"What do you think this place is?" Joxer queried vaguely, mesmerized by the rather lewd pictographs that danced before him in the flickering torchlight.

"Well, if I had to make an educated guess, I'd have to say it's probably an ancient temple to Aphrodite," the Bard reasoned with a rather cheeky grin, holding up the torch for a better view. "These walls are absolutely pornographic!"

"Um, yeah," Joxer cleared his throat with more than a little embarrassment as he surveyed a section of the wall that was beyond imagination. As the light fell on a particularly prurient part of the pictograph, something stirred deep within his loins that made his face turn deep red. With a nervous gulp he quickly moved away from the mural, stepping slowly backwards and not minding his path as he retreated.

Gabrielle, on the other hand, was openly lost in the lascivious patterns that decorated her section of wall. Unabashedly, she allowed her eyes to linger on figures that performed in positions she never before thought possible, and before long something also began to stir within her - something almost primal that transcended the bounds of mere lust and bordered on raw instinct. The more she stared, the more intense this feeling became, and by the time Joxer backed into her she was quite lost within it.

Startled by the collision, they both turned at the same time to apologize to the other, and just as Joxer raised his hand to steady her, Gabrielle also raised her hand to do the same for him. Their hands met in mid-air, fingers intertwining on contact, and the torch hit the floor.

Then it was like the universe had exploded all around them as the sparks of the torch flew up all around them and dissipated, and they suddenly found themselves plunged into the midst of the strangest of waking dreams.

In this dream scape, they awoke to find themselves dressed in ancient white chitons, with their hands joined together as they had been just moments before back in the cave. At first they looked to each other in bewilderment, seeking an explanation for this unfamiliar situation, but their minds seemed far too clouded to make any sense of their predicament. All they could do was stand there and search each other's eyes until Joxer finally took the initiative and pulled her to him.

Before she knew it, she was a willing captive in his embrace and was actually kissing him furiously, panting heavily as they tore at each other's draped clothing in some sort of display of primitive animal lust. Indeed, it seemed their finer sensibilities had suddenly left them, and in their stead remained only the basest of human emotions, with love and lust pervading every pore of their increasingly naked bodies.

Within minutes in the dream, they had finally freed each other of their clothing, and in a surprisingly dashing move, the Wannabe Warrior lifted the Amazon Queen into his arms and carried her slowly to the stone altar. Their eyes locked, mahogany to teal, as he laid her down and covered her body with his, and it seemed they were forever linked somehow through that intense, never-ending stare. Strangely enough the "gift of gab," that each was so copiously blessed with, seemed to fail them both now. However, words were wholly unnecessary in this place, and with a nod of the slightest compliance from Gabrielle, the dream became more and more erotic.

Joxer's sensual mouth left her lips and dipped down to pay tribute to the soft skin at the nape of her neck and on downward to her full breasts, while Gabrielle ran her fingers lovingly through his thick, brown hair. She surrendered easily to the intense onslaught of primeval desire he was setting loose within her, and nothing seemed the least bit wrong or out of place to her within this scenario. She somehow knew she was caught up in a dream . . . but whose dream? It was beyond her comprehension at that moment. In fact, many things seemed beyond her comprehension within this dream scape, but somehow she did not care. The Bard was lost within the feelings and sensations that the Wannabe Warrior so skillfully evoked from her body.

Unprotested, the dream progressed to a more lascivious level when Joxer soon dove between her legs, where he began licking at her sex unmercifully. She moaned deeply, experiencing every sensation as though it were happening for real. And Gabrielle was so glad to be feeling it! Glancing down at Joxer, it was easy to see that he was in his own sort of ecstasy as he used his tongue untiringly to excite her. Over and over he teased her, and it was all Gabrielle could do to hold onto the altar with both hands as she strove to keep her legs apart for his convenience. After a short time of this directed onslaught, she felt an orgasm rising within her, and her heart fluttered as she came violently against his mouth. But no sooner had she cried out in ecstasy, Joxer rose up and slid his engorged member into her.

"Auggh!" she gasped as he entered her, for she was as good as a virgin after so many years of widowed abstinence, and his largeness was almost more than she could take. After a few adjustments, she somehow managed to fully accommodate him and quickly wrapped her legs over his hips to facilitate his efforts.

Joxer, on his part, was so completely lost within this dream scape that he was quite unwilling to realize that they were in a realm neither belonged to, because he was even more lost in the feeling of finally being with the love of his life - and what was more, she was actually enjoying it! He had already coaxed one orgasm from her and it was his goal to extract at least one more before they were done. Despite the urgency he felt, it was just more important to him somehow that she be pleasured first in this Dreamscape, and never once did he consider his own desires in the matter.

As Joxer made love to Gabrielle, their eyes remained fixed on each other, and she kept kissing him passionately. She probed his mouth with her tongue while she instinctively dragged her fingernails up and down his back, and occasionally she would grasp his hips and pull him farther into her. It was the most erotic moment either one had ever experienced in their lives, and neither wanted it to end.

However, after some time of delivering slow, steady strokes, Joxer felt a tightening within his stomach that told him time was running out on their coital unity. Unable to control his rhythm any longer, he began to pump harder and faster, and Gabrielle just seemed to love it even more. She only gasped in pleasure when he began slamming furiously into her, kissing her unmercifully hard as he strove to force her to her peak.

The closer she got to release, however, the more Gabrielle could not believe what she was experiencing, because while it was intensely incredible, she just couldn't quite figure out how she had come to be making love with Joxer. And, even more, she couldn't seem to remember how to speak and was only able to emit primal cries of pleasure as he stroked her to ecstasy. It was all very erotic within itself, and somehow she was able to let go of herself and enjoy it - or rather, there was really no way she could get a hold of herself and put an end to it at that point. She had gone too far to stop it now; she could only ride out this experience to it's full extent and enjoy the inevitable rush of rewarding ecstasy that now lay just within her reach and growing ever near.

Before long Joxer felt Gabrielle beginning to reach her pinnacle, and the pressure from below squeezed him terribly until they were both suddenly crying out in the midst of a mutual orgasm that washed over them like a raging tidal wave. It seemed to last and last as he continued to pump into her, and she bucked beneath him as the sensation seized her body over and over . . .

And suddenly they were fully awake again.

They found themselves back where they had been standing all the while, and they jerked their interlocked hands free in extreme panic. Gabrielle instantly began to back away from him, a look of shock and contrition overtaking her face as she realized what had just happened, and a panicked Joxer began to beg her pardon immediately.

"Oh, gods, Gabrielle, I'm so sorry - I don't know what just happened!"

Both understood without a word that what had just happened was only a dream, but the dumbfounded bard could not answer to absolve him or herself. She could only hold up her hands to signal that she was unable to deal with the situation at that exact moment, and she ran straight from the secret temple, leaving Joxer to contemplate what had just happened on his own.

"Great. Just great," Joxer cursed, dropping to sit on a log dejectedly. He felt drained from the dream because he had devoted his all to that moment, and he still could not comprehend just how it had happened in a dream while he was fully awake. He knew he would never have taken such liberties with Gabrielle, his sworn queen, and he had long ago given up any hope of ever getting something that reciprocal from her without himself being thisclose to death.

"Heck, I could be thisclose to death right now and not even know it," he grumbled disappointedly, wishing Hades would take him away right then and there. But a moment later he grinned goofily as he sighed with great satisfaction, "She liked it!"

"Aphrodite!" Gabrielle growled furiously once she was outside the hidden temple and away from Joxer. "I really need to talk to you - now! "

Despite her need to remain neutral in appearance, the Goddess of Love had been closely monitoring Sorrow's progress just in case she needed to zap Iolaus to the scene quickly, so she was able to appear and answer the Bard immediately.

"I'm here, I'm here! What's the trouble, girlfriend?"

Gabrielle turned toward the shower of sparkles that turned into her friend, and she pointed to the camouflaged doorway as she hissed in panic, "What was that!?"

"That was one hot dream!" Aphrodite grinned with lascivious delight.

"If that was just a dream, then why do I feel like I've just - you know!?"

"Hey, it's an ancient temple dedicated to me," the goddess shrugged. "Wrapped up in all those paintings are probably some of the most intense vibes there are related to the me everyone worships; it was bound to have an effect somehow."

Gabrielle fixed her with an accusing eye, "So, it's no accident that we're here in this cave then, is it?"

The Love Goddess frowned, knowing she couldn't lie to her best friend, but also knowing that the Bard still needed to be left in the dark on the major details lest Ares choose to take it out on the Amazon. After a short consideration, she compromised and revealed, "Okay, okay, you're right; it isn't necessarily an accident that you were all brought here. Believe me, Gabrielle, I wish I could tell you what exactly is going on, but I can't just yet. Just please understand, it's extremely important that Sorrow's baby be born here. And I'm really and truly sorry you stumbled into my temple and that you got thrown into that scene. It never occurred to me that Herc would send you guys spelunking, but really, Babe, from what I saw - well, it looked to me like you liked it?"

"Hey, I was looking for a back door to this place," Gabrielle argued in a strained whisper, afraid the Wannabe Warrior would hear their argument. "I was not looking to become a part of one of Joxer's wet dreams!"

Aphrodite looked to the Amazon uneasily and informed hesitantly, "Um, I hate to break this to you, Toots, but . . . that wasn't his wet dream."

No sooner had the words left her mouth, the goddess witnessed a strange pall wash over her friend, and Gabrielle's face drained of all color as realization settled in heavily upon her. Anxious to put her friend at ease again, the Love Goddess quickly excused, "Don't get me wrong - he was totally participating of his own free will, but it was sorta you who set that show in motion, Gabby."

"But, how?" came the hollow question as the Bard struggled to understand.

"Like I said, it's a really old cave with a lot of mystical stuff going on in there," Aphrodite excused, hoping to set Gabrielle's mind at ease somehow. "You were looking at the murals, right? Well, you must have made a subconscious wish that was set in motion when you both touched hands."

"But, it was just a dream, right?"

"Well, yes and no," the goddess answered hesitantly. "Yes, it was in the sense that it was all happening in your minds, but no in the sense that you really were experiencing it." She then added with a grin, "You could sorta say you just had the ultimate safe sex!"

"Aphrodite!" Gabrielle hissed unhappily. "I am not thrilled about this!"

"Why not?" the goddess questioned, truly unable to grasp the Bard's full problem. "I mean, Joxer may be clumsy, but you gotta admit, he's certainly one hot lover! Come on, Gabby, he totally knocked your boots off and you know it!"

"Okay, okay, so he was good," admitted the Bard in an urgent whisper, attempting to quiet the ditzy blonde. "He's not aware that it was, or wasn't, a dream, is he?"

"Unless you tell him differently, Joxer will just keep thinking it was just a totally hot, completely erotic dream that my temple forced on the two of you. But, if I were you, I'd tell him the truth and get with him!"

"Wh-why would I do that?"

"Because Gabby, he's, like, been there for you, ya know? You trust him more than any other man alive, except for maybe Iolaus and Hercules; and you already know that he loves you! And believe me, it's not everyday you see a guy play to the gal in a hot dream like that. Most guys would have just commandeered the whole thing and turned it into something straight out of a Roman orgy - but not Joxer! He satisfied your needs first, and that's what he's been trying to do for years!"

Gabrielle stared at the goddess unhappily; unable to willingly wrap her mind around the truth Aphrodite had set forth. She had caused this "dream" to happen between herself and Joxer, and now she had to face the fact that the temple had formed the dream from her own thoughts, and her own desires . . . for Joxer of all people.

And yet, the Bard knew that if this had happened when she was a few years younger, she might have run to Joxer immediately after learning such things and made all his dreams come true. But she wasn't the na�ve runaway bard that would have fallen for such a guy as Joxer any more - she was an Amazon queen, and she was supposed to be above the need for men.

In her adoptive nation, it was men who were treated as toys, and in the past brutal attack parties had pillaged villages of men, cruelly breaking their legs before raping them, then killing them sometimes afterward. Male children born to Amazons through these brutal matings had been treated with similar disrespect, either being killed at birth or abandoned at the edge of some nearby village in the negligent hope that the child would be adopted and cared for by a good family. Men were just not necessary to the Amazon way of life, and were treated accordingly. Thus, Gabrielle had never expected to take another man into her life.

But the truth was, Gabrielle never truly thought she would ever have to field another suitor after her short-lived marriage to Perdicas, and she had been reluctant to accept Joxer's initial declaration for the basic reason that she literally did not know what to do about it. She truly hadn't had a clue that the wannabe-warrior had been in love with her all this while, and now that she knew it, she was hesitant to start something she wasn't sure she could finish. She just couldn't comprehend how it all got past her.

And yet, looking back over the years, the clues leapt out at her like a road map to Joxer's heart, and Gabrielle frowned as she recalled the events - such as the time he traded his cherished family scabbard for a necklace, any of the times he willingly followed her lead when Xena was not there to advise them, or when he lost his blood innocence defending her. Now faced with the obvious, she didn't like having to accept the fact that she had been so deliberately ignorant of what such acts had meant. As a bard, her job was to improve her craft through experience and close observation of human actions and reactions, and by paying close attention to the psychology behind both. In Joxer's case, she had subconsciously chosen to remain ignorant of what his actions had meant, and even now she wanted desperately to forget it again.

"What's wrong, Sweetie?" Aphrodite asked when she saw the Bard's frown deepen. "You look really put out!"

"I am - at myself," Gabrielle confessed openly. "How could I be so blind to him, Aphrodite? Why didn't I see it sooner and put a stop to it?"

"I dunno," the goddess shrugged, "but, ya know, you haven't exactly had the best of luck in the love department, Babe - maybe you were afraid that if you acknowledged what was happening, you'd lose Joxer the way you lost Perdicas?"

Gabrielle turned sad when Aphrodite spoke the name of her late husband, for she really hadn't thought of him in so long. He was like some sweet, distant memory that had become far too fleeting in its appearance in her mind. It was almost disheartening to remember how much she had finally come to love and adore Perdicas, only to have him ripped from her arms forever. It wasn't fair, but it was so long ago that she had forgotten to be angry about it any more. However, Joxer was here and now, and she had already demonstrated how much the loss of the wannabe-warrior would affect her.

"Joxer's my family," she finally excused, "as are Xena and Eve. The loss of any of them would cause me incredible grief!"

"Exactly!" pounced the Love Goddess. "It's your nature to protect those you love, Gabby, and by denying him your romantic love, you just thought you were protecting him from your bad luck, whether you made a conscious decision to do that or not."

"Right, but . . ," Gabrielle hesitated, thinking of the moment in her dream when their eyes locked as he laid her gently down upon the stone altar. The emotions she had felt had been so raw and primitive, and yet so intimate. She had never felt so safe in such a vulnerable position before, and now that she realized that it had been her dream, she recognized that Joxer had done nothing but what she had obviously wanted him to do. He had always done what she wanted him to do, and it made a great difference once she looked at the real facts.

"But, was it the right thing to do?" Aphrodite completed the Bard's sentence.

"Yeah," Gabrielle nodded her unhappy affirmation, then gasped as she recalled how tenderly Joxer had made love to her. "Oh, Aphrodite, if you could have been me, you would literally be tingling right now!"

"Tingling?" the goddess echoed in a mixture of extreme happiness and disbelief. She knew the cave had strange effects on any human who happened upon the temple, but she had never known any of them to say they had been left tingling.

"Oh yeah," Gabrielle nodded seriously, and then glanced at the cave gingerly. "He's been in there an awfully long time . . ."

"Maybe you ought to go check on him?" Aphrodite suggested, urging the Bard toward the hidden entrance, and toward the Wannabe Warrior.

But Gabrielle hesitated, contemplating the doorway and weighing out in her mind what she ought to do. On the one hand, she was quite worried about him; but on the other, she was terrified of going back in there.

"But, what if I was right?" the Bard asked rhetorically, realizing how much it would kill her to lose him to her string of bad luck with men. And besides, she would hate to ruin her friendship with Joxer this way. "I mean . . . he truly is family to me."

"Well, isn't that the way it's supposed to be?" ventured the Goddess of Love. "That is the difference between husbands and lovers, you know."

Gabrielle looked to her friend in surprise, for she hadn't thought of it that way, and it startled her to think that perhaps Joxer had been far more to her than just a brother after all. It was strangely true, and extremely disturbing. And yet, it felt completely crazy for her to even imagine herself and Joxer ever leaving Xena's side to become husband and wife . . . to do that every night if they desired . . . no, it was just too foreign to her.

"I - I can't do this, Aphrodite!" she suddenly proclaimed, and turned to leave.

"Oh, you are so going to make me put a love spell on you!" the goddess pouted disappointedly, stamping her foot in frustration. Gabrielle turned back and held up a menacing finger to her.

"Don't you dare!" the Bard admonished, panicked that her friend would do as she threatened, and she would wake up on a boat dock to find herself kissing Joxer again. "Let things take their natural course, Aphrodite. If we are meant to be, we'll be, and nothing will stop that. And you know it!"

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde goddess pouted, "but if I know you, it'll never be!"

Gabrielle held up her finger one more time, "I mean it, Aphrodite - if you've ever been a friend to either one of us, you'll let go of this and let us get back to business!"

"Fine, be boring then!" Aphrodite rolled her eyes in disgust. "But, whatever you want, Gabs."

"Yes, that's what I want," Gabrielle insisted, turning on her heel and almost running from the hall.

"That poor girl . . . how can true love find her when she's always hiding from it?" the Goddess of Love shook her head unhappily as she watched the Bard go, and as she herself dematerialized, she sighed sadly, "And poor Joxer - what am I ever going do with that poor guy?"

On to Chapter Thirty

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