Exactly

“You’re sick of junk food?” Gabrielle spluttered, looking up from the couch. “You’re – all right, what have you done with the real Xena? You’re obviously some kind of copy . . .”

Xena raised an eyebrow. “That joke is getting very, very, old.”

“Surely you’ve learnt by now that any conversation Xena starts with “food” generally ends with –“

“ – a dead rabbit, I know.” Gabrielle ended disgustedly. “And yes – I have explained to her about myxomatosis.”

“I was going to say fishing, actually,” Ares interjected, ducking as Xena threw a cushion accurately at Gabrielle’s head. “Unless Alti forgot to splice that gene correctly?”

“Heh,” Gabrielle muttered, rubbing her head and looking around the coffee table for a well-sharpened fork. “It’d take more than that old witch to destroy the love of Xena’s life.”

“Oh, come on, Gabrielle!” Xena moved over to her friend’s side. “We haven’t been to the beach for ages! And when you were watching that cooking show last night, you told me it had a good seafood recipe on it, didn’t it?”

“Maybe. But we can always buy fish, you know.”

There was a horrified silence.

“I think Alti may have restored the evil Gabrielle, “ Ares murmured. He sat forward in his armchair and watched the pair eagerly.

“All right, all right! I was joking. We’ll go to the beach tomorrow, ok?” Gabrielle exclaimed finally. “It’s not as if we went there last week – or the week before – or anything like that –“

Xena frowned. “Well, it is just down the road. After all, that’s why we moved to Australia, isn’t it? Apart from the fall-out from the whole vigilante thing, I mean.“ She shook her head. “You’ve never complained before. I mean, last week you were begging me to go jogging along the harbour path when the local yacht race was on – what, are you still embarrassed about falling in?”

Ares gave out a snort of laughter. “You fell in? Right in front of everyone? Did they all laugh?”

Gabrielle gave out a howl of pure exasperation and fled; Xena threw Ares a poisonous look.

“What?” Ares cried in an injured tone. “I bet you laughed.”

“I wouldn’t have even considered it,” Xena lied. “Anyway, it wasn’t funny. One of the yachts was very close – it could’ve run over her!”

“And it didn’t happen to be filled with a couple of good-looking guys?” Ares questioned.

“Hmm,” Xena considered. “Actually . . .”

“One of whom happened to look of Chinese background?”

“Maybe –“ Xena looked at Ares sharply. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing,” Ares assured her. Then he coughed.

“Spill it, Ares,” Xena growled.

“Not my secret,” Ares told her, without looking the least bit apologetic. He gave her a grin. “Take her to the beach tomorrow.”

Xena edged a little closer to Ares’ chair. “And?”

“And – “ Ares hesitated. “And if only the exact replica of Xena will do for this god . . .”

Xena’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve found the one guy in the world for Gabrielle?” Then she shrugged. “Well – I suppose you have had two thousand years . . .”

“I thought you said there were no decent fish in this part of the sea, Xena?” Gabrielle asked in a bemused tone.

“I – er – I don’t recall ever saying that,” Xena returned hastily. “This is exactly the right place.” She settled on the harbour wall, looking with some distaste at the cloudy water beneath. “Listen – I’m sorry Ares laughed at you yesterday.”

Gabrielle shrugged. “I’d forgotten already.”

“And I’m sorry I laughed last week.”

“Well, was that hard for you to say? I mean, it only took you all . . .” Gabrielle began, then started to laugh. “I’m only teasing you. It didn’t matter. I suppose it was funny.”

“Yeah, it – I mean, no, not really. It was kind of lucky all those people were around, though, in case anything had happened. You know, like you’d hit your head or something, and I’d had to call the ambulance, and . . .”

Gabrielle stared at her. “As if I couldn’t trust you to save my life – for the millionth time?”

Xena muttered something, and Gabrielle sighed. “No, I didn’t expect you to save my life after you were dead! Falling off that boat headed out of Jappa was my own stupid fault. I saw this reflection, and I thought it was a mermaid . . .”

“Xena?” Ares sat casually down beside the two friends. “Oh – this is Lin Qi. You might’ve seen him around the place a bit. Uh, Xena? This isn’t the place to catch anything edible. See that pipe? That’s actually where they pump waste into the water, and . . .” He scrambled up. “And we’ll be heading off towards the rocks. See you round, Lin Qi.”

The young Chinese-Australian guy who’d sat down with Ares nodded. “Later.” He cleared his throat. “Um – you’re Gabrielle, right?”

“Oh!”

Xena stood at the door, her eyes wide and panicked. She took an inward breath at the view before her. “I didn’t expect you quite yet . . .”

Ares grinned, leaning against the doorframe. “Couldn’t wait.”

Xena moved back reluctantly, wiping her hands down her jeans.

“I did put the food in the oven, but I wanted to set up the table – get changed – there were flowers - Gabrielle put out these candles –“ She took a breath. “Come in?”

“Hey – what’s the occasion?” Ares frowned, looking at her. “Candles?”

“I wanted to thank you for what you did for Gabrielle,” Xena shrugged, moving to the table and setting out the cutlery. “I – it means the world to me, her happiness.” She turned suddenly. “Thank you.”

He stepped forward so quickly that the knives and forks dropped all over the floor, jangling, echoing. “I don’t need candlelight.”

He was face to face with her. “I don’t need flowers –“

And his arms were around her. “I don’t need anything.” His mouth hesitated above hers. “Well – maybe one thing.”

“Me?” Xena suggested impatiently, pulling him down to her.

Ares grinned. “Exactly.”

...h.o.m.e...
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