From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
           Okay, since no one is posting, and presumably not tuning in, I am   
   going to post another FF story. This is the very first Xena story I ever   
   wrote.   
      
       I wrote this one in Feb  2001, and  it was the final season, and the   
   final episode wasn't until June 2001. So no one (other than the cast, crew   
   and suits) knew how it would end. So I wrote a story about what I thought an   
   aftermath of the finale episode might/should have happened.   
      
       As it turned out, Xena died, so my story was WAY off base. But I have to   
   admit, even after al these  years, I like my version of the end of their   
   lives better.   
      
   So, here it is--   
      
                                               I Won't Be Long   
      
       As the warriors rushed her from two directions, Xena launched herself   
   into the air, her legs shooting out to the side, her feet catching both men   
   in the face, propelling them backward through the air to land several feet   
   away.      As she landed catlike on her feet, the singing of her Chakram   
   told her it had served its purpose and was returning to her. But as she   
   reached up to catch it, she heard from far away someone's voice. A child was   
   insistently calling to her.   
      
       "Wake up! Wake up! It's time to eat."   
      
       As Xena slowly opened her eyes, she was looking into the face of a   
   small, dark haired child, a girl of perhaps 4 years of age.   
      
       "Come on, Grandma! Aunt Gabby says it's time to eat."   
      
       "Yeah, come on!   Mama says we can't eat until you come to the table."   
      
       Xena shifted her gaze to the child standing impatiently next to the   
   young girl, and saw a very blond five-year old little boy.   
      
       "Yes, children, I'm coming." Xena said to them patiently. "Just give   
   these old bones a little time to get moving."   
      
       As the two young children ran off to the thatched house some distance   
   away, Xena slowly rose from the chair she had been dozing in, enjoying the   
   April sun.   
      
       As she walked towards the house, flickers of pain crossed her face. The   
   years of battle had caught up to her. Her back was a constant source of   
   agony. How many times had it taken the brunt of her being thrown to the   
   ground, or against some tree?     Her left knee didn't always want to take   
   her weight, sometimes giving way, sometimes locking up.    Her right   
   shoulder ached with arthritis -- too many years of swinging her sword,   
   clanging against other swords, the shock traveling up her arm and settling   
   in her shoulder.   
      
       As Xena approached the house, the door opened for her.   
      
       "Come on!" She heard Eve say, much the way Xena used to say that very   
   thing to Gabrielle. "You spend more and more time in that old chair." Eve   
   said, smiling at her mother.   
      
       "Yeah, I suppose I do. But it's better than doing chores." Xena answered   
   with a smile of her own.   
      
      
       As they all sat around the long table and began to pass the food around,   
   Xena watched them; loving them all.   
      
       Her eyes rested on Gabrielle, now 45 years old. Her reddish blond hair,   
   longer now, as it was when they met, had more gray than Xena remembered, and   
   there seemed to be more wrinkles around her eyes. Gabrielle had gotten   
   heavier. A few pounds  left over from the weight she had gained while   
   pregnant with her son, Perdicus. And since her legs were also giving her   
   problems, she wasn't as active in the daily workings of the small farm they   
   lived on.   
      
       Xena's eyes move to Perdicus, as blond as Gabrielle once was. But it was   
   obvious he was going to be much taller than Gabrielle, taking after his   
   father. Even at 5 years old he was as tall as boys who were 8 or 9.   
   Watching Perdicus, Xena's memory traveled back to when he was only 6 months   
   old. That was when he lost his father, Zaron, Gabrielle's second husband.   
      
       Gabrielle had met Zaron in Pylomus, the small town a half-day's walk   
   from their farm. She was looking for temporary farm hands to help out with   
   the fall harvest. Zaron was one. He ended up staying through the winter. By   
   mid summer, he and Gabrielle were lovers. The next spring they had married.   
   And the following spring, when Gabrielle was 40 years old, their son was   
   born. Not wanting to hurt Zaron, she could never bring herself to tell him   
   why she had to name her son Perdicus.   
      
       Gabrielle lost Zaron 6 months later.      Even though they tried to keep   
   a low profile, bounty hunters sometimes came looking for Xena. Even after   
   all these years, a price was still on her head, offered by the various sons   
   of the warlords she had killed.   
      
       Zaron was a farmer, not a warrior, and he lost his life defending Xena.   
   The bounty hunter lost his head to Xena's Chakram, but not before the fatal   
   blow.  And for the second time, Gabrielle was a widow.   
      
      
       Xena's eyes next moved to Eve, who looked up and said, "Mother, you're   
   not eating." As Xena put the piece of meat to her lips, her memory took her   
   back 4 years, to the night Eve came home, pregnant, and ready to give birth   
   any day.   
      
       Xena had lost track of Eve years before. Xena had heard she might have   
   been in the land of Chi'in spreading the Word of Eli, but she could have   
   been anywhere.  She’d heard reports of her in Egypt, in Italia, many places.   
   Where she really was, Xena could only guess.   
      
       When Eve showed up, it was in the middle of the night, and the middle of   
   winter. She had to come home to have her child.  Eve never would say who the   
   father was, or how she came to be pregnant. Xena surmised she had been raped   
   somewhere, sometime.     But Gabrielle, being less cynical, thought she had   
   taken a lover, probably another follower of Eli. And for reasons only known   
   to Eve, she chose not to include him, beyond giving life to her daughter.   
   Xena was pleasantly surprised when Eve named her baby daughter Cyrene,   
   Xena's mother's name, who had died many years ago.   
      
       Xena's gaze went lovingly to Cyrene, tall and dark like Eve, and Xena.   
   As much as she loved Perdicus, Cyrene was her own granddaughter, blood of   
   her blood.   
      
       Cyrene was fussing at Perdicus over who should get the last bit of lamb.   
   Watching the two children together, Xena knew she was seeing the future.   
   Perdicus and Cyrene were destined to be together, soul mates.   
      
       Xena glanced over to see Gabrielle looking at her. Gabrielle's eyes went   
   to the two children and then back to Xena. She knew as well as Xena did.   
   Soul mates.   
      
   ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`   
      
       As the midmorning sun warmed her, Xena was roused from her nap by the   
   sounds of the two small children running and playing and laughing. As she   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)