DISCLAIMER: None of the characters in this story belong to me – they belong to the people who made them. Please don’t sue – I don’t have any money!!! [spend it all on Xena videos!]

VIOLENCE/SEX/SUBTEXT: Nope, nothing like that in this fanfic… surprisingly there’s no violence either, but may be a slight hit of sex, so be warned!

RATING: PG-13 [nothing higher than that!]

WRITER’S NOTE: Okay, this is my take on a Christmassy fanfic. With this I’d like to wish everyone a very (late) Merry Christmas! It takes place during season6, sometime after OAHAF, before TGYK. I hope you like it!

FEEDBACK: Absolutely! I’d like to know what you think! Send it my way!

SUMMARY: Xena and Gabrielle travel to Amphipolis to celebrate solstice and find some friends and family there to greet them!

Solstice Time

BY JANE

A dark coat covered her shoulders, as Xena rode towards a city with her companion. She didn’t really know why she was going there… winter solstice was supposed to be celebrated with her family… but what if there wasn’t any left in Amphipolis. The memory of her mother brought fresh tears to her eyes, but she couldn’t let them slide down her cheeks. She had her time for mourning and now it was best to remember the good times.

With every gallop they came closer to Amphipolis. It has grown so rapidly since the last time they were here and the business with Metastopholis. It looked somewhat lively again, just like the companion on her right. Gabrielle’s family was going to be there, Eve, Virgil and any other friends that showed up. ‘I guess sometimes families change,’ Xena thought.

It was already near dark and tomorrow was winter solstice. Bright lights could be seen from every window and sounds of laughter and preparation were everywhere. Gabrielle smiled, looking at Xena, before going into a cosy tavern, which stood before them. The warrior princess followed her in and while her friend bargained with the tavern owner for a good price. Xena looked around and admired a decorated solstice tree, which stood near the fireplace. Suddenly she recognized Ares sitting next to the fire with his back turned. He didn’t seem to be aware of her presence, while he warmed his hands by the fireplace.

She made her way over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, “hey”. He looked up, a tiny smile on his face. “So what brings you here?” she asked.

He smirked, “Same as always – you. I got kinda bored with those chickens,” he explained, “so Amphipolis seemed as good a place as any.”

“No, you’ve got to be kidding me,” the bard’s shouting interrupted, “6 dinars for two days?”

“It’s a busy season, lady,” the tavern owner told her, “two medium rooms cost as much... especially when they’re the last two in this tavern… Wait any longer and you might need to sleep outside,” he joked, but his smile soon faded as he saw her glare.

“Gabrielle,” Xena got her attention, “just give the man his money… in the spirit of the season” Xena shrugged, as Gabrielle grudgingly gave away her dinars. This was one of the few times where she wasn’t able to lower the price.

Gabrielle made her way over to her friend, noticing Ares with a disapproving look. “So, I guess someone else will be staying with us…” Xena told her indicating Ares with a nod of her head.

“Oh, no… Xena I’m not sleeping in the same room…”

“Who said anything about you?” Ares grinned. Xena looked dead serious at him. “Well, what? I’m not willing to go through what happened last time…” he protested, while Xena tried very hard to hide back a grin.

“What? Xena, what’s he talking about?” the bard looked rather confused.

“Never mind,” Xena covered. But before Gabrielle had time for any more questioning, Lila and Sarah came in through the tavern door. She went over to give them a warm hug.

“We heard you arrived here,” Lila said, as other greetings were shared. Finally they turned to Xena, “and you, Xena, so nice to see you again…”

“You too,” the warrior princess nodded her head.

“Mother?” Eve came down the stairs, “I knew I heard you talking.” She smiled warmly and mother an daughter embraced.

“Evy,” Xena smiled back, “Haven’t seen ya in a while…”

Ares just sat there watching over all the hugging and greeting going on and to his surprise felt somewhat left out.

“Come on,” Xena said to everyone, lets grab something to eat.

“Yeah, I’m starved!” Gabrielle chimed in.

“You too,” Xena turned to Ares, a warm smile still clinging to her face. He got up and followed them to the table with, where everyone had something to tell about what happened while they haven’t seen each other. Xena and Ares weren’t much for talking, because the bard didn’t stop to catch her breath that night!

>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

A key struggled in the rusty lock. Finally managing to get it open, Xena said, “Oh, good, they have bunk beds!” Ares looked somewhat disappointed.

“I get top bunk!” he climbed up as quickly as Xena smirked.

“Says who?” she challenged.

“Well we could wrestle for it, I suppose,” he grinned devilishly, “but Gabrielle could walk in and get the wrong idea…”

“Not likely – I sent her to find the local library,” she grinned back and was about to pull him off the bunk.

“No, wait, wait, wait, Xena we shouldn’t be fighting on solstice eve,” he put on one of his childish, innocent faces.

“Hmm… to fight or not to fight…” she pondered out loud, as if it was a hard decision, “- fight!” Xena’s eyes lit up, as she pulled him down and landed on the floor herself. They began to struggle playfully, trying to get the upper hand.

“Xena, come take a look…” the bard stopped in mid-step as she saw Ares on top of Xena, on the floor. “XEEENA!” she fumed.

“What?” the warrior princess pushed Ares off her and started getting up as if nothing happened.

“Told you,” Ares said bored, not bothering to get up.

<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>

“Why do I always have such timing?” Gabrielle wondered, as if talking to herself.

“You caught them, heh?” Virgil drank some ale to settle his thirst. They were sitting in the now empty tavern downstairs, as an owl screamed outside. “Look it’s in the middle of the night,” Virgil reasoned, “you shouldn’t let it bother you for so long.”

“I guess you’re right,” Gabrielle admitted, “it’s not just that she and Ares you know... but I just thought I had it all figured out. I thought she didn’t feel anything but pity for him, and now this…”

“Try not to figure out complicated people,” Virgil advised, “then may be you won’t turn out wrong.”

“Yeah,” Gabrielle agreed, “listen I found this big library for us to take a look at tomorrow.”

“Great,” he smiled, “I guess I’ll go find somewhere to stay then.”

“Ah, I think that’s gonna be a problem,” she pointed out, “why don’t you come stay with me?”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure, I’m sure,” she smiled, “besides, I didn’t pay 6 dinars for nothing… So tell me, how was your journey?” She asked as they headed up the stairs.

<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>

One eye flew open. He hated mornings, especially being kicked several times by Xena for snoring. It’s not as if that could be helped… he drunk quite a few mugs of ale at dinner. ‘Hey where is Xena anyway?’ he looked at her bed, to find nothing but her bag on the covers. He got up and started putting on his leather vest.

========<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>==========

“Gabrielle…” Xena shook her companion, “Gabrielle, wake up, Lila baked some cookies… they’re your favourite…” she tried to tempt her off the bed, with not much success, she realized, as the bard turned away and covered her head with a pillow in her sleep. “Terrific…” Xena hissed, “Now I’ll have to help Lila with the cooking,” she shuddered at the word, then added, “nah!”

“Virgil, can you splash some cold water at her?” she asked without looking up. Getting no response she repeated, “Virgil…?” Seeing the man she just woke up 5 minutes ago, happily snoring away, Xena gave up, “what were these two doing last night?” Then her eyes widened and she retreated from the room.

“So, you couldn’t wake her up?” Ares guessed by Xena’s annoyed expression, as she came downstairs. There weren’t a lot of people in the tavern because most were celebrating with their families.

“Ah, I’ll set up Eve to help Lila,” she smiled.

“Yeah…” he muttered, “So um… is Cyrene…?”

“She’s gone,” Xena said, staring into the warm flames before them, “she was… she was burned because they thought she was a witch… and I couldn’t help her,” she added in almost a whisper.

He kept silent for a moment, knowing she was still hurting, he ventured cautiously, “Doesn’t it hurt to come back here?”

“Yeah… but I can’t run away because this is where she died. Long ago she loved this place, she wouldn’t leave it for anything…” she admitted, “and I can’t hate these people for being blinded from the truth by Metastopholis…”

“I know,” he looked at her, “although they killed the last of your family you can never hate them for it…” Xena looked at him with realization that he wasn’t really talking about her mother anymore, but about his own family. But did he really love them?

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t know they meant so much to you…”

“They didn’t… until I lost most of them,” he pointed out and diverted his gaze from the fire, to look her straight in the eye, “And you know what the sad thing is? – To know I lost them in vain…” He got up and out the tavern. Xena’s face looked clouded in deep thought. She didn’t realize that he was hurting as well. She always thought that he was just upset because he had to go through life being mortal. Something occurred to her at that moment… they both lost their family… like those orphans in the story she told Gabrielle a long time ago. But now the full realization hit her: that the story wasn’t about her and Gabrielle but her and Ares. The warrior princess sat by the fire for a long time going over everything that happened in her life… what she’s done and what she wanted to do…

<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>

In mid afternoon, Gabrielle woke Xena up from her thoughts with a loud yawn as she came into the cozy hall. “Hey, Xena, you said something about cookies? Or was I dreaming?”

“Huh? Oh, those cookies… nah I didn’t say anything,” she grinned slightly as Gabrielle narrowed her eyes at her. “Listen I’ll go get… I mean I’m going shopping,” Xena declared, getting up.

“YOU, going shopping?” Gabrielle’s eyes narrowed just that little bit more and now Xena couldn’t see anything but her eyelashes.

“Stop that Gabrielle, you’ll have wrinkles around your eyes…”

“Wrinkle? Where?” Gabrielle ran towards the closest mirror inspecting herself, while Xena attempted to slip out the door. “wait, you didn’t answer my question…” she turned back to look at Xena.

“Yes, I’m going shopping…” Xena said, this time bored.

“Without me?” Gabrielle looked sulky.

“No, you know…. ‘solstice’ shopping…” she indicated.

“Right…” Gabrielle smiled, happy at the thought of presents.

<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>

Time passed quickly and soon it was near evening. They gathered at Lila’s place because her room was big enough to fit them all in. Delicious food that kept several people occupied that day covered the table. As they ate, Gabrielle did most of the talking again. Getting bored with listening to her stories for the tenth time, Xena turned to Ares. “This is for you,” she extended a wrapped gift about the size of her palm.

He looked somewhat surprised and started to open it. It was a beautiful pendant, made out of some kind of black metal. It was a chakram… the old chakram he gave her long ago. “It’s…” he ran out of words, not knowing what to make of the gift.

“I had to threaten the local blacksmith and architect to get them to work on Solstice…” she said, as he chuckled, still admiring the neatness of the work. “It’s actually to replace your old one… I thought you would get into much less trouble if people wouldn’t recognise the symbol of war…” she said.

“Thanks,” he paused, “nobody ever bothered to get me anything on solstice…” he admitted, a somewhat sad look evident on his face.

“I do,” she told him, looking into his deep brown eyes. She slowly took the pendant and slid it around his neck, momentarily her hands running down his upper chest, but noticing that she quickly removed them and turned her attention to the table once more.

Seeing everyone was half asleep as Gabrielle was finishing one of her stories Xena quickly finished for her, “and they lived happily ever after, now lets give the presents!” That seemed to wake everyone up and a lot of rustling bags were heard. Gabrielle glared at Xena but the warrior princess quickly took out a present, “I got something for ya!”

“New boots!” Gabrielle exclaimed totally forgetting about Xena cutting off her story. The bard quickly started putting them on.

“Eve,” Xena handed her daughter a present.

“Thanks,” Eve gave her own present to Xena. “I didn’t know what to get you, so…”

Opening the wrapping Xena found a new whip. “We’ll put that to good use!” she said, thanking her daughter.

Gabrielle came around the other side of the table, evidently showing off her new boots. “I was gonna write you a scroll with the greatest poem, but I figured you’d just use it in the bushes, so I got you this new substance that cleans metals and stuff…” Gabrielle handed it to her.

“Does it work?” Xena asked suspiciously.

“Well, I guess you’ll have to find out,” she said, seeing the un-amused look Xena was giving her she added, “if it doesn’t I promise to do the cooking for two weeks!”

“Now that’s a deal!” Xena smiled, “thanks!”

“Ares –“ Gabrielle said, “this is for you”

“Are you sure you didn’t mix me up with somebody else?” he joked, reluctantly taking the present. Opening it, he found it was a navy shirt. “Thanks a lot, but do you honestly believe I’d wear this?”

“You will while I’m around,” Gabrielle threatened, “I got so tired of you going around shirtless on the farm…” Ares smirked in reply. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go give Virgil one of my scrolls as a present,” she walked off trying to get the whole room to notice her boots.

<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>

After the partying, Xena and Ares were walking through a grove on the way back to the tavern. When they were far enough from the others and the tavern, Xena stopped and looked at him. “Ares, when I gave you that pendant, I meant to say that well… I never knew that your family meant so much to you and now I know you didn’t just sacrifice your godhood when you saved my life…”

“And you want to thank me again?” he guessed her next words, “it’s okay, I heard you the first time round”

She nodded her head slightly and looked up again, “I also wanted to tell you that what you’ve done wasn’t in vain…” She came closer slowly a brought their lips together in a tender kiss. Then they slowly broke it and looked at each other.

“Xena, I accepted that you don’t love me,” she was about to speak but he continued, “I don’t want this to be out of guilt or feeling that you owe me, I told you – we’re even. I’m just so tired of you messing with my head”

Reluctantly he started walking back towards the tavern. “Ares,” he turned once again to look at her, “I… I care about you…”

“Yeah, anything else?” he asked.

“Oh, I love you dammit!” she burst out. For several long moments they stared at each other. “I mean that, we’ve been through so much together, and although I refused to admit it before, may be we’re like family…” She cut herself off and pondered at what she actually said.

“You mean that?” he asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

They indulged in another more passionate kiss, as their arms wrapped around each other. No more words needed to be said. After being deprived of doing this for so long, it felt so good to hold him. Neither wanted to break the embrace, but the cold soon caught up to them. “What, do you say we take this inside?” she purred.

“Sounds good to me,” he smiled back, as they walked down the grove, “if this is a solstice present, I’d say it’s the best darn one I ever had!” They both chuckled a bit, as they neared the tavern.

Back in the grove, Gabrielle was still standing where she first was. But the sight had just nailed her to the ground. Virgil run up to her, “Hey, are you okay? For a moment there I thought you were frozen or something…”

“Ok, I have REALLY bad timing!” she said angrily. Then shuddered and managed to keep walking.