Xena Lawless (continued)
continued from Xena Lawless, part one.
"Gabrielle? What are these things?" asked Xena as she motioned around them to the other trailers and the few cars and trucks still around.
"Those big things are called 'trailers." People live in them for short periods of time. The shiny ones with the black wheels are 'cars' and 'trucks'. They're like metal carriages, but you don't need horses to move them."
Xena looked at Reneé. "Are you sure you're not just making this up, Bard?"
The blonde laughed. "No, Xena. I'm not. Believe me."
The two women walked along silently, not really heading anywhere, when Reneé stepped into a pothole, slightly twisting her ankle and falling into Xena. "Here, sit down, Gabrielle." The warrior helped Reneé to the ground, then knelt in front of her to take the boot off and survey the damage.
"I'm okay, Xena. Really. I just need to walk it off."
"I've heard that one before," smirked the warrior as she checked the ankle, gently moving her fingers in a circular motion as she felt along the joint. Renee gulped, acutely aware of the feel of Xena's fingers on her ankle. *Its Lucy...but it's not...think, Ren.* she told herself *How the hell would Gabrielle handle this?*
*Relax and know that Xena would not do any physical harm to Gabrielle...to me.*
Xena pulled back from her attentions to Renee's foot and looked into the slightly tense green eyes. "Well, it's not broken or sprained. Do you think you can walk?"
The blonde offered a lopsided smile to her friend, and put the boot back on. "Yeah." Xena stood up and helped Renee to her feet, and gave her the staff to lean on. "I'm good, Xena, thanks. I told you I was fine."
"Yeah, I know," replied the raven haired woman with another smirk. Renee found comfort in the facial expression. *Typical Xena,* she thought.
The women walked along in silence, but Reneé's mind was in upheaval. *Okay, Reneé...er...Gabrielle. You can do this. For Xena's sake.* Just then a voice in the back of her head said, "What about the subtext?"
Reneé, surprised, sucked in a breath as a light blush crawled up her fair cheeks. *I can't very well tell myself that there is no such thing, now can I?*
"That1s because it exists...you can't blame the writers or Lucy for all of it...you injected your own fair share of the innuendo."
*Oh Gods...I know...*
"So, what're you going to do if something should...heh heh...come up?"
Reneé thought for a moment, looking into the surrounding forests to see if the trees could offer her an answer. *I'll just go with the flow, pray to the Gods...think about what Gabrielle would do.*
"Gabrielle is just as in love with Xena as Xena is with her...you1ve read a few fan fictions...you know what people imagine-"
Reneé cut herself off. *Yes, I've read them, thank you...I know what folks imagine between Xena and Gabrielle. That's not ME. I'm Reneé O'Connor and not Gabrielle.*
"That is where you're wrong, especially at the moment. True, you aren't Gabrielle, but you give her her strength, her will, her love. And right now, you must be Gabrielle, mind body and soul, for Lucy's sake."
Reneé stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Xena, who continued ahead a few paces before realizing that she was missing someone by her side. The dark warrior turned around finding herself regarded with uncertain eyes.
"Is something wrong, Gabrielle?"
"Uh...no...X-Xena." *Breathe, Gabrielle...gods those eyes...I'm Reneé not Gabrielle, I have to keep part of me intact...you've gotta be Gabrielle...*
*I am Gabrielle...*
The blonde closed her eyes and slowly, deeply inhaled, clearing her mind. She opened them when she felt Xena's wrist touch her forehead to check for a fever and her body heat torturously close. Gabrielle unconsciously flinched at the contact, which didn't go unnoticed by Xena. "You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, fine. Let's just keep walking."
"I'm not the one who stopped first." With that, Xena turned and started walking.
Her mind racing to come up with a retort, Gabrielle heard running footsteps behind them, and spun around her staff a mere inch away from the throat of..."Joxer?!" she said. Xena turned around a split second after the blonde, amazed at her speed and even more amazed to see Joxer there and not in Amphipolis watching her horse.
Ted Raimi, dressed in a nice gray Armani suit with a black shirt and no tie and not a garbage lid breastplate in sight, gave Gabrielle a confused frown as he slid his sunglasses to the top of his head. "Joxer? Renee, are you okay?"
Renee shook her head as if to clear her mind as Xena walked up behind her. "Joxer, what are you doing here? Nice clothes... Where's Argo? Is everything alright?" assaulted the warrior.
Ted smirked. "You're calling me Joxer and YOU're asking if everthing's alright?"
Renee turned to Xena. "Xena, why don't you go ahead and I'll catch up to you...I want to talk to Joxer."
Xena narrowed her eyes. "Ask him about my horse." She then turned away and started walking.
"Renee, what's going on here?"
"Lucy's got amnesia...she thinks she's Xena. I'm trying to play along as Gabrielle to make sure she doesn't hurt herself or anyone else. Rob didn't get in touch with you, did he, Ted?"
"No...I've been on the plane all day with Bruce."
"That means Rob probably didn't talk to Kevin or Hudson either. Okay...here's what I told Lucy: Joxer is looking after Argo in Amphipolis. She accepted it because that would place you both near Xena's mother.
"I also told her that there's this thing called 'gravity' that makes most of her moves impossible and I told her that it affects our weapons, but she can still fight hand-to-hand.
"Now, I want you to go back and try to stop Kevin, Hudson and Bruce from coming out this way, especially Kev and Huddy, and if they must, then they've got to get into costume and character, do you understand? NO WEAPONS, NO HORSES.
"I've gotta catch up with Xena," she added, easing into character.
"Where're you two gonna go?" asked Ted. "Is anyone following you?"
"No! No one follows us. Make sure Rob knows that... I think we'll go to that cave we used in the beginning of 'The Quest.'"
"Huh?"
"It's an episode, Jox-...Ted! Tell Rob, he'll know where it is."
"What're you gonna tell her? Y'know, about why I was here."
"I'm just gonna say that you left Argo with Cyrene and followed us in case we needed your help. That'll aleve any fears about Argo and it fits right in with Joxer's personality. YOUR personality, remember that if you come out here again. And don't forget, she's Xena, I'm Gabrielle."
"No, really?" Ted shook his head and smirked. *Already into character, treating me as if I were that dolt.* The Raimi brother smiled his goodbye and walked away from Gabrielle to find the three actors and warn them about Lucy's condition.
*****
Gabrielle jogged to catch up with Xena, who was already well down the road. The kiwi sunlight was waining fast, casting an orange tint across the land that faded into blue as the two women progressed.
Xena looked at the blonde as she approached. "How's my horse?"
Gabrielle smiled at the warrior. "He's fine, Xena, don't worry. Joxer left him in Cyrene's hands...he followed us in case we needed his help."
They walked on in silence, each stealing sidelong glances at the other, the sun dipping further behind the horizon.
"We need to camp for the night, Gabrielle...uh...where're our packs?"
Gabrielle panicked for a moment. "Our packs? Uh...we couldn't bring them with us on this mission, actually, it's more of a quest. We were also told to not bring our weapons, but you insisted.
"There should be a cave up ahead we can sleep in." Xena noticed when Gabrielle began to shiver.
"How do you know?" the warrior asked.
"What? Oh, erm...the healer, George...he told me."
"So we don't have our packs...how am I supposed to make a fire?"
*Fire...not a good idea...* "W-w-we don't need one, X-X-Xena," said Gabrielle, through slightly chattering teeth, then realized the implications. *Roll with the subtext...*
"Right...and while you're shivering like a young girl at a festival for Bacchus, do you think you-"
Gabrielle held up her hand to interrupt. "Alright. P-P-Point taken, but it's t-t-too late to talk about it n-now...you could have s-s-said something about it when we left the b-b-bags, y-y-y'know."
"Do I have to think of everything? C'mon, Gabrielle...why didn't YOU mention it?"
"R-Right, like you'd want me to b-butt in. B-B-Besides, I w-w-was busy m-myself."
"You're right, there's no point in arguing about it now... Let's just get to this cave, okay?"
Gabrielle nodded her agreement, and the pair rushed to the cave, arriving just as the sun finished it's descent.
*****
"Wait here, Gabrielle...I want to check it out first." The warrior drew her sword, the rubber prop sturdier than the rubbery chakram at the dark woman¹s side. Xena narrowed her eyes at Gabrielle, who was trying to stifle a giggle at the weapon.
*Thank the Gods we weren't using the "hero" weapons today,* thought Renee, brought out-of-character by the weapon's slight, but noticeable, wobbling.
The seconds that Xena was inside the cave seemed like hours to the shivering bard. The blue light around her was fading to blackness as night began to settle in and nocturnal creatures were coming out of their shelters. She heard the distant rumble of thunder and had a feeling it would probably rain tonight.
*If he had gotten a new staff, I would be at home with Steve and Kia Ora watching yet another Jean-Claude Van Damme flick, even though I wanted to see that Jeunet film City of Lost Children and Lucy could be at home with Rob and Daisy...*
Something inside her made Gabrielle realise that she didn't want to be anywhere else at the moment. *Wait a sec...what the hell am I thinking? I'm RENEE, not Gabrielle...*
The inner voice came again, saying, "Do you REALLY want to watch Cyborg for the nine hundredth time?"
Xena finally exited the cave and rubbed her hands together, her sword already sheathed to stop any further smirks from the bard. "All set."
"I'd say 'After you,' but I know you wouldn't let ANYone follow you into a confined space..." With that, Gabrielle walked into the darkness.
Finished here.
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