to sleep. Or so she thought.

As tired as she was, she sat there and watched him sleep. Questions about him kept bouncing around in her head. Finally, she thought she could sleep and she lay down. It didn’t quite work.

He watched her with hooded eyes as she tried to sleep. He could feel her tension from across the fire. He wondered why she was so tense. After an hour or so he couldn’t hold sleep off any longer and drifted off.

She tossed and turned and woke up several times during the night. Each time she looked over to see if Ares was still there and what happening was really happening. Each time she saw him, there across the fire from her, she felt relieved and pleased.

In the morning, Ares found out exactly how much Gabrielle didn’t like mornings. But after she was up and had breakfasted on the remaining rabbit, her mood was seriously improved though not what one would like in a traveling companion.

After they broke camp and had started out, she felt energized and she was in a remarkably good mood much earlier than even she expected to be. She didn’t know why but she was excited to face the day and happy to be on the road again. It never occurred to her that the person she was with would have anything to do with her great mood.

They continued on the their journey talking about nothing in particular. Her mood had lasted all day and it was infectious. She had been smiling so much that he found himself smiling before he even realized it. By mid-afternoon he asked her about it.

"I don’t know. Don’t you ever smile simply because it feels good? It’s beautiful here and so peaceful."

‘You don’t know how beautiful’ he thought as he watched her. "Well, as we seem to have the time, why don’t you tell me a story?"

"Um…how about we switch roles? You tell me a story. A story about…what you have been up to this last year or so. I’ll tell you, I’ve heard some odd stories about a man about your height, with dark hair and dressed all in black that has been helping people. That wouldn’t happen to have been you, would it?"

He was laughing at the way she said this. His deep laugh caused tingles of pleasure down Gabrielle’s spine.

"Well, I had to do something to pass the time." He started. He was going to try and make light of what he had been through but one look from her and he knew she wanted the truth. Her face had become serious. "I started out with one of my warlords but he was a bloodthirsty bastard and being around him turned my stomach upside down. Definitely a new one for me." The both smirked at his mocking himself because that is something the God of War would never do. "So I left. I was looking for something different to do when he attacked a village I was near. I knew what would happen to those people if someone didn’t do something to help them. So I did something. I’ve been doing that same something to every warlord I run into. I still don’t know why I do it. I guess it’s what I told Xena years ago ‘a fight is a fight no matter what side you’re on.’ I know fighting so that’s what I’ve been doing. I just do it on the opposite side from what I’m use to."

She knew this was the shorted version of what happened, but she accepted it. If that was all he wanted to tell her, she wouldn’t press him. "You sound like Xena. She never understood why she started to do the things she did either." She looked at him as a suspicious sound came from his mid section.

"Well, this is a good place to stop for the night and get some dinner. You sound like you need it" she smirked.

"Dinner of what? Leaves and grass? I haven’t seen an animal track all day."

"Can’t you hear the stream? It must be just beyond those trees. I think I can catch a couple of fish if you can get the fire started. Can you?"

He looked down at her "yes". He sounded insulted.

She just smirked as she disappeared into the trees.

He looked around to find some wood for the fire and found only small pieces. That would get the fire started but wouldn’t keep it going. He figured there would be wood down by the stream so he headed the same way Gabrielle had. He wasn’t expecting to see what he saw when he emerged from the trees. She was waist deep in water and not moving a muscle. Her back was to him and he saw that her top and boots were by the stream. He couldn’t take his eyes off her naked back. She had defined her muscles with all the fighting she had been forced to do. He stood mesmerized by the soft look of her tanned skin. The realization that if she turned he would see all of her nearly undid him. He wanted to go down to the water and pull her into his arms. He wanted to make her want him as much as he wanted her.

Her quick movement into the water as she grabbed at a fish caught him off guard and he realized what he was doing. He turned and started to walk away when a fish hit him in the back forcing him to stumble forward a bit. He growled in irritation but didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look behind him. He just left. He was almost out of ear shot when he heard her yell, "Next time don’t just stand there staring! Move faster!"

He was angry but didn’t know at whom. Him for staring at her or her for somehow making him want her even more. Which he didn’t think was possible. Then she actually hit him with a fish because he didn’t leave fast enough. ‘How did she know I was there? She never turned around’ he thought as he found a different spot where there was wood.

Gabrielle didn’t understand her reaction to his presence. Why had she said that? She could tell he was angry with her. She did after all hit him with a fish. A fish of all things! ‘Did I want him to come in the water? No, that ridiculous. What would I have done if he did come in?’ That thought sent pleasure through her that curled her toes. ‘It’s so much easier to understand emotions when they aren’t mine!’ Did she want him to stay or did she want him to leave?

Ares had been back at camp for awhile and she had yet to return. He had been growing tenser as the minutes passed and she didn’t return. His imagination was about to take off with him when she came back. He heard her before he saw her but not through his body motion, tone of voice or the words spoken did he reveal how tense he really was. "What took you so long? I know you had at least one fish." He couldn’t believe he was trying to tease her especially when all he wanted to do was grab her and yell at her for the fright he put himself through. He glanced at her when he didn’t get a reaction and saw that her hair and clothes were wet.

"I went for a swim and washed my clothes." ‘I was trying to calm down’ was what she was thinking.

"Are you crazy? You went SWIMMING?! There might have been bandits near or someone lurking around. You could have gotten hurt!" He was almost shouting at her. He had lost what little control he had on his fear and it showed itself as anger. He couldn’t believe she would be that foolish after all she had been through over the years.

He sounded really concerned even if he had shouted it at her. "Relax. I knew you were close enough to hear any trouble and I kept a look out." He was silent at that and just stirred the fire. "Look, while the fish are cooking, why don’t you take a bath? The water’s cool but it feels really good."

He didn’t move to do as she suggested. Finally, staring at him she said: "I don’t mean to be rude, but could you please go take a bath? You…um…need it." She watched him when he got up and stormed to the stream. He didn’t look at her as he left. She stayed in camp long enough to make sure he was at least half way to the stream before she followed him.

She waited behind a bush until she heard him splash into the water. She waited a few more seconds to make sure he was a ways into the water before she came out from behind the bush. His clothes were in a pile on the bank and he was waist deep in water. She cleared her throat to make her presence known to him. He closed his eyes for just a moment thankful he was as deep in the water as he was. The thought of the two of them together, naked in the water caused him to groan inwardly, but unlike her, he turned to face her.

Her intention had been to tease him by paying him back in kind but she was stopped when he turned to face her. She was not prepared to face all of that naked perfectly formed and unbelievably enticing male flesh. She immediately wanted to touch it and find out if it was as smooth and soft as it looked but with tremendous effort she stayed where she was. The hair that covered his chest formed a ‘V’ down to the narrow waist and disappeared into the water. She noticed a few scars on his body but thought it only enhanced his looks.

Neither moved for an unmeasured amount of time. When the smoke from the burning fish reached them and broke the spell she headed back to camp.

It took him longer to get back to camp than Gabrielle thought it would. He had stayed in the cool water trying to calm the desire that surged through him. Neither looked at the other. Gabrielle passed him one of the fish after he added more wood to the fire to dry them and keep them warm. He thought it was going to be a cold night. They ate in silence as each was trying to figure out what was happening.

Gabrielle knew she wanted to get closer to him. She liked being near him. Even as a mortal he had an appeal that was hard to resist. The nervousness that she had felt earlier at being near him had become something different and pleasurable. She found the way to get near him when she saw he had gotten the bandage on his wounded hand wet. She grabbed her pack, pulled out another bandage and went over to him. "Your bandage is wet and needs to be changed." Her voice sounded strained to both of them.

She reached for his hand and when she took it a shock of excite shot straight to her brain. She quickly changed the bandage and started to move away unaware that Ares had felt the same excitement. Without thinking he grabbed her hand and stood up to close the small distance between them.

Their lips met and melted. He gathered her face in his hands just as she wrapped her arms around his waist. They kissed for sometime before they knew what was happening. She had been caressing his back and his hands moved over her face, neck and shoulders. They were so in tune with each other that they both knew when to break the kiss. Gabrielle looked at him with some regret. He saw that regret and misinterpreted it. He thought she regretted the kiss and he was hurt by her reaction. She really regretted having the kiss broken. He tried to turn from her but she wouldn’t let go of him. He watched her as she took his hand in hers and started to sit down. He didn’t really want to move away from her, so he let her have her way and sat down next to her.

She took his arm and laid it across her shoulders as she snuggled into him and rested her head on his shoulder. As she snuggled closer, he tightened his arm around her and caressed her arm with his fingertips. Not a word had been spoken. They just sat there in each other’s arms watching the fire and content to be silent. The sun had completely set before he noticed she was almost asleep. He looked for the blankets unfortunately they weren’t close so he raised her to her feet and led her to her blankets. He brought his along and as she lay down on her side, he curled up behind her. He pulled his blankets on top of them as he pulled her closer. He realized that she wasn’t fighting him on this and smiled.

When the morning was close he woke up and looked at his beautiful one. ‘When did I start to think about her as MY beautiful one?’ He thought. He just couldn’t help it she was beautiful. Her neck was exposed and it drew his lips. As soon as his lips touched her skin he knew he was lost. He had to have her: heart, body & soul. He continued to kiss her neck and started to stroke her arms and waist.

She had woken up with his second kiss but hadn’t moved. She wanted the feelings to continue but was afraid that he was still asleep and only reacting to a warm body being next to him. That thought caused a deep sinking feeling right in her heart.

He couldn’t take it any longer. He wanted her awake. "Gabrielle" he whispered. "Wake up beautiful." When he said this she almost died of happiness. He wasn’t just reacting! He actually wanted her and thought she was beautiful! She looked over her shoulder to see the intense look on his face. She just smiled at him and he leaned down to kissed her with a passion he didn’t know was possible for any one, mortal or god. She responded with an equal passion. He moved her on to her back and leaned over her. He wanted her so much that he didn’t know where to begin. He wanted it all at once. He wanted to look at her, to feel all of her and to kiss all of her. He didn’t know what to do first. It wasn’t due to any lack of experience with women; he just had never felt such an overwhelming desire for one particular woman. He just stared at her until he felt her hands on his chest as she opened his vest a little more.

She leaned up and placed a kiss on his neck and then worked her way down to his chest. She wondered how she had resisted the urge to touch him and feel his skin for so long. She was right, his skin was unbelievably soft but she knew that the muscles under it were the extremely strong muscles of a warrior. The hair on his chest felt like spun silk to her. She gave in to her desires and helped him out of his vest. As she did this, something fell out. She didn’t take the time to see what it was. He picked it up and moved it too quickly.

She forgot all about it when she saw the massive male chest above her. She took over and pushed him on to his back as she raised herself up so she could see him. Her fingers moved over his skin ever so slowly with the touch of a feather leaving goose bumps in their wake. She smiled a sly smile at him as she moved to lay herself over him. While watching his reaction she lowered her head and licked at his nipple. She noticed a scar on the right side of his nipple and traced it with her tongue. He moaned and the nipple puckered immediately. She continued to lick and nibble on one nipple while pinching his other one. She laid her body entirely on his and felt how much he wanted her. It gave her a sense of power she wasn’t used to but knew she liked. When she had satisfied herself with his nipples, she used her tongue to caress a path up to his ear. She nibbled on it gently while caressing his ear with her nose. When she reached his ear, his whole body reacted, freezing from the pleasure.

She hadn’t noticed, but the whole time she was kissing and caressing him, he had been undoing her top. In fact, she was so absorbed in giving him pleasure, she didn’t notice until he moved her to get it off. He couldn’t take anymore once he saw how perfect her breasts were. With one quick motion he had her beneath him and started kissing her everywhere as she ran her fingers through his hair. Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed his attentive kisses. When he had kissed her whole upper body he moved off her and started to remove her boots. She wasn’t shy and didn’t try to hide her nakedness from him. She opened her eyes and watched him undress her. When her boots were gone, he started to lick up the inside of one leg while removing her skirt. This was the first time he had used his hands to remove a partner’s clothes. He had always just used his powers because it was more expedient. The sooner the clothes were gone the sooner he reached his release. He learned that morning that there were definite advantages to doing things the mortal way. He was also beginning to understand the difference between having sex and making love. This was definitely making love at least on his part. He still didn’t know what she felt for him if anything but for now, he just accepted whatever it was she was giving him and returned it with love.

They made love that morning slow and relaxed and it was the sweetest bliss imaginable. It was mid-morning when they finally got up for the day. Unexplainably, now they were rather shy. They couldn’t look at each other and neither could speak. They were both lost in their own thoughts.

Gabrielle couldn’t believe this was happening. How could she be falling in love with him? No, she wasn’t falling in love with him. She was in love with him. How did this happen? He was everything she hated. He was War and all the cruelty, devastation and pain that war entails. He may not have created war but he propagated it. ‘Stop right there Gabrielle’ she warned herself. ‘That’s not fair and you know it. He was War. He has changed. He saved your life and Eve’s. He helped fight off those raiders at the village. And the violence has been worse since he isn’t War.’ She looked up when she heard the hiss of the water he was pouring on the fire to douse it. She watched as the steam rose up and curled around his wonderful face. She looked at him and smiled then frowned. ‘What’s going to happen to me, to us when he gets his Godhood back? Could I still love him once he’s the God of War again? Will he go back to being the same God as before? Can I handle losing him if he does? Gods, making love to him was better than I imagined it to be. I don’t ever want it to end. I don’t want him to be a God again!’ Then the logical part of her was heard from ‘would you stop him from it knowing how many people might die if he doesn’t become the God of War again? What about the greater good you spoke about earlier? Would you really be that selfish, Gabrielle?’ ‘Oh just shut up!’ she really hated arguing with herself.

He was having similar thoughts. Was he going to lose her if he got his Godhood back? Would he become what he was? Would being War make him like he was before no matter how much he didn’t want to become that again? He knew that war could be a good thing and bring about needed changes, but he now saw war through a mortal’s eyes. He saw what it did to their lives. Was he capable of doing the things that as the God of War he would be required to do? Would he have a choice? Would she stay with him if he did revert? What would he do if she left him? The questions never seemed to stop and the answers were nowhere in sight.

When the fire was out and camp was broken, they started out for the day’s walk.

About and hour had passed when she asked "Ares, have you notice that we haven’t seen anyone on this road? No villages, traders or bandits. Nobody."

"I noticed." His curt answer brought her up short. She almost stopped walking.

"What’s wrong?" She was afraid of the answer. She was afraid that he regretted what had happened.

He didn’t answer her but kept walking.

"Hey, I may not know you as well as Xena does, but I know when something is wrong. What is it?"

"I’m just still not sure about his. So much has changed. I really want my Godhood back, but after everything that has happened to me, am I still capable of being the same God of War that I was?"

"Well, I hope not!" Her quick answer stopped him in his tracks and he just stared at her as she continued to walk. It only took a couple of steps for her to notice he wasn’t walking with her. She turned to face him "I don’t think I could handle you being as you were. You were always trying something to get Xena back. I couldn’t go through that again." She turned and continued walking.

He heard a touch of hurt in her voice and thought he finally understood something. That’s why she would never admit to any good feelings she might have for him. She thought he still loved Xena and was just using her.

‘CRAP! CRAP! AND DOUBLE CRAP!’ He thought. He trotted to catch up to her. "Gabrielle, you know Xena and I have a history together. Right?" When she didn’t answer but kept looking at the scenery, he continued. "There was a time when I thought I did love Xena. But I later realized that I didn’t love Xena the person. I loved Xena the Warrior Princess. Do you understand the difference?"

"Then why did you ask her to have your baby if you didn’t love her?" Her voice had dropped to a mere whisper as the tears were choking her but she stilled didn’t look at him.

"I wanted a baby, Gabrielle. She has always been my equal in strength and skill. I thought it was a good match."

Gabrielle wanted to get away from him before he saw how his words were cutting her. ‘How can he say this to me now especially after this morning? How stupid can you get? He was just using you like he always does and you fell for it.’ The hurt was being replaced with an anger that wasn’t directed entirely at Ares. She was mad at herself for letting him get to her.

He sensed she was ready to just leave him and he couldn’t let that happen. Before she knew what was happening he had pulled her into a hug. She went very stiff and didn’t hug him back. Her voice was laced with venom and anger. "Don’t do this Ares! If you love Xena, why did you and I…" She couldn’t finish the thought. She felt betrayed and she felt like she was betraying her best friend. ‘What would Xena think of all this?’ She thought. ‘Does Xena still have feeling for him? How could I do this to my best friend?’ Thinking about how she had betrayed Xena made the tears finally come. Ares just held her. When he thought he could, he broke the hug and took her face in his hands. Before he could speak she pulled his hands away from her face and stepped back. "And what about Xena’s feelings? I think she still has some for you. Don’t you still have some for her?"

"Gabrielle, I said I thought I loved Xena. But I have realized that the warlord Warrior Princess is whom I loved. All that anger was very appealing to me. But that Xena is dead. The Xena we both know, the one you helped to create has replaced her. That Xena I don’t love. I respect her for what she has done, but I don’t love her. And any feelings that she may still have for me are probably just, well, cordial at best. Nothing more." He hoped. He pulled her into another hug and she wasn’t as stiff. She didn’t actually hug him back but let him hold her until something in his vest dug into her.

She pushed him away. "What is that?"

"What?"

"That thing in your vest? It has some sharp edges." Before he could react she had reached inside his vest and pulled it out. She just looked at the portrait of herself.

"Where did you get this? I never posed for any portraits. What are you doing with it?"

He took a deep breath and continued to walk. "Don’t you walk away from me. I asked you where you got it."

"I wasn’t walking away we need to keep going."

‘I was looking for the right words.’ He had never been so unsure of himself before. ‘What if I chose the wrong words and she gets really mad? Or laughs at me. What do I know of words of love? I’m not a bard. Where’s ‘Dite when I need her?’

"Well Ares I want an answer." She started to get mad because he didn’t look like he was going to answer.

"I made the portrait after you and Xena died or I thought you had died on the beach. I actually made two different ones. This one" he indicated as he took the portrait back, "and one of you and Xena and Eve. In that one, Eve was a baby and Xena was holding her. You were smiling. It was destroyed when one of my temples was destroyed."

"Why? How?" She was having trouble understanding him.

"The how is easy. I was a god. The why is harder to explain. The thought of never seeing you, seeing your smiling face again was unbearable. I thought it would destroy me when you died on that cross in Rome. Then when I thought you died on that beach, I had to do something to keep you close to me. So I made the portraits. It’s the same reason I couldn’t let you die on Olympus. I couldn’t go through that again Gabrielle. No matter what."

"Ares, you’re saying that you love me?" She asked incredulously. For there being only seven words in that sentence, it was the hardest question she had ever asked. It was also the hardest he had ever answered.

He wanted to say yes. More than anything else in the world he wanted to say yes. He heard the way she asked the question and thought she was about to laugh at him. His voice and answer were harsh. "What difference does it make? When I get my Godhood back, you’ll go back to Xena and Eve and I’ll go back to Olympus. When has love ever been a part of our relationship, Gabrielle? It’s not going to happen for us. No matter how much I want it to."

She calmly put her hand on his arm to stop him and turned him to face her. Then she grabbed the collar of his vest to make sure he was looking at her. Her eyes were sparkling with a light he had never seen before, not even when she was fighting. "By the Gods you are as arrogant as you ever were. You louse! How dare you tell me what I will or will not do? I probably will return to Xena. But you don’t know that for sure. How dare you stand there and tell me MY feelings and that they don’t matter! For all you know, I might just love you right back!" With that said she pulled him down into a kiss that would buckle any man’s knees. When she broke the kiss, she pushed him back and stalked off fuming.

It took several minutes for his brain to start working again and when it did, he notice she was nowhere in sight. Panic gripped his stomach and he took off down the road at a dead run.