Chapter XXXVII

“So, Ms. Dennis… tell me what brought you to my door at one in the morning?  What could Trick have thought so important that it couldn’t wait for a civilized hour of the day?”  Gabrielle’s voice was cordial and non-accusatory in tone, but Bo got the distinct impression that her courtesy would be short-lived if she wasn’t able to convince Gabrielle of the seriousness of the situation.  She cleared her throat.

“First, please call me Bo.  I know no other way to address you besides Gabrielle, and hearing you call me ‘Ms. Dennis’ just seems wrong on a number of levels.  Secondly, can we talk privately?”  She turned to where Diana was sitting silently, taking in the tableau before her.  “No offense, but I don’t know you, and the message I have is strictly for Xena and Gabrielle.”  She paused.  “Unless….  You’re not Xena, are you?”

“She’s not Xena,” Gabrielle cut in, “but she is our oldest and dearest friend as well as our most trusted ally.  She’ll hear whatever you have to share whether you tell her, or I do.”

“Oh, um… well.”  Bo scrubbed a hand over her face and blew out a loud breath.  “I’m just cocking this up left, right, and center.”  She removed her hand and met Gabrielle’s eyes.  “I’m sorry.  It’s been a long day and….”

“And the fact is, we’re still at a little bit of a loss as to why we got sent here,” Lauren interrupted.  “And why it was so important we understand that you and Xena are mates and not simply lovers or wives or whatever.  But Trick felt it was urgent that you and Xena know that someone called Saligia was awake and active.  He sent his lieutenant, Dyson - a shapeshifter - to the site he believes is the origin for Saligia’s escape.”

Gabrielle leaned forward.  “He knows for certain Saligia has escaped?”

“No,” Bo responded.  “He sent Dyson where the fissures originated to see if Saligia has made his escape yet.  But to my knowledge, Trick hasn’t heard from him yet either.”

“Does he have a timeline… an idea of when this happened?”  Bo cleared her throat again and Gabrielle turned to Diana.  Without speaking, she rose from her spot and slipped into the kitchen and returned almost immediately with two bottles of water.  Bo took one and neatly scarfed about half of it down and sighed in relief.

“Thank you.  He believes when magic came to this world - about seven years ago - that something shifted that allowed the cracks to occur; that happened maybe four years ago… when Light magic sacrificed herself for Dark.  That was the closest he could determine without actually knowing, but as soon as it became obvious what was going on, he sent us your way.”

Gabrielle steepled her hands in front of her lips and watched Bo and Lauren for a long moment.  “Do you know the story of Saligia?”

Bo shook her head.  “Not really.”

“Only the parts that Trick shared with us… which is what Bo already told you.”

Gabrielle nodded slowly and relaxed back in her chair.  “Get comfortable, ladies, and I’ll fill in the blanks for you.”

************

“Holy… shit,” Bo mumbled when Gabrielle finished her narrative, rubbing her eyes and shaking her head in disbelief.  “Are you… is all that really true?”

Gabrielle frowned.  “Why would I make something like that up??  Do you have any idea…??”  She rose from her chair with a jerky motion and stomped out of the room, slamming the door forcefully behind her.  Bo and Lauren exchanged dismayed glances, then turned to find Diana watching them blandly, though Bo could clearly feel the danger emanating from her.

“Obviously that was the wrong tack,” Lauren muttered, wincing when she saw the anger flare in Diana’s eyes.  “Sorry,” she apologized quickly and sincerely.  “We’re just at such a loss here, and it’s all a little frustrating.  Trick probably should have given us more information to go on than he did.”

“Maybe,” Diana shrugged.  “But it wasn’t really his story to tell… assuming he even knows the whole story.  Now, put yourself in Gabrielle’s place.  She’s lived for a long time - millennia at this point - and she’s seen and done just about everything possible in this world.  And yet her worst memory… her worst nightmare - involves this monster and what he did millennia ago.  What he did to them, and what he did to the world at large.  Knowing that it’s coming again?  Yeah, not putting her in the best frame of mind.”

“Besides,” Gabrielle spoke from the doorway, “the closer we get to him making an appearance, the more boxes pop open.  And the more boxes that open, the more uncomfortable and on edge I become.”  She turned to Bo.  “I apologize for my reaction.”

“You don’t have to explain.  I’m pretty sure you were a lot calmer than I would have been in your shoes.  Is there anything we can do to help?  I have to believe that was one reason Trick was so set on us coming here to see you… why he insisted your being mates was such a crucial distinction.”  Lauren cocked her head and frowned in confusion, and Bo put a hand on her knee while shaking her head at Gabrielle and Diana.  She turned to meet Lauren’s eyes.  “I think we’re supposed to help out with this Saligia dude in some capacity or other.  And Xena and Gabrielle being mates is the key to the whole thing because that is how they’ll defeat him.  He can’t break that bond.”  She looked back at Gabrielle who was watching her with the slightest smile on her face.  “Am I right?”

Gabrielle nodded slowly.  “You’re pretty close.  Our bond is what protected us the last time… despite everything he did to us to break it.  However, this time we also have the Guardians and the talismans.  I think… we think those will enable us to destroy him once and for all.”

“Can you tell us about the talismans?”

“What would you like to know?”

“Anything you can share.  I don’t know that knowing about them will make a difference, but having knowledge is never a bad thing.”

Gabrielle didn’t reply to that directly; she could think of several times that she would have been far happier not knowing the things she did.  Instead, she simply nodded her head and closed her eyes leaning back in the chair and taking a deep breath.  When her eyes opened, they almost glowed in their intensity and Bo and Lauren watched in fascination as she started telling of the talismans that they had collected.

“Xena and I have the Greco-Roman talisman. It’s a one-inch piece of iron in the form of a cluster of grapes.  A beautiful piece, really… quite extraordinary if it wasn’t for what it does.  It represents Gluttony and is attributed to Dionysus and Bacchus.  Xena carved out seven individual wooden boxes to put the talismans into and Aphrodite had Hephaestus line the boxes with metal that would shield us from the talismans once they were locked away.  Zeus provided the locking mechanism.  There is one box for each of the seven deadly sins, and they were scattered across the Pantheons of all the major religions of the day.  Every culture had the responsibility for one box.”

“I have a couple questions,” Lauren said into the silence that followed, waiting for Gabrielle to nod before she continued.  “Right… so you said he - that Saligia guy - was taking the powers of the lesser gods… in an effort to build his own without anyone taking much notice of what he was doing.”  Gabrielle nodded again.  “Okay, so - what did he use to do that?  I’m assuming it wasn’t the talismans you collected and set up with your Guardians.  And my other question is - where are your Guardians?  I mean, how did that work out exactly?”

Gabrielle leaned her chin in her hand and regarded Lauren for a long moment, until Lauren felt the need to fidget and squirm. Before she could start, Bo put a hand over hers and clasped it gently, drawing a grateful look from Lauren.  Gabrielle smiled gently.

“Those are good questions.  Originally, we thought the same talismans were being used over and over - one for each Pantheon.  But after talking to a few of those affected, we realized that wasn’t the case… that the primary talisman had children, as it were… smaller charms that would easily be overlooked.”

“Smaller than an inch?? That’s tiny!”

“Um hmm… about the size of a tear drop.  And as long as the main talismans were out in the world, the charms were very effective.  But as we started collecting the talismans, the charms lost their power and seemed to simply vanish.”

“So, they managed to return…?”

“Likely because of the magical shift.”  Gabrielle sighed.  “It’s only an educated guess, but I believe they were likely enchanted to Saligia exclusively - after all, they were his power conduits.  When magic shifted, they were ‘awakened’… for lack of a better term.  As far as I know, there were no restrictions on them.  It stands to reason that when they were brought back to life, they resumed their original purpose.”

“This is giving me a headache,” Bo complained, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand.

“Yeah, the circuitous nature of his efforts has done the same to me on more occasions than I care to count.”

“Okay, so you couldn’t collect the charms because they just disappeared once you had the talismans?”

“Correct.  A few of the gods even had some of their powers return, though no one that lost them completely regained full use of what they’d had.  We figured we’d come out ahead.”

“You did, Your Majesty,” Diana inserted.  “The records show there were years of effort in each Pantheon where they continued to search for the charms.  There simply wasn’t anything for any of them to find.”

“Your Majesty?” Bo and Lauren repeated.

“Not important,” Gabrielle waved them off.  “As for the Guardians… well, we’ve found about half of them.  Our biggest problem is that not everyone had traditional families, so we’re having to take things like adoption and blended families and runaways into account with records that aren’t nearly as complete as they should be.  Honestly,” she grumbled, “you’d think by now, we’d have this all figured out.”

Bo snorted.  “Nah… it still involves working government agencies, human beings and paperwork.  You’ll be lucky if they get it done in the next few centuries, and they’ll be congratulating themselves on their speed and efficiency.”

Gabrielle snickered.  “Most likely.  And all of those things don’t even begin to consider things like theft or trading or even the possibility that it was lost.”  

“Can you tell us about the rest of the talismans?” Lauren asked.  “You said you’ve found about half of them.”

“Yes.  Xena is out there right now trying to confirm the finds as true.  One is the Indian Talisman - a sapphire peacock that represents envy, and the other is the Egyptian Talisman - a gold cobra that embodies the sin of greed.”

Lauren nodded.  “So that leaves sloth, lust, pride, and wrath.  Which cultures ended up with what?”

“The Orientals - pardon… the Asians - took care of sloth; the Celts got lust; the Indigenous Peoples of the Islands received pride; and the Norse took wrath. I have reason to suspect that the pride talisman may have been traded or stolen, which just adds another layer of complication to finding it.”

“Oh… wow,” Lauren commented softly.  “No wonder finding those things is going so slowly.”

“Yes, and I suppose part of that is strictly our fault.  If we’d given any serious thought to the possibility that Saligia would be able to escape, we’d have done our homework a long time ago and found the women who had been tasked with Guardianship.  We’d have paid closer attention to their descendants and made sure they understood the responsibility they’d been handed.”  She covered her face with her hand momentarily before pushing it through her hair.  “Nothing we can do about it now, though.”

“Hindsight is always twenty/twenty, Your Majesty,” Diana commented quietly, receiving a wan smile for her efforts.

Bo had been sitting mostly silent during the entire discussion, her eyes focused somewhere beyond the skyline visible out the floor-to-ceiling windows that were still open to the relative darkness.  She sucked in a deep breath and looked at her hands thoughtfully before glancing up to meet Gabrielle’s eyes. “If I’m understanding you right, every Talisman is a different symbol made of a different material that seems best suited to the culture charged with its care,” waiting for Gabrielle to nod her agreement.  “Does that mean the boxes were created the same way?”

Gabrielle nodded again.  “Yes.  The wood was native to the homeland the Talisman represented.  For example, our box was built from olive wood and had a number of Greek symbols cleverly carved into it.  Many of them cannot be seen unless you know where and how to look for them.  The other boxes were much more decorative; we felt it would remind the Guardian to stay focused on the importance of the responsibility they carried.”

“Can you describe the other boxes?”

Gabrielle frowned.  Despite her immortality, she was exhausted and plagued with a headache that was persistently pounding behind her eyes. Still, she had the distinct impression that there was more behind Bo’s request than simple curiosity.  She sighed.  “It would be easier if Xena was here - she built them.  She could give you much more detail than I can.  Most of the decoration she used was particular to the pantheon it represented.  For example, I remember that the Norse box had Valkyrie, Odin’s horn, Thor’s hammer, and a Valknut among others.  I can tell you the woods that were used….”

“Tell me what was used for the Norse box,” Bo demanded hoarsely.

Gabrielle tilted her head at the intensity she was suddenly faced with.  The barest hand movement kept Diana from stepping up beside her, but Bo didn’t even notice, she was so focused on Gabrielle.  “The Norse box was a beautiful old oak, with the most interesting grain….”

“… that seemed to wrap around the box in a single swoop.  It’s a deep brown… almost mahogany in color… and so smooth and highly polished that it feels like silk against your skin.”

“Bo?” from Lauren.

“I take it you’ve seen this before?” Gabrielle asked calmly, not allowing her excitement to betray her in her voice.

Bo nodded abstractedly, glancing at Lauren before turning her head back to Gabrielle.  “Um hmm… I think so.  There’s a box like you’re describing in Trick’s vault.  I never quite understood why it was there; that vault is for things that are wicked and dangerous, and it was just this carved wooden box.  Beautiful, but nothing particularly special about it.  I mean… it wouldn’t even open, you know?”  She scratched the back of her neck as she studied the ground intently.  “I guess we know why now.”  She glanced back up at Gabrielle.  “Wonder why my dad never said anything?  Wonder why Trick didn’t?”

“Why would your father know?  The talismans were supposed to be passed through the mothers’ lineage - mother to daughter.”

“Bo’s father is the god Hades,” Lauren offered when the silence threatened to drag on uncomfortably.  “Trick said he spoke highly of both you and Xena.”

Gabrielle’s eyes widened and her brows went up, but otherwise there was no reaction to show how unusual Bo’s parentage was in this day and age.  She nodded her acceptance.  “He still would have had little reason to know.  The gods did everything they could to maintain a distance from the talismans once they became aware of them and their true purpose.  And none of them were particularly inclined to entangle themselves in what Xena and I were doing unless it was for their benefit.”

Bo tilted her head at Gabrielle’s tone.  “It sounds as though you don’t care much for these gods of yours.”

“Xena and I have had more than our share of run-ins with them, and most of them were… less than pleasant for us.”  She shrugged and shook her head.  “I take it your mother is Trick’s daughter?” waiting for her agreement.  “And she’s…?”

“… dead, yeah. Has been for a while now.  But Trick has had that box for a lot longer than she’s been dead.”

“Trick knew some of what Xena and I faced with Saligia the first time… because I shared that with him.  I met him at a time when….”  She shook her head at the memories that flooded her mind.  “I had already been alone for a little longer than a millennium at that point, and he was kind to me.  We became great friends for a while.”

“He wanted to be more than that, you know.”

Gabrielle nodded.  “It’s why I left; why I cut all ties to him.  He wanted to be more insistent about being mates, and it was becoming harder and harder for him to control the nature of his beast and restrain himself.  His loss of control would have led to a bloodbath at the very least.  And though I didn’t love him the way he wanted me to, I did care for him and those around him.  So, I left to protect all of us.”

Bo tilted her head.  “Do you think you could have defeated him?  If he had tried to take you as a mate?  He’s the Blood King, you know - it would have been considered the highest honor he could offer.  You would have been his queen.”

This time Gabrielle let her eyes glow until they changed to the familiar yellow with the red ring, opening her mouth to show both Lauren and Bo the extended incisors.  To their credit, neither of them flinched, though Lauren couldn’t stop the gasp from escaping her lips.  Gabrielle smiled wickedly.  “I would have defeated them all,” she stated unequivocally.  “I have been what I am for a very, very long time.  Even then, I was older than most who walked the Earth, and far more experienced than even the gods could claim.”  She closed her eyes for several moments and willed herself to a calmness she didn’t truly feel.  “I was already mated to Xena,” she said, “and had been for lifetimes.  She is my soul bond, and he knew that.  It’s why he never actually crossed that line; it’s why I left.  Neither of us wanted the horror that would come if the trust between us was broken.”

Lauren cleared her throat awkwardly when the silence dragged on.  “We’re a little far afield of our original topic - why does Trick have your talisman box?  I mean… Bo has been a fully capable adult for a while now.  Surely he should have given it to her when her mom passed, if he couldn’t trust her mom with it.”

Gabrielle shook her head.  “You’ll have to ask him that.  I don’t know why he has it in the dark vault, but I do know, if it came through your family line and not from one of his conquests, you do need to take possession of it,” staring directly at Bo.  “We are going to ask the Guardians to stand with us when we go out to meet Saligia for the final battle, but we won’t demand it.”

“You tell us when and where and we’ll be there,” Bo replied without hesitation.

Gabrielle nodded.  “Good.  But let’s make sure you’re the Guardian first.”  She turned her head to the monitor.  “Root?”

“Sorry, Boss - Casey here.  Root’s on the other line talking to Helena.  Everything’s all right,” she reassured instantly.  “She’s just checking in.  What can I do for you this morning?”

Gabrielle frowned.  Casey? Was it really that late??  “I need Her to run a specific trace on the Norse talisman, starting with Miss Dennis and working backward.  See if her lineage actually links her back to the original Guardian.”

“You got it, Gabrielle.  Anything else?”

“Yes.  Let me know what’s going on with Helena as soon as Root is done talking to her, and let Barbara and Dinah know to come on in and get started without me this morning - Diana and I will be running a little behind daybreak.  Diana’s going to show our guests a place to get some sleep, and then we’re going to do the same for a little while.”

“Can do.  I’ll let you get some rest.  Talk to you in a bit.”  The monitor went dark and Gabrielle turned back to Bo and Lauren.

“Let Diana show you somewhere to sleep for a few hours at least.  I’d feel better if you had some rest before you head back to Trick’s place.  There’s plenty of food in the cupboards, so feel free to help yourselves.  If you need anything….”

“We’ll be fine,” Bo assured her as she stood and held out a hand.  Gabrielle stood and accepted it, then pulled Bo into a brief hug.  She did the same for Lauren, then they were following Diana out the double doors and into the elevator.  Gabrielle looked around the penthouse, alone for the first time in days.  She sighed and shook her head, then went into the bedroom and closed the door securely behind her.


Chapter XXXVIII

“Hey!  Is anybody there?”  The sound of tapping.  “Is this thing on?”

“Helena?” Root replied as her eyes widened at the sound of Helena’s voice coming over the comm unit.  “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah… not really.  I mean, I’m fine, so please don’t bother Barbara or anything.  But I thought I should let someone there know - things here are kinda crap.  Pretty sure Saligia is up and about, but if there’s a way to track him, we haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Ooo-kay,” Root drawled slowly as she glanced around the monitoring room.  “How ‘bout you start at the beginning and I’ll put it all into the Machine.”

“Where are Xena and Gabrielle?”

“Xena’s out with Shaw chasing the boxes we’ve already found, and Gabrielle has company.”

“At this time of day??” ignoring the part where Xena and Shaw were out looking for boxes together.

“Yeah… someone she knew a long time ago apparently.  Pretty sure they’re gonna tie into all this.”

“Pretty sure?”

“Call it a gut feeling.  Now what have you got for me?  What makes you think Saligia is on the move?”

“One of the realms here has been completely destroyed - just… everything there is dead.  Plants, animals, people - there’s nothing left but the buildings.  None of the other realms have been touched, so the likelihood is that he’s gone from here.”

“Do they have any idea why that particular realm was destroyed?”

“Regina thinks it’s because it isn’t… wasn’t a true realm of her kingdom.  It was something her kid came up with when he was angry at her and his other mom.  You know… Emma.”

Root’s eyebrows shot into her hair.  Not that it was her business, but she was fairly certain Emma had mentioned having a husband.  She blinked and shook her head.  “Can’t wait to hear that story,” she mumbled, though not quietly enough that Helena missed the comment.  “Okay, so….”  She studied the monitor as information started streaming across it.  “Oh, wow….  It was a copy of the real Storybrooke??  Huh.  This whole magic thing is just making things crazy.”

Helena snorted.  “Like they weren’t already.  Listen, if you can get this info to Xena or Gabrielle, yeah.  We’re gonna see what we can do here.  If we find anything else….”

“… yeah.  We’ll do the same.  Later.”

Root turned to find Casey inputting something into the Machine.  It had taken her a little while to accept the fact that this mission required others to have wider access to the Machine, but she’d found a kind of family with Casey, Brittany, and Kurt.  They respected that she was the Machine’s true caretaker but were also fully capable to be part of Team Machine in their own right.  She was truly glad to be able to call them friends and family, and thankful every day that Xena had been in a position to save her life.  She cleared her throat.  “So, what’s going on?”

“Gabrielle asked that She trace back Bo’s lineage.  They think she’s the Guardian of the Norse talisman.”

“Wow!  That’s great!”

“Yeah.  What’s up with Helena?” She smirked when Root’s eyebrows went into her hairline.  “I could hear you talking to her when I came in.  Sounded like a cluster.”

“It’s something.  Magic is making a difficult situation almost impossible.  Even She’s having trouble factoring it in - it’s never been a component we’ve had to consider before.”  She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, twisting her neck from side to side.  “Did Gabrielle already go to bed?”  She opened her eyes and glanced at her watch.  “God, I hope so.  When did it get this early?”

Casey laughed.  “Yeah… Ian and I weren’t particularly thrilled when the alarm went off this morning.”

“Yeah… even without sex, the nights are way too short right now.  With it?  Well, I keep telling Shaw sleep is overrated, but honestly, sometimes it’s kinda necessary.”

“Agreed.  Why don’t you take off and get a few extra winks?  You had to start early last night because of Brittany, and Kurt will be here in a little while.  I’ve got this for now, and I’ll let Gabrielle and Xena know about Storybrooke.”

Root nodded.  “All right.  Have Her wake me if you need me for anything.”

“Will do,” Casey said with a wave as Root exited the room.  She turned back to her keyboard and finished entering the parameters on Bo’s lineage trace.  Then she set the Machine to do Her thing as she rose and walked from the room.  She figured it she was going to have to wake Gabrielle from a sound sleep, it might be better to do it with coffee in her hand.

************

Xena stepped through the portal of the underground fortress behind Bigfoot, waiting quietly while he announced her to the four women scattered around the room.  She was surprised that she recognized not one, but two of the women looking back at her, and she recognized relief in Helen’s eyes when she stood and came around the desk to greet her.  Xena was a little taken aback by the hug - after all, they had only known one another casually at best more than a century prior.  But she allowed the brief embrace and offered a small smile as Magnus pulled back from her.  Helen’s grin, however, was wise and genuine.

“Hello, Xena,” she said.  “It’s been a while,” the words causing Xena to smirk.  Helen rolled her eyes, but chuckled.  “I was stunned to hear you were coming to visit… especially at this time of night.  I’m quite relieved to see it was true, though something must be terribly wrong to bring you here.  They said there were two of you - you and someone named Shaw.  Where is she?  And where is Gabrielle?”

Xena placed a hand on Helen’s arm, and she took a calming breath under Xena’s watchful eyes.  “Better?” she asked, nodding when Helen indicated she was.  “Good.  Then why don’t you introduce me to your friends, and then I’ll explain the meaning behind this visit.”  She turned back to Bigfoot.  “Thank you, Martin,” she said softly as she accepted his embrace.  They separated, and he turned to Helen with a nod of his head and exited the room.  Helen turned back to Xena.

“Martin?”

“It’s his name,” Xena replied offhandedly, then held up her hand before Helen could ask any more questions.  “Trust me - we met a number of years before you and he did.  We traveled together for a bit, so there was plenty of time for us to talk.”

Helen nodded slowly.  “I’ll have to ask him about it.  I don’t recall hearing those stories.”

Xena shrugged.  “They’re his to tell.”  She turned back to the room, allowing her eyes to find the Hindi woman first.  “You must be Kate Freelander,” accepting the hand the young woman offered.  “And unless my memory is playing tricks,” she continued as she turned, “you are Helena Wells.”

H.G. rose and approached her, eyes narrowed as she tried to jog her memories.  “Have we met?” holding up her hand instantly.  “Wait… don’t answer that.”  She looked at Helen, then faced Xena squarely once more.  “Helen called you Xena and mentioned someone called Gabrielle.  Did we cross paths at the Paris Exposition?”  She shook her head.  “I was quite young then, so maybe….”  She trailed off again.  “You seem so very familiar, and I know I’ve heard your name before, but….”

“We met in New York - in 1892.  You were looking for the first camera owned by George Eastman because it was suspected that it removed souls of those it captured on film.”

H.G.’s eyes widened. “Oh my God - I remember that.  That was one of the scariest retrievals I have ever been part of,” she confessed.  “But how are you here now?”

“I could ask the same,” Xena responded, “but it’s not important at the moment.  What is important is why I’m here now.”

“Um… excuse me,” spoke up the tall, curly haired woman who had been watching the interplay between Xena and H.G.  Xena turned to look at her, accepting the hand she proffered as she stood.  “Hi,” she greeted with a smile.  “My name is Myka Bering.”

Xena cocked an eyebrow, but the truth was, she kind of liked this brash young woman and her confidence.  “Xena,” she answered shortly.  “And this is my friend, Shaw,” she introduced as Sameen crossed the threshold.  “Shaw, this is Myka, H.G., Helen and Kate.”

Shaw raised a hand in a semblance of a wave.  “Hi.  Wha’d I miss?”

“Not much. Take a seat and I’ll explain why we’re here.”  She turned back to the woman patiently watching her.  “It should answer your questions, and if it doesn’t….”  She shrugged her shoulders.  “I’ll answer whatever I can.  Just understand that I’m not the bard in my relationship.”

That got smiles all around, and H.G. looked intrigued.  They waited as Xena composed herself, then began telling the story that had started eons before they were even a thought.

************

When she was finished, Xena leaned on one side of the massive desk.  Helen had moved to take a seat beside Kate in front of it, while H.G. and Myka shared the couch.  Shaw had taken up post at the doorway and was nodding confidently at Xena’s retelling.  It got her a wan smile.

It was quiet for several long moments as the four women absorbed the knowledge they’d been given, and slowly, they one by one turned their attention back to where Xena was waiting.  They glanced at each other, no one wanting to speak first, until Kate slapped her hands on the arm of the chair she sat in and stood up.  “I believe you,” she stated bluntly.  “So much of what you’ve said makes so many other parts of my life suddenly make sense.”  She raked her hand through her hair, clenching the back of her neck as she began to pace.  “Why wouldn’t they tell me, though?  Why give me the box without explaining the rest of the story?”

“What did they tell you?” Xena asked after a moment of thoughtful silence.

“Only that is was our responsibility to take care of the box.”  Kate frowned.  “I remember my daadee ma - my grandmother - spoke of some great evil, but honestly, she was a little batty.  It was hard to understand her, much less take much of what she said seriously.  Mama just told me to keep it safe and hidden - that I would know what to do with it when the time came.”  She snorted.  “Obviously, that wasn’t true, or I would never have exposed Magnus to it,” garnering her a small smile and a grateful nod of the head from Helen.

“In fairness, the effect on immortals - or at least those longer lived than most - is not something we shared about.  We never expected it to be a factor for anyone but us.”

“So… you’re an immortal?” H.G. asked, her curiosity piqued beyond measure.

“I am,” Xena replied shortly.  H.G. took the not-so-subtle hint and wisely chose not to pursue her line of questioning.  Maybe later, when this was all over, but for now, other things needed to take precedence.

“Okay,” Myka drawled when the silence dragged on a little too long to be comfortable.  “What do we do now?”

“Well, that depends entirely on you.  Technically, the only one that needs to do anything is Miss Freelander,” smiling gently at Kate’s startled glance.

“Wait… me?  What do I need to do?”

“You have a couple options here.  You can give me the box and I will add it to the others when the time comes to defeat Saligia.”

“Or…?”

“Or you can remain the Guardian and join us and the others as soon as we’ve located them and chosen a place to make our stand against Saligia.  Honestly, I would prefer the second choice, since the more we have stand with us, the higher our odds of defeating him with minimal damage.  However,” she cautioned solemnly, “there is a much greater risk to you personally.”

“I’m in,” Kate replied without hesitation.  “I’m not gonna be the one to go back to my family and confess that my inability to uphold my responsibilities as Guardian caused the destruction of the world or something.  So, you just let me know when and where to be.”

“I’d like to make a suggestion,” H.G. spoke up, turning all eyes in her direction.  She swallowed hard, then continued.  “Myka and I work for Warehouse 13 in the middle of nowhere South Dakota.  It would make an excellent place for a last stand.”

“Um… H.G.?  You don’t think it’s a little risky to lure this guy out to the Warehouse where we have so many artifacts stored?  What if some - or all - of them get loose?”

“Darling, given what Xena just shared - if he wins, losing the Warehouse will be the least of our problems.  Besides, this way we can be a part of whatever happens, and there is every possibility we might be able to use some of what’s in the Warehouse to defeat him.”

“Maybe,” Myka conceded, then bit at her lower lip.  She turned to Xena.  “What do you think?”

“It’s a good idea.  You might want to talk it over with Artie and the other agents before we finalize anything, though.”

Myka snorted.  “The only one we have to worry about is Artie.  Everyone else will jump on this like white on rice.  They’ll see it as an adventure in their own back yard.”

“At least I know how capable the Warehouse Team really is,” Xena commented, “or I’d say no unequivocally. This isn’t a game, and people could die.” She focused her sharp gaze on Myka.  “Make sure you’re up front about that part.  I don’t want anyone there who doesn’t understand how dangerous it could be.”

Myka swallowed hard and nodded her head furiously.  “Yes… absolutely.”

“Xena,” Helen called softly in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere in the room.  Xena shifted and arched an eyebrow in her direction as a silent inquiry.  Helen blinked her eyes a couple times at the intensity facing her and cleared her throat.  “Can anyone participate in this gathering?”

Xena nodded sharply once.  “Yes.  The more positive energy we have to defeat him with, the better for us.”

Helen nodded and rose to move behind her desk.  She lifted the handset briefly, then returned it to its cradle, then assumed her chair once more, eyes focused on the door.  In just a couple minutes, BigFoot, Henry, and Will had crossed over the threshold and stood waiting for Magnus to speak.  She gazed at them all, slowly perusing them as she remembered many of the challenges and trials she had faced with these men that she trusted more than almost any others.  She sighed and pushed herself off the desk to stand, then came around the desk to take her place beside Xena who was still leaning on the edge.

“We have a situation… and some answers.” She gave a quick overview of what Xena had shared, then looked at them expectantly.  “Kate and I will be leaving immediately for South Dakota,” holding up a hand before anyone could open their mouth to speak.  “I believe it’s imperative we leave the City.”

“Why?” Shaw asked from the back of the room, causing all eyes to turn her way.  She cleared her throat and continued.  “Why do you need to leave now?  And why do you think you should go?”

Will bristled, but Shaw merely stared at him until he settled, then she turned back to Helen and cocked an eyebrow at her.  Helen smirked gently, but she figured Shaw deserved an answer to her valid questions.  “I believe we should leave immediately for two reasons.  The first is that I think it’s better not to have more than one talisman here.  I realize all seven will be in one place eventually, but better that it not be a city with millions of people in a relatively small area.  The other reason is that we need to establish a base site.  It’s something I’m familiar with - one reason I believe I should go with Kate.  The other being that I am choosing to be part of this effort.  We know not to open the box again, and hopefully by the time we need to do so, we’ll have found some sort of cure or shield or something that will keep it from affecting me, as well as Xena and Gabrielle.”

Shaw studied her a moment longer, then shrugged.  “All right.”  She turned to Xena.  “Now what?”

“Now we let these guys figure out what they want to do.”  She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a card, handing it to Helen.  “Please keep in touch with us, and let us know what’s going on,” nodding as Magnus accepted the card.  She proffered another to H.G. and Myka.  “Same goes for you,” she instructed.  “Call if you need anything.  Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to get to the airport before daylight.”

Will stepped in front of her, and she almost growled at his impertinence.  Then she noticed his extended hand and looked her question at him.  “I owe you an apology.  I was being as ass earlier, and I shouldn’t have been… especially once the Big Guy told us you were a friend.  I just… there’s something not right about all this.”

Xena gave him a wry smile, even as she accepted his hand.  “There’s a lot of things not right about all of this.  You and Henry make sure Helen and Kate get where they need to be safely.”

“Can we come along?”

“I think that’s what Helen was getting at earlier,” she assured him as she released his hand.  She turned back to the rest.  “We’ll be seeing you soon.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Henry said as she and Shaw moved to the door.  He stopped moving when BigFoot placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.

“I will,” he instructed quietly but forcefully.  Henry nodded - he’s never seen the Big Guy be so dominant about something before.

“Sure, Big Guy.  We’ll start getting things together to leave,” not surprised when everyone else dispersed at his words.  

Meanwhile, BigFoot was leading Xena and Shaw to the place their car had been moved to.  Shaw immediately went to the driver’s side and climbed in, starting the car and fiddling with the controls in an effort to give Xena a private moment with her friend.  Xena allowed the hug he gave, whooshing all the air from her lungs when he squeezed.  She patted his chest when he finally set her on her feet again.  

“Take care of yourself, Martin,” she said.

“You too, Xena.  Come again soon, and bring Gabrielle next time.  Think she is safer than this one,” gesturing to the car where Shaw waited.  Xena smirked.

“Probably,” she agreed.  “Be seeing you,” she said as she slid into the car and closed the door behind her.  A moment later, they were on their way to the airport.  They had other places to be.


Chapter XXXIX

Sam Carter blinked slowly as she peered through the peephole of the door to find Xena and someone who was not Gabrielle standing patiently on the front porch in the pre-dawn darkness.  She motioned to Janet and Daniel even as she dropped her own weapon, and in another moment had the door unlocked and slightly open.

“Xena?  Do you know what time it is?  Is everything all right?”

Xena sighed.  “May we come in?”

Sam nodded and opened the door wide enough to allow them passage into the house.  “Of course.  You know Janet, and this is our friend, Daniel.”

Xena acknowledged the introductions with a nod but didn’t offer a hand.  Janet was still on the stairs, though her weapon was pointing at the floor.  And Daniel had his arms crossed with his gun pointing out from one side, head cocked as he studied her.  “This is Shaw.  She’s part of my New York team.”

“Well,” Janet said as she made her way down the stairs.  “Why don’t we all go into the kitchen and I’ll put on some coffee and start breakfast?”  She looked directly at Xena.  “You look like you could use it.”

Xena gave her a wry smile.  “I’ll bet.  It’s been a long day already.”

Janet handed Sam her gun, knowing she would put them both away before joining the rest of them in the kitchen.  Then she motioned for Xena and Shaw to follow her.  Daniel waited until the swinging door closed behind them, then he turned to Sam.

“There is something very familiar about her,” he said as he moved to slip his gun back into his pack.  He didn’t need it, of course, but after so many years with SG-1, it had become an ingrained habit to keep one with him when he traveled.  Sam tilted her head toward him.

“Who?  Xena or her friend?”

“Xena,” he replied slowly.  “I feel like I know her from somewhere.  What do you know about her?”

Sam shrugged.  “I can’t really help you.  I know she and her partner Gabrielle put on a great con.  They’re very generous, and their company has interests in a number of fields.”

“Do you trust them?”

“They’ve never given me a reason not to.”  She spun to look at him as she shut the gun case.  “What exactly are you looking for, Daniel?”

“I’m not sure,” he confessed thoughtfully.  “Let’s go get some coffee; maybe then I can figure out what is niggling me about this whole thing.”

They stepped into the kitchen to find Xena pouring cups of coffee for everyone as Shaw set the table.  She didn’t seem particularly thrilled with the task, but she obviously knew what she was doing.  Sam and Daniel accepted their coffee, then Daniel went to pour juice as Sam started moving serving dishes to the table.  In mere moments they were all seated and filling their plates with the bounty Janet had whipped up.

“So,” Janet said when their first pangs of hunger were sated.  “What brings you to our humble abode at zero-dark-thirty in the morning?  I know Sam spoke to you at the conference about coming to New York to talk to you and Gabrielle privately.  Did something happen to cause you to seek her out instead?”

Xena set down her fork and wiped her mouth with her napkin, then cleared her throat.  “First, let me apologize for showing up unannounced before daylight.  If it wasn’t quite so urgent, we’d have waited until a civilized hour.  We did try calling last night, but no one answered.”

Sam blushed.  “That’d be my fault,” she confessed.  “I turned the phones off when Cassandra and her family came over last night.  I guess I forgot to turn them back on when we went to bed.”  She shrugged.  “I like being retired because it means we don’t have to worry about getting calls at all hours for the emergency of the week.  I guess I’ve gotten a little lax.”

Xena patted the shoulder closest to her.  “It’s well earned, General.  And probably the best way for the next generation to learn how to handle crises.”

“Is that why you’re here?” Daniel interrupted.  “Is there a crisis we should be aware of?”

Shaw looked up from her food and pointed her knife at him.  “Watch it, buddy.  Better have died for less.”

Daniel rested his elbows on the table and folded his hands together.  “May I ask why you’re being so hostile?” addressing Shaw directly.  “As far as I’m aware, I haven’t done anything to warrant that sort of reaction.  I’m merely asking a question for clarification’s sake.”

Sameen glared at him and chewed quickly, until she could shift her mouthful to one side and respond.  “Something’s off about you.  Don’t like it.  Besides, it’s not really your business.”

Daniel leaned back in his chair.  “I see.”  He turned to Xena.  “Should I excuse myself?”

“No… you’re fine.  As a former member of SG-1 and an ascended being, I’m trusting your discretion.”

Three sets of eyes blinked, but only one person spoke.  “How could you possibly know that?” Sam asked.  “That’s so far beyond top secret that it doesn’t even show up in any classified material.”

“I have many skills,” she said with a hint of a smile.  “Besides, we share a few mutual friends.”

Daniel let his eyes unfocus as he tried to figure out who those friends were; that would probably go a long way towards explaining why she seemed so familiar.  Meanwhile, Sam and Janet turned back to Xena.  “So, what really brought you to Colorado at zero-dark-thirty in the morning?  Despite your many skills,” Sam offered with a tiny grin, “I sincerely doubt you came to find out why I wanted to speak to you and Gabrielle… especially since you didn’t even bring Gabrielle with you,” glancing at Shaw, whose sole attention seemed to be on finishing the mountain of food she’d piled on her plate.

Xena swallowed and lifted her coffee cup, taking a sip before sighing.  “You were still a child when your mother died,” watching the blood drain from Sam’s face.  “Do you still have her things?”

Janet frowned, even as she covered Sam’s hand, rubbing her thumb lightly over taut knuckles as fingers tightened around her own.  “That’s a little insensitive, don’t you think?  You have no idea how hard that was for Sam, nor how long it’s taken her to come to terms with all the things that changed for her because of that.  Why would you think it’s all right for you to come here and…?”

Janet stopped speaking when Sam clasped her hand and raised blue eyes to meet her brown ones.  Sam smiled gently and lifted the hand she held to her lips, brushing it lightly with a kiss.  “It’s okay, Janet.  I don’t think Xena’d be asking if it wasn’t important, and in a way, it ties into what I wanted to talk to them about anyway.”  She held Janet’s gaze a long moment, allowing her to reassure herself that Sam was telling her the truth and not simply putting on a front for everyone.  She nodded slowly, then turned back to Xena, meeting her eyes and forcing herself to keep from blushing.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.  “It’s just that….”

“She means everything to you, and you’ll do whatever it takes to protect her,” Xena responded quietly, reaching over and covering their joined hands with her own.  “I get it.  Gabrielle and I are that to one another, so I know how you feel.”

“And no one wants to get in the way of that,” Shaw muttered with a shudder, though everyone at the table heard and understood her words.  She deliberately kept her focus on her plate and kept eating.

Xena spared her a brief glance and shook her head, then turned back to Sam and Janet.  “Sam’s right - I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”  She looked back at Sam.  “So, do you… still have her things?”

Sam ran a free hand through her hair.  “Um… some.  Her clothes and stuff, Dad had cleaned out and given to charity - said there was no reason to keep lugging them around with all the moving we did.”  She cleared her throat.  “Most of her personal effects - her jewelry and a few letters and such - he put into their safety deposit box here in Colorado Springs.”  She shrugged.  “The only things I actually kept with me were the photo albums.  They were the most important things to me, as they represented the only connection to her I had left.”

Xena sighed and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off the headache she could sense growing behind her eyes.  She was almost surprised to feel small, strong hands land on her shoulders, and in another moment became aware of the hard kneading against the knots in her shoulders.  She dropped her head and released a slow breath.  “How did you know?” she mumbled behind a curtain of dark hair.

Both Janet and Sam barked with laughter, and Daniel chuckled.  “SG-1,” they answered together.  “Jack O’Neil, to be specific,” Janet continued.  “He’s a good guy, and his military acumen was vital to the success of the Stargate Program.  But he used to drive Sammy to distraction, putting the brunt of scientific research on her shoulders and expecting answers yesterday, if not before.  Eventually, I learned to see the signs of when she was in knots before they got so bad that she wound up in tears.  If that’s my contribution to making… whatever this situation is better, then I’m happy to be able to do so.  And as a military doctor, it’s my duty to help in any way I can.”

“One reason I gave up medicine,” Shaw grumbled.  “Always with the helping people thing,” making a face that nearly caused the rest to laugh aloud, but they realized she was quite serious.  Xena drew a deep breath and brought the focus back to her.

“Thank you, Janet,” she acknowledged with a smile.  “You definitely have the touch - magic hands.”

Janet patted her back lightly, then resumed her seat.  “Let me know if that keeps on bothering you.  There are a few things we can try to make it better.”

Shaw looked between the two of them briefly, before turning back to her food.  “You do know she’s a doctor too, right?  Like a legit M.D?”

“Everyone at this table is a doctor of one kind or another,” Xena informed Shaw quietly.  “But we’ve moved pretty far afield of what we came here for.”

“Which is…?” Daniel asked with more than a hint of curiosity.  “I’m hoping a little more information might jog my memory,” he confessed.  Xena nodded her acceptance of his disclosure and turned back to meet Sam’s curious blue eyes.

“In all of your mother’s things, do you remember a wooden box?  Something made out of ebony?”

Sam nodded her blonde head slowly.  “Yeah,” she drawled slowly.  “Yeah, I think I do.”  She let her eyes unfocus as her mind traveled back over paths it had shied away from for years.  “Mom studied archaeology before she and my dad got married.”  She looked at Daniel.  “She was particularly fascinated with Egyptology, but it was little more than a hobby once they were married.  Anything else would have been unthinkable for an officer’s wife then.”  She looked back at Xena, who was watching her patiently.  “I don’t know if the box is what inspired her love of archaeology, and Egypt in particular, or if it was something she came across while she was studying - she never really discussed that with me.”  She sighed and closed her eyes, clasping her hands together tightly.  She captured Janet’s fingers in hers when she felt their touch and returned her attention to Xena.  “I do remember getting to hold the box - it was beautiful… black and mostly smooth to the touch.  There were a few hieroglyphics on one side and some ornate carvings as well, but it didn’t open.  I just figured it wasn’t supposed to, and Mom never said differently.”

Xena nodded.  “And this box - where is it now?”

Sam shrugged.  “Probably still in the safety deposit box.  I honestly don’t know.  The last time I saw it was two or three days before Mom… died.”

“I’m sorry to have brought up what are obviously some painful memories for you,” Xena said.  “Let me tell you why I have.”  Then she proceeded to explain the significance of the box and what it held.  Sam blinked slowly as Xena’s words, and the enormity of the responsibility she’d just inherited, began to sink in.

“Okay,” she breathed out slowly.  “Wow.  Are you sure?”

Xena nodded.  “As sure as I can be without actually seeing the box.”

Sam glanced at her watch, then at Janet, who nodded her head at the silent question Sam’s eyes were asking.  Then they turned back to Xena, who was watching them carefully.  “It’s still a little early for the bank to be open,” Janet said.  “Let us offer you a place to maybe take a nap, and as soon as the bank’s open, we’ll go down and retrieve the box.”

Shaw didn’t move, waiting for Xena to make the decision.  She wouldn’t admit it for the world, but she was running on fumes after the crazy of the last few days and could use a couple hours of decent rest.  Xena didn’t turn her head; she just nodded at Janet, feeling Shaw relax almost imperceptibly.

“We’d appreciate it,” Xena confessed.  She knew for a fact Shaw would push herself unnecessarily in an attempt to do everything possible to keep up with her, so she would take the chance to rest if only for Shaw’s sake.  But the truth was that though she and Gabrielle didn’t need sleep like most humans, they did require some, and that had been more difficult to obtain lately.  And it was only going to get worse until such time as Saligia was defeated.

Janet squeezed Sam’s hand, then released it, standing from her place and beckoning Xena and Shaw to do the same.  “Let me show you where you can clean up and rest for a bit.”

“Thanks,” standing and picking up her plate to take to the kitchen.  Shaw did the same almost immediately, swallowing hard, then chugging the remainder of her juice, before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.  The rest watched in fascination - Janet and Sam reminded of boot camp and Academy days.  Daniel blinked, reminded very much of some of the warrior cultures they’d encountered over the years.

Shaw looked around.  “What?”

“Nothing,” Janet assured her before either of her companions could comment.  “Except you can leave your plates.  Sam and Daniel will take care of cleaning up, and I want you both to get as much rest as you can before you have to push on.”  She started to the door that led into the living room.  “If you’ll follow me.”

Shaw nodded and moved at Xena’s signal.  Xena turned back to Sam as Janet and Sameen left the dining room.   “I’m sorry, Sam.  It wasn’t my intention to bring up bad memories for you.  You don’t have to remain a Guardian - I can take the box and….”  She stopped speaking when Sam shook her head.

“No.  Just because Mom never had the chance to share her story with me doesn’t lessen the responsibility I have to see this thing through.”  She grinned slightly and her blue eyes twinkled.  “Besides, I’m more than a little intrigued by all this.  I feel kind of honored actually, that my family was chosen to be part of this, and I wanna see that little bastard go down… especially after seeing the Headless Horseman in New Orleans.”

Xena frowned.  “What does the Headless Horseman have to do with anything?”

“Oh… right.  I haven’t explained why I wanted to come to New York to talk to you both.  You might want to take a seat,” Sam said, indicating the chair Xena had just vacated.  “This is gonna take more than a hot second, and I think it may tie in to all the other stuff.”

Xena sat as Daniel stood, removing the dishes silently and allowing the women to continue their discussion uninterrupted.  They never even noticed him, but he listened intently as he cleared the table and washed the dirty dishes.  When he was done, he refilled the coffee cups and resumed his seat, happy to note that Xena was taking Sam’s concerns seriously.  Janet crossed the threshold at that moment, ready to lay into Sam for detaining Xena… until she realized what the delay was.  Instead, she slipped silently into her seat and lifted her fresh cup to her lips, acknowledging Daniel’s thoughtfulness with a small salute.  Then she turned her attention to the conversation taking place.

“Honestly… until Daniel helped me remember, I wasn’t even sure what about Gabrielle’s story bothered me.  I just knew it was ‘off’ for some reason.

When Sam was done speaking, Xena closed her eyes and simply breathed for a long moment.  Finally, she glanced up and nodded her head.  “Well, I can see why you were concerned.  I think I should call Gabrielle and talk to her about this.  She’d know more about the origin of the story.”

“Why don’t I call her?” Sam offered.  “I know you agreed to the rest thing mostly for your friend Shaw, but I don’t think it’d hurt you any to close your eyes for a few minutes.”  She snapped her mouth shut as she realized she was rambling to someone to whom she wasn’t particularly close.  “Look,” she continued after a moment’s silence.  “I know we really don’t know one another very well, but the truth is, I recognize the expression on your face.  I’ve been that exhausted before.  I just want to… I dunno… help, maybe?”

Xena met Sam’s earnest eyes and smiled.  “I think, if you’d like, we could be great friends, Sam Carter,” grinning when the color flushed Sam’s face.  “I’ll tell you what - I’ll call Gabrielle, because, frankly, it will freak her out if you call for me.  She’ll think the worst… no matter how quickly you explain.  Let me check in with her, and then you can tell her the story you told me, all right?  I imagine she’d prefer to hear it first-hand, and she’s likely to ask you to tell it more than once.”

“And then you’ll lay down?” Janet cut in.

Xena nodded.  “And then I’ll lay down.  A few minutes rest would do me a world of good,” she admitted, and Daniel’s eyes widened.  He’d already figured her for one of the more obscure gods he’d met, and now she was disrupting that theory all to hell.  He had a feeling he was going to have to ask before all was said and done.  He turned his attention back to the women around the table, not surprised to find Xena dialing her mate.  That was something else he didn’t understand, but he knew he’d get to the bottom of things one way or the other.  He just expected he would end up using the other way, since he highly doubted Xena would be open to answering a lot of personal questions from someone who was little more than a stranger to her.  Time would tell.

Meanwhile, Xena contacted Gabrielle, not surprised that she sounded as tired as Xena herself felt.  It only took a moment to explain the situation, then Xena handed off her phone to Sam and followed Janet out of the dining room and upstairs to the room that had obviously been her daughter’s at some point.  Xena nodded her thanks and crossed to the bed, dropping onto the mattress and falling asleep almost instantly.  Janet pulled a light blanket up over her then closed the door softly as she left the room.  A quick peek at Shaw showed the woman hadn’t moved since Janet had left her earlier, and then she was headed back downstairs to Sam and Daniel.


Chapter XL

Gabrielle sighed in relief when Casey stuck her head in the door after knocking quietly, arm extended with a cup of coffee strong enough to make Gabrielle’s nose hairs twitch with a desire to sneeze.  She motioned her in and leaned back against her pillows with her eyes closed, holding her hand out as she felt Casey approach close enough.  Without a word, Casey placed the cup in the outstretched hand, not surprised when Gabrielle practically guzzled it without pause.  She waited another moment once Gabrielle finished, then questioned softly, “Gabrielle?” In another moment, one green eyeball opened and rolled in her direction, and she couldn’t keep the smile from appearing on her countenance.  “You all right?  Can I get you anything - another coffee… or maybe some breakfast?”

Gabrielle felt Casey gently remove the cup from her grasp, and she lightly wrapped her fingers around Casey’s wrist.  Casey stopped moving and waited.  Gabrielle sighed and blinked both eyes open, wishing beyond hope that she could get just a few more minutes of sleep.  She knew it was impossible, though and she smiled grimly at the woman patiently waiting for her answer.  “Another cup of coffee would be great, thanks, and then you can tell me what brought you to my lair at this ungodly hour of the morning.”  She released the hold she had on Casey’s wrist and motioned her out.  Casey took the hint and had her hand on the door before Gabrielle stopped her a second time.  “Get yourself a cup as well and grab your phone when you come back.  I need you to make a few calls for me.”

“You got it, Boss,” Casey replied, then disappeared out the door in a flash.  Gabrielle closed her eyes again, the burning in them making it uncomfortable at best to keep them open for any length of time.  She extended her hearing, just able to hear Casey singing off-key as she puttered around in the kitchen putting together a tray for the two of them.  She thought about what Xena and Sam had shared with her and let out a long sigh.

“I am never going to tell another story that isn’t completely and only mine ever again,” she grumbled, pulling at Xena’s pillow and dropping it over her face.

“Did you say something, Gabrielle?” Casey asked as she backed into the room with her hands full.  She turned around and couldn’t stop the snicker at the sight of Gabrielle peeking out from behind Xena’s pillow.  “Here,” bumping the bed deliberately.  “Scoot,” waiting for the pillow to go flying back to the other side of the bed before Gabrielle glared and shifted to allow Casey a place to sit.  She set the tray down over Gabrielle’s lap and handed her a new cup of coffee.  “Try to enjoy this one, okay?”

“You’re getting awfully bossy in your old age,” Gabrielle griped, even as she slowly sipped the coffee in her hand.  Casey arched a brow much like she’d witnessed Xena doing, and Gabrielle couldn’t help the smirk that formed on her lips.  She grabbed a croissant and waited for Casey to do the same. They both chewed in silence for a few moments, then Gabrielle caught Casey’s eyes.  “So, why did you come in here to wake me up at the crack of dawn?  You have to know I haven’t been in here very long.”

Casey nodded.  “It’s one reason I came in quietly and bearing coffee.  I was a little surprised to find you already awake, no matter your state of bleariness.”  Gabrielle tried to scowl at her teasing, but she couldn’t stop the snort that escaped.  In fairness, Casey had seen her bleariness more than once since she’d started in their employ; the fact that she and Ian were dating made it almost inevitable.  “How can I help?” she asked, getting straight down to business.

“You can answer my question, for starters.  Why did you come in here so early this morning?”

“You asked to be updated on Helena’s situation.  I would have waited - considered it, actually - but given what we are dealing with, I’m kinda sure that sort of decision is way above my pay grade.”  She proceeded to fill Gabrielle in on the phone call from Helena.

Gabrielle set her food back on the tray, though she held onto her coffee for dear life.  With her other hand, she pinched the bridge of her nose.  “All right.  I need you to get ahold of Helena for me, and if Regina and Emma could be part of that conversation, I think it would be for the best. If you can manage to get someone named Dyson Thornwood to join them, that would be a bonus. I also need you to set up a meeting with Miranda Priestly. Apparently, she and the other convention goers have taken it upon themselves to find out the truth of the Headless Horseman legend, and I need to put a stop to it before someone gets hurt… or worse.  Also, I need you to call Kara Danvers; just put her through to me when you reach her.  Bo Dennis and her girlfriend Dr. Lauren Lewis are in the Lilac Room; if you would have them join us here when they are up and moving, I’d appreciate that.  Barbara and Dinah should be here shortly, but Diana is going to be late… for obvious reasons.”

Casey nodded and looked up from her notes.  “Anything else?”

“Not at the moment, though that could change without notice.”

“It probably will - it always does,” she remarked with a straight face.

Gabrielle nodded.  “Truth.  Do we have anything new on the rest of the talismans?”

Casey shook her head.  “Not recently.  She hasn’t sent me any alerts or notices since Root went to bed this morning.”

“All right.  Keep a close eye on it.  I have a feeling they’re a lot closer to being found than we think.  Xena called before you came in and confirmed that Kate Freelander and Sam Carter are both Guardians.  And they have agreed to stand with us when the time comes.”

Casey frowned at the exhaustion in her tone.  “That’s a good thing, right, Boss?”

Gabrielle’s grin was wry, but she nodded her head.  “Yeah… yeah, it is.  I’m just a little tired this morning.”

Casey nodded and rose, scooping the tray up without missing a beat.  “So, lay back down and catch a few more winks.  I promise to wake you up when I get ahold of… well, anyone.” Gabrielle looked ready to protest, and Casey shifted the tray until she could hold it in one hand while gently pressing the other against Gabrielle’s shoulder.  “Look, Gabrielle - we need you and Xena to get all of us through this mess.  I know that’s unfair and puts an inordinate amount of pressure on you both, but like it or not, you’re the ones this whole thing depends on; the rest of us are just bit players doing what we’re told.  We can’t afford for either of you to get to a point that you can’t do what is necessary to take care of this asshat, okay?  So, take a couple hours.  I promise to wake you for an early lunch if you actually fall asleep.  Pretty sure it’ll take me that long to get in touch with everybody that you want to talk to.”  She saw the hesitation and went for the kill.  “I promise I will wake you if something happens or if Xena calls.”

Gabrielle sighed and nodded her head as she closed her eyes and leaned back into the mound of pillows.  “All right, but not past lunch.  There is just too much to do.”

Casey held up her hand in a three-fingered salute before taking the tray in both hands again.  “Scout’s honor,” she swore, then turned and made her way out of the room.  A final glance showed her that Gabrielle had already snuggled back down to sleep, and she closed the door silently behind her.

************

A knock on his door made Ian look up, and it was only the hours he’d spent practicing with Xena that allowed him to keep a stoic expression on his face when he recognized who was standing in his doorway.  He wondered how she’d gotten in, and even better - how she’d known where to find him during his only free period.  Still, he was able to affect a pleasant, polite attitude when he spoke, though he didn’t stand or move toward the woman studying him curiously.  “May I help you?”

The woman cleared her throat.  “Um… may I come in?  I’d um… I’d like to speak with you privately.”

Her gravelly voice was quite charming, and he could almost see the appeal had he been unaware of the damage it had done to Casey.  He swallowed hard to push down the anger and bile that gathered in the back of his throat and gestured for her to enter his classroom.  “What can I do for you, Ms. Carmichael?” smiling grimly at the way her eyes widened as she paled.  She reached around for a seat, dropping gracelessly into a chair as soon as she found one.

“You, um… you know who I am?” she asked in a whisper.  At his nod, she continued, “You know who I am, and you still allowed me the chance to speak to you?”

Ian leaned forward and clasped his hands together on the desktop.  “You obviously have something pressing on your mind,” he conceded.  “Besides… you get your chance to talk, then I get mine.  Quid pro quo, as it were.  That seems fair, right?”

Abbie nodded slowly, not sure anything about this was going to be fair.  Then again, after the way she’d treated the woman she claimed to love, she figured this man - more than anyone, save Casey - had the right to be decidedly unfair to her.  She cleared her throat.  “If you know who I am, then you have to have some idea of the abhorrent behavior I exhibited towards Casey during the last few months of our relationship,” seeing the ire spark in his eyes, though his outward expression didn’t alter.  She nodded and looked down at the hands clasped hard in her lap.  “I don’t have an excuse - I know that - and even if I did, it was still an unacceptable way to treat a friend… much less a lover.”  She glanced up and met his eyes briefly before returning her eyes to her lap.  She sighed.  “I know I’m not entitled to anything; hell… if I got what I deserved, you would have knocked my lights out the minute I knocked on the door.”

“That’s true,” Ian agreed calmly, “and if you’d been a man, I would have… without hesitation.  However, my Mi̱téra and Dáskalos taught me never to hit a woman unless she throws the first punch, and even then, to try and subdue her some other way.”

“Your parents sound a lot like my old-fashioned Mama,” she offered with a small smile.  Ian shifted until he could prop his chin on one hand.

“Hmm,” he replied.  “That still doesn’t tell me why you’re here.  We’re not even going to get into how you knew where to find me, nor how you knew I had a free period this hour.”  His eyes flicked to the clock.  “Might want to get a move on, though.  You’ve only got about fifteen minutes before my next class comes rolling in.”

Abbie blushed and cleared her throat.  “I’m sorry.  I’ve never… I don’t… I want….  Dammit!” she growled.  “It wasn’t this hard when I was practicing in front of the mirror this morning.”  She forced her hands apart and met Ian’s eyes squarely without flinching.  “First, I want you to know I’m not here to ruin what you have with Casey, nor do I want to get between you.  You make her happy, and she deserves that - she deserves everything good… especially after putting up with me.  Now, I know I messed things up, but I would like the chance to try to make things right… everything I can make right, anyway.”  She huffed.  “I would like your permission to talk to her, because I would like to be her friend again.”  She held up her hands before he could interject.  “I know it’s her choice… her decision.  But I didn’t want to go behind your back.  You deserve better than that.”

Ian leaned back in his chair.  Whatever he’d been expecting, this hadn’t even been on the list.  He studied her carefully, her eyes never leaving his as he considered his response.  “Well,” he finally drawled slowly, “I have to admit I never expected… well, any of this, to be honest.  I’m not really sure what to say.  I appreciate your straightforwardness, as it were, but you have to know that Casey would have told me if you had approached her.”

Abbie nodded.  “I figured as much. That’s why I came to you first. If you say no - if it makes you uncomfortable for me to talk to her - this stops here.  I won’t do it.”

“What about how it might make Casey feel?  Did you consider how uncomfortable it might be for her?”

“I did, believe it or not.  It’s one reason it’s taken me so long to get to the point of even thinking about talking to her again.  Like I said - it will be her decision… assuming you are willing to allow me the chance.”

Ian looked at her for several long moments… well aware of the clock ticking down towards the time his next group of English students would come rushing into his classroom.  Finally, he said, “I’ll talk to Casey.  If she is willing to talk to you, I’ll be in touch.  If you haven’t heard something from me by a week from today, you can assume that she has refused your… overture, and you will respect that decision.  Am I clear?”

“Can I trust that you’ll actually speak to her for me?” her voice small and her eyes pleading.

Ian sighed.  “Ms. Carmichael, I am the only chance you’ve got to speak to her.  She needs the opportunity to find some closure for the things you did to her… deliberate or unintentional.  She’s still bleeding from some of the damage you inflicted,” watching dispassionately as tears silently rolled down Abbie’s cheeks.  “So, yes… you can trust that I’ll actually speak to her about talking to you, but for her sake… not for yours.  I will not, however, insist that she allow you an opportunity to present your case, as it were.  As much as I and others believe she needs to talk to you for her own peace of mind, she needs the control to make the decision herself even more.  So… if you don’t hear from me by a week from today, assume she is unwilling to talk to you and walk away until she chooses differently.  Do we understand each other?”

Distantly, a bell rang, and they could both hear the stirring of bodies in the hallway as students swarmed from one classroom to the next.  They heard the door open as the first kids in Ian’s next class entered, falling silent at the obvious tension in the room as they made their way to their seats.  After a moment, Abbie realized there was a student waiting beside her, and she rose with an embarrassed, “Sorry.”  She walked to the desk Ian was still ensconced behind and leaned over slightly with both hands on the top.  “I understand.  I’ll wait for your call.”  She placed her card on his desk, then turned and walked out of the room without a backwards glance… not even when she heard the question from one of Ian’s students.  “Hey, Mr. Stone - who’s the hottie?”  She didn’t wait for the answer, but just kept going until she was out of the building.  Now she could only wait and hope.

************

Wynonna Earp was cleaning and polishing Peacemaker as if her life depended on it.  It didn’t, of course - as long as it shot straight and true, how pretty it looked didn’t matter - but the fact was, the action was more of a thinking mechanism than anything else at this point.  With nearly everyone in Purgatory having up and disappeared from existence, she needed something to occupy her hands while her mind tried to figure out what was happening around her.  The ringing of the phone made her nearly jump out of her skin, and she glared at it a long moment before she answered.

“Earp.”

“Wynonna, this is Sheriff Nedley.”  She rolled her eyes at hearing his voice introducing himself.  Since they were the only two in town, there was little likelihood of it being anyone else.  Before she could call him on it, however, he continued speaking.  “Listen, I got somebody here says his name is Ares.  Says he needs to talk to you about something important.”

Wynonna blinked and sat up in the chair she’d been slumped back in.  “Ares?  You mean like the Greek God of War?  That Ares??”

Nedley glowered at the phone briefly before he put it back to his ear.  “I don’t know,” he whined.  “It’s not like he showed me some kind of ID or anything.”

“Well, maybe you should ask for one.  Maybe it’ll say God of War or something.”

He growled, knowing she was mocking him, then he huffed.  “All right… fine.”  He dropped the phone on his desk as he rose from his seat and came around to stand in front of the man seated in one of the two visitor’s chairs in the room.  “You got some ID?  Something that’ll tell me exactly who you are? Give me an address I can check into?”

Without warning, Ares raised his hand and created a fireball, bouncing it up and down a couple times before releasing a portion of it with a flick of his fingers.  Nedley watched in horror as the bit flew right for him, ducking just before it reached him.  He turned immediately to find the arm of his jacket was on fire.  “Was that what you were looking for?” Ares asked in a bored tone, though his brown eyes twinkled just a bit.  As serious as the situation was, he had learned to take whatever fun could be had wherever he could find it.

Nedley jerked the jacket from the rack it had been hanging on and rolled it up as quickly as he could to douse the flames.  As soon as he was sure the fire was out, he scowled at Ares and slammed the coat to the floor before snatching the phone from the desk.  “Earp?  You still there?”

“Still here, Nedley.  You get that ID?”

“Yeah.  Get your ass down here.  The Greek God of War wants to talk to you, and he destroyed my favorite jacket to make that point.”

Wynonna’s expression dropped in surprise… as much at Nedley’s genuine anger as the fact that the one-and-only Ares - someone she’d been taught in school was nothing more than a myth - was waiting to speak to her.  She chanced to wonder why - if Ares was as powerful as he was purported to be - he had not come to her directly.  She threw her polishing rag onto the table and stood, tucking Peacemaker into place, then snatched up her jacket and shoved her arms into the sleeves as she made her way to the door.  Even without knowing why he had come, she already had a lot of questions for this ‘war god’.

Ares was sitting patiently still, ignoring the glare Nedley continued to send his way when Wynonna stepped into the office after a perfunctory courtesy knock.  Nedley turned his aggrieved countenance toward her before he rose to meet her.  “I’m gonna go get some lunch.  I’ll leave you two to talk about… whatever.  I may be a few minutes, since I have to go get a new jacket,” he added, the last of his words directly solely at Ares, who merely looked at his nails.

“Maybe you should check the old jacket,” he offered, sending it flying into Nedley’s chest with another flick of his hand.  “Pretty sure it’s better than new.”  The sheriff shook the jacket out to find not one mark on it, and he wadded it up again before stomping out the door and slamming it behind him.  “You’re welcome,” Ares singsonged with a smirk on his face.  Then he turned back to Wynonna who was watching him with a blank stare and let the reality of the situation wash over his features.  “All right… look, Toots - I’m only gonna say this once.  Your friends disappearing are part of something bigger that’s happening across the globe outside of this little podunk town.  You wanna find ‘em, you’re gonna have to go out there and start looking.”

Wynonna studied him for several moments, just watching him become more antsy as she remained silent.  “Um hmm.  And just how would you know this?”

Ares looked at her like she was two crayons short of a box.  “Did you miss the ‘God of War’ part of the conversation?  I’m sure I can provide a demonstration if you really need one, but we’re just wasting time here while your friends are out there….”

“Don’t.  Don’t you say one word about my friends. If you were some almighty God of War, you would have come to me directly. And if this was so fucking urgent, where were you when it was happening, huh?  How dare you come strutting in here like I owe you something.  I don’t even know your sorry ass, so why don’t you just take it on down the road, yeah?”  She jerked open the door she was still standing near and invited him to leave with a sweep of her arm.

Ares watched her for a moment, then stood and leaned against the sheriff’s desk, crossing his arms over his chest.  “I know you think you’re the toughest thing in the room,” he commented slowly, “but that doesn’t make it true.  Now, you can either sit down and shut up and listen, or you can go ahead with that attitude, knowing you’ll get to watch everyone you care about die in front of you.  Frankly, I don’t care.  I’m doing you a favor because I think it could be mutually beneficial.  But hey,” he said as he shrugged and removed the toothpick he’d been chewing on from between his lips, “don’t let me get between you and that massive ego trip you’ve got going.”

She wanted to be mad… she really did.  But her curiosity was getting the better of her.  Despite the fact that he hadn’t come directly to her, he was still the one seeking her out.  And if he did have some kind of inside information about what was going on with the people of Purgatory, well… she could use all the help she could get.  She eyed him another minute, then nodded her head.  She motioned him back to the chair he’d been seated in, then took the one beside it.  “All right, War God.  Let’s hear what you’ve got to say.  But no bullshit.”  She pulled out Peacemaker and negligently pointed it in his direction.  He smirked and raised his hands in surrender.

“No bullshit.”


Chapter XLI

A knock on the balcony window caused Gabrielle to start, then she grinned ruefully as she recognized what was going on.  She twitched her head in invitation, and a moment later, Supergirl was standing in front of her desk.

“Good morning, Kara,” she greeted.  “The en suite is just through that door if you’d….”  Before she could finish, Supergirl had changed into Kara Danvers’ professional attire, and Kara was pushing her glasses up her face in what Gabrielle knew was a nervous habit.  She smiled gently and gestured to the chair in front of her.  “Please,” she invited.  “Can I get you something…?”  A growl was her answer before Kara could open her mouth to reply.  “Hold that thought,” she commented and rose from her seat without allowing Kara to become embarrassed.  She went to the door of her office and stuck her head out.  “Casey, I’m going to be upstairs for a few.  Hold my calls, all right?”

“You got it, Boss,” wondering why Gabrielle hadn’t simply used the squawk box, but she had long ago resigned herself to the odd little quirks and foibles that working for Xena and Gabrielle entailed.  She had never given it much more than a thought, really - everyone had their own little idiosyncrasies, and Xena and Gabrielle had not only saved her sanity, but they had also introduced her to the man who she was coming to realize was the love of her life.  And she could ignore a lot worse for just one of those circumstances… to say nothing of both.  She heard the door close and resumed the work she’d been doing when Gabrielle interrupted.

Gabrielle, for her part, was again thankful for Casey’s unquestioning loyalty and shut the door quietly before turning back to Kara.  “Shall we?” she invited with an extended hand.  Kara nodded and stood, following Gabrielle upstairs to the private rooms of her home, not entirely surprised to find Barbara and Dinah with their heads bent together over a large computer screen.  She waved at them as she passed by and they looked up and smiled, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge her presence.  Kara entered the kitchen just behind Gabrielle and looked around in awe at the state-of-the-art professional kitchen.

“Wow,” she muttered.  “I didn’t think anyone aside from restaurants and maybe celebrity chefs had this kind of kitchen.”  She looked at Gabrielle and grinned.  “This is amazing.”

Gabrielle shrugged and nodded.  “I like it.”  She finished pulling out the ingredients she needed and turned back to the island.  “I thought Xena was going a little overboard when she designed it for me, but now I wondered how I ever did without it… especially when we’re roughing it,” smiling as she remembered how rough ‘roughing it’ had been in the beginning.  She set everything down and retrieved the cutting board and knife, but before she could protest, Kara had removed them from her hands.

“My cooking skills are marginal at best, but my chopping and slicing ability is incomparable.  And Eliza insisted that I be part of the process even if it was only in the preparation area,” as an explanation for her actions.

Gabrielle acquiesced without argument.  “All right.  You cut up whatever makes you happy and as much as you need to be full plus a little extra please.”  She pulled out a dozen eggs and paused, then pulled out a second dozen.  She grabbed a loaf of bread and a stick of butter, then turned the oven on to preheat.  She looked at Kara, only to realize that she was standing there a little sheepishly with several neatly separated piles of vegetables chopped in front of her.  She cleared her throat.  “Those are some pretty impressive knife skills,” she teased gently. gratified when Kara blushed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she smiled shyly.  “I may have to steal you away from Eliza and the family when the holidays come around.”  She chuckled.  “I may just keep you here now.”

Kara tilted her head.  “I get the holiday thing.  I mean… Eliza always has me do this because I’m so fast.  But now?”  She looked around and recognized that Gabrielle was preparing a lot of food… like she’d expected Kara to drop by instead of simply call like she’d been asked.  She narrowed her eyes.  “What am I missing here?  I know you didn’t expect me to drop by; you asked me to call.”

“I did,” Gabrielle agreed, interrupting Kara’s train of thought.  “So why are you here?  Not that you aren’t welcome, because you are, but…?”

“I was already in Metropolis.  Cl… um….”  She grabbed her glasses and cleared her throat, recognizing that Gabrielle and Xena would know about Clark as they had known about her.  “Clark needed some help, so I was already close.  I just… I took off out of there as soon as I got your message - kinda forgot to stop and eat.”  She squinted and looked around again, discovering both larder and refrigerator were stocked to the gills.  “Which brings me back to my question - seriously… why are you stocked like you expected to have to feed me?  Even Eliza never kept so much around except at the holidays.”

Gabrielle turned from the oven that she’d just slid two trays of buttered bread into and held her hand over the skillet she had heating.  Satisfied, she dropped half a stick of butter in, nodding when it sizzled immediately.  She accepted the bowl of eggs Kara had cracked and stirred and poured them into the pan before turning to answer Kara’s question.

“First of all, let me make it clear that you are welcome here any time - not just for your culinary skills but simply as a friend.  Secondly, with things being as they are right now, I have a houseful to feed.  Not that they’re not all capable of making for themselves, but somehow, everyone tends to end up here when it’s time to eat.”  Gabrielle shrugged.  “It’s all right with me - they let me know they’re going to be here, so I make plenty, then they all take care of the dishes when I’m done.  It works out.”  She added the cheese and vegetables.  “But even then, I tend to keep more than a typical New Yorker does.  Xena and I eat at odd hours a lot, and even without being in the midst of a crisis, there’s always someone staying downstairs.”  She placed a large portion of eggs on a platter and gently pressed Kara into one of the stools at the island.  Then she removed the toast from the oven and slid it onto a second platter.  “You get started.  I’m gonna go get Dinah and Barbara and check on Diana and our guests.  I’ll be back in a minute.”

Kara waited until Gabrielle slipped out the door, then dug in, though she kept her speed to that of a normal human being.  The food was exceptional, and she wanted to savor it, knowing there was plenty.  A moment later, Dinah entered and held the door for Barbara, who rolled over to a special gate Kara hadn’t noticed before.  In another moment, it had lifted Barbara - chair and all - to the level of the rest, and she accepted a plate from Dinah with a smile.  

“I guess you were right,” Barbara commented before taking her first bite.

“About?” Kara asked as she swallowed.  Barbara simply arched a brow, and Kara frowned… then blushed as she realized what Barbara meant.  “Oh… you mean about meeting you here sooner rather than later?  Yeah, though Alex wasn’t particularly thrilled being left out of the loop, she still agreed to help J’onn keep an eye on National City for me and Nightwing is stepping up for Gotham.”  She cut her eyes to either side, as though afraid Helena might appear if she spoke too loudly.  “Word is that um, Bruce is back,” feeling their heartbeats speed up under the gasps of surprise.  “I um… I haven’t got official confirmation - there haven’t been any Batman sightings yet, but… yeah.”  She shrugged her shoulders and focused her attention on her plate, knowing the other two were staring at her in disbelief.

It was into this atmosphere that Diana stepped into, and her entrance broke the tension in the room… right until Barbara looked at her accusingly and demanded, “Did you know??  Did you know Bruce was back in Gotham?”

“Before anyone gets their panties in a twist,” Gabrielle pronounced from the doorway, “Bruce is there because I asked him to be there.  He may not be ready to face you and Helena and all the regrets he has leaving you to founder along on your own, but he knows how to take care of the vigilante business in Gotham… especially when the request is worded correctly.”  She met stormy green eyes.  “I don’t know if he’ll stick around… if he’ll even be there when you return.  No one can force that.  But I wasn’t going to leave your city unprotected when you’re here busting your ass for me, all right?  And I knew we would need Kara and Diana here.  They’re gonna be part of that unsuspected edge Saligia has no clue about.  Remember… all he had to deal with was gods back in the day.  Now we’ve got gods, immortals, aliens, Guardians, and a whole slew of women that are more than a little pissed off at him.”  They were all smiling by the end of her pronouncement, but before she could continue, Casey’s voice came over the comm unit, harried and frantic.

“Gabrielle, I’ve got Helena on the line, but….”

“But what?” she demanded when Casey hesitated.  She had felt Barbara stiffen and knew she needed the facts in a hurry before she tried to go off and do something - anything - to help her partner that was out of her reach.

“Helena didn’t contact us - The Machine picked up… here, let me let you listen to it.  This is as live as it can be; I don’t know what kind of delay we have coming out of there.”  She pushed a few buttons, and immediately the sounds of fighting and battle were coming through the speakers.  Kara and Diana rose from their spots and were changed into their superhero costumes before anyone could blink.  Without a word, they were out the balcony doors, breaking the sound barrier as they took off for Storybrooke.

Gabrielle placed a hand on Barbara’s shoulder and accepted the hand Dinah slid into her clasp.  “Casey, I’m going to need you to keep this on for me.”

“You got it, Boss,” tilting her head as she tried to filter through the extraneous noise to pinpoint Helena’s voice.  Gabrielle turned back to Barbara, who had unconsciously reached up and grabbed her hand tightly.

“Keep the faith, Gordon - you know she can take care of herself, and Kara and Diana won’t let anything happen to her.”

Which might have been comforting if The Machine had not dropped the signal at that exact moment.

************

Kara felt the Invisible Jet almost brush up against her and she turned her head to meet Diana’s eyes.  She cocked an eyebrow and waited for Wonder Woman to speak.

“I’m reading some weird kind of interference up ahead.  Can you see anything?”

Supergirl turned her attention back to the ground in front of them, bringing her X-ray vision to bear on everything within her line of sight.  She squinted slightly, then glanced back at Diana.  “The best I’ve got is some kind of distortion field.  I can barely make it out.  The air shimmers - can you see it?”

Diana focused on where Kara was pointing and nodded abruptly when it came into view.  “Yes… I see it.  Do you think we fly through it?”

“Don’t try it, Kara,” came Alex’s voice in her ear unexpectedly, almost causing her to tumble mid-flight.  She stopped flying and watched Diana do the same.

“Jesus, Alex!  Are you trying to scare me to death?”

Kara couldn’t see her, of course, but she swore she heard Alex roll her eyes.  “You know I’m gonna have your back whenever I can, Little Sister.  I knew the moment you left Metropolis and again when you took off from New York with Wonder Woman,” causing Kara to look over to find Diana watching her closely.  “We can’t get a read on whatever that is,” Alex continued, “so if you can see an energy shimmer, it might be better if you try a little less aggressive approach.”

“Got it; thanks, Alex.”  She turned back to Diana and shook her head.  “Alex says no.  There’s no physical reading.  Let’s land nearby and see if we can walk through it.  You can always piggyback once we’re inside so we can get to Helena faster.”

Diana smirked.  It had been a long time since she’d had to piggyback anywhere.  Still, if anyone could do it, she’d put her money on Supergirl any day.

They landed as close to the boundary as they could and approached the line with rapid steps.  The shimmer was now very clear to both of them, and Kara reached out a cautious hand.  The field started to hum as she got closer, but her hand cut through as though nothing was there.  She frowned and withdrew her hand, looking it over carefully.  Diana turned Kara to face her and bent down to catch her eyes.  “Kara?”

“Kar?” Alex called out.  “Everything all right?”

Blue eyes met, and Kara swallowed.  “I’m okay,” answering them simultaneously.  “It was just a little… tingly.”

At her words, Diana turned and stuck her hand into the barrier without hesitation.  She felt heat more than anything, but it wasn’t unpleasant… at least to begin with.  The longer her hand remained, the warmer it became, though it was far from unbearable.  She removed her hand and looked back at Kara.  “We can do this, but we need to hurry.  Aside from whatever is going on with Helena, I can feel it reacting to our presence.  Not like it’s alive, exactly, but….”

Kara nodded.  “I get it.”  She unfocused her eyes briefly.  “Alex, we’re getting ready to cross the boundary.  We’ll probably lose signal, though I’ll stay with you as long as I can.”

Alex sighed and nodded, even though Kara couldn’t see her.  “All right, but if we do get disconnected, you call me as soon as you can.  I mean it, Kar!  First thing… all right?”

“I love you too, Alex.  Talk to you in a bit.” Then she and Diana clasped hands and stepped into Storybrooke.

************

“What the hell?!” Helena screamed as she ducked for cover.  “Where did this fucker even come from??”  She was talking to herself, mostly.  The rest were concerned with finding cover for themselves and trying to mount some sort of defense.  The biggest problem they had at the moment was that they were scattered across the Wish Realm with no real way to communicate with one another, much less coordinate an attack.  And God knew they hadn’t been expecting it when this whole adventure started.

Helena had flinched when Dyson and Ruby had entered the dining room of Regina’s castle.  She realized the rest were unaffected by the stench surrounding them, but to her they reeked so badly that her eyes started watering.  She rose unceremoniously and backed as far away from them as was physically possibly, drawing all eyes to her and causing Dyson and Ruby to stop in their tracks.  She covered the lower half of her face in an effort to breathe without allowing the stench to enter her lungs and mouth.  “Goddamn!” she exclaimed.  “What the hell have you two been wallowing in?  You smell like death!”

All eyes swung back to the pair in time to watch the blood drain from their faces.  Regina stood, and Emma followed suit immediately, causing a wave to follow.  “Ms. Lucas?”

Dyson stepped up, knowing Ruby was still shaken by the relief she’d felt at finding not only Oz and Dorothy untouched, but also knowing that her kin were safe as well.  “We went to the place known as the Wish Realm,” seeing everyone tense, “and it’s been destroyed.”  He noted Helena taking out her phone and moving to a corner to complete her call, but he remained focused on the residents of Storybrooke.  “I’m sorry to report that nothing was left alive in that place.  It wasn’t destroyed - the buildings are still standing, but there isn’t one living thing there… not that we saw, anyway.  We did a cursory check, then went to examine the rest of the kingdom so we could let you know.  We figured you needed to be alerted as quickly as possible.  The rest of Ruby’s kin are doing more thorough investigations of their own realms as we speak, but we assumed you’d probably want to take a look at this one personally.”

“You assumed correctly, Mr. Thornwood.”

“I’m going too,” Emma pronounced before Regina could forbid it.

“That means I’ll be tagging along, Love,” Hook said.

“And us as well,” Mary Margaret piped up as David nodded his agreement.  It always seemed to start like this - innocuous enough - but it usually spiraled rapidly out of control.  However, she knew there was no way to keep the rest from coming short of magicking them somewhere else, and they had come too far in their interpersonal relationships for her to resort to that sort of trickery… especially when she wasn’t certain she and Emma could handle this immortal being if he was still there.  She looked at Dyson, who was patiently waiting for her to make her decision.

“Mr. Thornwood, are you certain there was nothing left alive?”

“No,” he replied bluntly.  “As I said, we did a cursory check of the perimeter before deciding to check the other realms and report back here.  To have done a grid search would have taken too much time.”

Regina sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.  She hesitated, remembering what Xena had told them about how powerful he was, but the fact was - if what Dyson and Ruby had discovered was indeed the truth and everyone in the Wish Realm was dead - she had a responsibility to them.  Not just because they were a realm in her kingdom, but because the part of herself that had been the Evil Queen had finally found peace and happiness with the person she was.  She sighed.

“All right.  As much as I hate to say it, you’ll all be welcome to tag along, but I’ll be honest with you.  We really don’t know what to expect.  If Sagilia….”

“Saligia,” Helena corrected.  Regina nodded and continued.

“Of course.  If Saligia is gone, we’ll have to deal with the dead.  Emma and I can take care of much of that, though I think we should call a meeting to decide what to do with the realm itself once they are interred.  But if he’s there….”

“If he’s there, we need to get the hell right back out of there and call Xena,” Helena cut in firmly.  Regina glared at her but stopped from making any cutting remarks when Emma put a hand on her arm.

“She’s right.  For one thing, it’s what Xena asked us to do, and since she’s been up against this guy, she’s got a better idea of how to deal with him than we do.  For another, I don’t think we can take him on alone, and not everyone here is protected by magic like we are.  And we’re gonna have to split up to get this done in a reasonable amount of time.”

“If I could make a suggestion?” David asked quietly, and everyone turned to him.  “I think we should search in pairs or small groups, but I also think we should take some of the troops with us.  Not only would they be more eyes to help us search, but they would also be effective in helping take care of the dead and defending us and each other if something - or someone - is waiting there to do us harm.”

Regina closed her eyes, knowing the situation was now well on its way to spiraling out of control.  Still, she nodded, because David had made several salient points.  “All right,” she agreed on a sigh.  “But only the elite troops for now.  I don’t want to cause a mass panic with this, and the more people that know, the more likely that is to happen.”  

“Agreed.  With your permission…?” waiting for her to nod before turning to Snow White and giving her a swift kiss, then exiting the room.

“The rest of you pair up.  Mr. Thornwood, I expect you and Ms. Lucas to lead the way.  We’ll follow you until we get into the Wish Realm, when we’ll split up.  David and the guard shouldn’t be too far behind us.”  She turned to Mary Margaret.  “Snow, would you prefer to wait here until David returns?”

Snow White shook her dark head.  “If David is right behind us, I can wait for him there.”

“Very well.  Ms. Kyle, you’re with me.  Let’s go.”

And off they had gone to the Wish Realm, where everything had been deathly silent… until it wasn’t.  They still hadn’t actually seen Saligia, but the unexpected attack seemed proof enough of his presence.  She and Regina had dived in opposite directions when the first energy bolt flew towards them, and now it was too smoky to see more than inches in front of them.  Even when Helena engaged her cat’s eye vision, there was little to be seen beyond the smoke.  She knew things were happening, though.  She could still hear the sound of electricity crackle around her, and occasionally, there was a human scream.  Then there was a scream that sounded far too familiar, and everything seemed to slow down and go still.


Chapter XLII

“EMMA!” Regina cried out, and Helena turned her head to search for the woman who sounded as though she was standing right next to her.  She squinted and could just make out the dark cloak in all the gray smoke that surrounded them.

“Regina!” she hissed.  “Keep your voice down!  You’re gonna bring his attention to us and get us killed!”

Without warning, the darkness coalesced into the solid form of Regina as she walked towards Helena’s voice.  When they could see one another, Regina’s eyes hardened, but she remained quiet until she could grab Helena by the arm.  “I am not concerned about bringing his attention to us, Ms. Kyle,” she growled.  “Emma, more than the rest aside from us, knew the risks of coming here - knew the danger Saligia presented to us and my kingdom.  If she screamed, something dreadful must have happened.”  She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath before focusing on Helena once more.  “Now, we need to find her.  Can you see?”

Helena started to shake her head automatically before she realized the smoke and haze seemed to be clearing.  “Maybe,” she hedged, holding up a hand before Regina could speak.  “Listen.”

Regina’s lips parted to question Helena, but the fierce look she got made her snap them shut and tilt her head.  She frowned as she listened, hearing… nothing.  There was literally no sound, and her eyes went to Helena’s in alarm when she grabbed Regina’s arm.  Regina placed a hand on top of hers, intending to remove Helena’s grip before she bruised, only to clasp her hand instead when Helena backed up into her.  She looked up to see what had caused the action to find a strange rotund little man looking at her - at Helena - in disdain.  He sniffed and curled his upper lip.

“Pitiful mortal… you smell familiar. Do you know of Xena?”

“Who wants to know?” Helena taunted in a steady voice, though Regina could feel her trembling beneath her fingertips.

Fire flared in his eyes briefly, then he let it die as he smirked at her.  “You’re not worth the effort… really.  Take her a message from me - tell her Saligia is coming for her and her precious bard, and this time, nothing will stop me!” raising a hand and shaking it at the sky.

Helena sneered.  “Dramatic much?” she scoffed.  She felt Regina’s fingers tighten around hers in warning, and she squeezed back lightly to reassure her.

“Careful, human.  I don’t have much use for you, and if you continue to mock your god, I will punish you for your disrespect.”

Helena’s eyes flashed, though it was too quick for Saligia to notice.  She snorted and loosened her hand from Regina’s grasp, though she didn’t remove it from her arm.  “Let me make something perfectly clear, Saggy - you are not my god, and you haven’t done anything to earn my respect.  However, I will take your message to Xena, and I will be standing right beside her when she Kicks. Your. Ass.”

This time when the rage flushed his features, it remained there, and several things happened at once.  Helena jerked her hand from beneath Regina’s clasp and pulled her down, covering her with her body as Saligia raised a hand to strike.  He had not seen what Helena had in the clearing atmosphere, however, and was knocked to the ground as Supergirl plowed into him.  He was on his feet almost instantly, and he roared as he swung and slammed his fist into her chest, driving her backwards and off-balance.  Before anyone could react, he glared at them all… and disappeared.

Helena shifted so she could roll off Regina, who was pushing against her in an effort to get up.  As soon as she could, Regina stood to her feet and looked down at Helena.  “Ms. Kyle?”

Helena was on her feet and headed to where Supergirl was just beginning to sit up, rubbing her chest gingerly.  “You should be able to check on Emma now.  He’s gone.”

“How can you be sure?  We didn’t know he was here before.”

Helena knelt beside Kara and studied her face. “You all right?” she muttered, understanding that whatever magic Saligia had used to isolate them was broken, as she could now hear the sounds of the rest of their party as well as… Diana Prince?  She questioned what had brought Supergirl and Wonder Woman into her purview at just the exact moment she needed backup, even as she answered Regina’s question.  “That weird vibe - the one Emma mentioned that kept us searching in close proximity to one another - it’s gone.  I don’t feel it anymore; she probably doesn’t either.  Maybe you should go check on her,” she reiterated, causing Regina to nod sharply before she headed at a jog in the direction from which the sound had emanated.  

“You sure you’re okay?” Helena asked brusquely.  “That was a hell of a hit you took.”  Kara took a deep breath and winced slightly, then started to stand.  Helena rose first and offered Supergirl a hand.  Kara accepted the help with a smile.

“I think so,” she replied.  “He caught me by surprise.  I didn’t expect….”  She broke off and shook her head as she looked around.  “Looks like we were right on time, though,” she commented as she viewed the destruction.  “What happened?”

“I promise to fill you and Diana in on everything, but first we need to finish what we started here,” motioning around them.  “Let’s go check on Emma first, though.  Something terrible must have happened for her to scream like that.  She had to know she was making herself a target.”

************

“I will kill her myself,” Barbara mumbled from where her head rested on the table.  She jerked upright when she felt Gabrielle’s hands on her shoulders begin kneading the tension away, then let her head drop again.  The Machine had been giving them piecemeal updates, fighting to overcome the spell that kept Storybrooke and Regina’s kingdom hidden from view.  They had heard the scream - though Barbara and Dinah knew Helena had not been the one to utter the sound - then there had been nothing until they heard Helena’s voice very clearly mocking Saligia.  That had been when Barbara had gone limp and allowed her head to collapse on the table.

Gabrielle leaned over and whispered into her ear.  “No, you’re not.  You’re gonna tell her how much you love her and how proud of her you are.”  She straightened and looked towards the comm unit.  “Casey, did She record that last bit?”

“Yep.  She’d been recording everything… including the silences so She can run some algorithms to maybe find out what is blocking Her sensors.  Pretty sure She’s more than a little pissed off with the whole process at this point.”

“She’s not the only one,” Barbara growled.  She looked at Dinah.  “Can we reach Supergirl or Wonder Woman?”

Dinah shook her head, but dutifully turned back to her computer.  “I don’t think so.  Whatever interference is messing with Helena’s comms is doing the same with theirs.  I might be able to….”  She leaned forward and squinted at the screen as though that would help her to see better.  She jumped when Barbara slapped a hand on the table in frustration, and she turned to give the older woman a glare.  “Don’t do that!”

“Then don’t stop in the middle of a thought like that!” Barbara retorted.  She felt Gabrielle dig into a knot between her shoulder blades and groaned as it released.  She took a deep breath and eased her head back down onto her arms.  “I’m sorry, Dinah.  I just….”

“I know, “Dinah said, placing a tentative hand on top of Barbara’s.  “It’s just speculation on my part,” she started slowly, “but when she first arrived in Storybrooke, there were intermittent readings where we could almost locate her… like it depended on where exactly she was standing as to how strong the signal was.  Like… you remember when cell technology was new, and you needed to be near a tower to get good reception?” Dinah offered as an analogy.

Barbara’s eyes widened in understanding.  “Could we triangulate a position between the three of them?” she asked aloud, even as she began inputting information into the laptop in front of her.

Casey’s voice came over the comm unit almost immediately.  “She says it’s possible, but you would need all three signals to be active at once, and they don’t appear to be at the moment.”  She cleared her throat.  “I can add that to Her algorithm… you know, since She’s already trying to break through that spell to keep tabs on them.”

“Do it,” Gabrielle instructed.  “Let it run in the background with all the other things she’s running.  Maybe we’ll hit pay dirt on something.”  She patted Barbara’s back and stepped away.  “I want you two to keep looking for those last three boxes.  We know he was in Storybrooke, and he stayed long enough to gather enough power to do serious, physical damage to the people there.  We’re gonna need those boxes and their Guardians ASAP.  Casey, I want you and your crew searching for any sign of Saligia outside of Storybrooke.  I can’t believe he’ll stay there unless he has some phenomenal hiding place, and honestly, he can cause a lot more chaos and mayhem if he leaves.”  She walked towards her bedroom door.  “I’m gonna go make a couple calls.  Xena needs to know about this, and I need to try to reach Aphrodite.”

She could almost hear three sets of eyebrows fly into three different hairlines.  She wasn’t surprised when Dinah was the one to voice the question they were all thinking.  “Um… why do you need a phone to reach Aphrodite?  I thought you could just… I dunno - call out to her or something.”

“Normally, yes.  But with all the activity Saligia’s been stirring up there, I’m not sure she could hear me.  But both Regina and Emma exchanged contact information with me before they left.  I have a feeling that might end up being our best option, though I will try calling out to her first.”

“Calling out to who, Blondie?” Ares asked as he popped into being.  He opened up his arms, palms up and leaned back casually as he grinned.  “I’m right here - no need to call.”

Gabrielle sighed, biting back the words that wanted to flow.  Like it or not, he was on their side - at least for now - and though she didn’t trust him, she was truly too tired to start a war with him at the moment.  Dinah, however, had no such compunction.  “Wouldn’t hurt if you learned how to knock first,” she grumbled, glaring in his direction.

Ares whirled, anxious to meet a mortal that lived so recklessly.  “Do you know who you’re talking to, Little Girl?” stepping close to her chair so he could look down on her.  He was surprised when Dinah stood so they were almost nose to nose and pointed a finger in his chest.

“I don’t care,” she confessed boldly.  “We,” motioning around the room to include the three women, “are busy.  You are interrupting,” scowling at him fiercely as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He continued to hold her eyes for a long moment, then turned back to Gabrielle with a wistful smile.  “She reminds me a lot of you - of who you were once.  All that innocence and passion and righteousness.”  He glanced back at Dinah, then returned his eyes to Gabrielle.  “Sometimes, I miss that kid,” he confessed.

“Yeah,” she agreed softly.  “So do I.”  She shook her head.  “Why are you here?”

He frowned.  “I’ve got some news.  Can we talk privately?”

She studied him a moment, recognizing that he was becoming more and more human in her eyes as time passed… especially with the amount of time they were spending in close proximity to each other.  She nodded.  “Sure.  Ladies,” looking at Barbara and Dinah, “you have your instructions.  I’ll be back out to help as soon as I’m done.”

Barbara waved her off.  “Take the time you need.  We can handle this.  I actually think we’re close to finding another box.”

Gabrielle smiled.  “Sounds good.”  She looked at the god watching her.  “Let’s go, Ares.”

He nodded, then turned back to face Dinah, chucking her under the chin as he laughed.  “Stay fierce, Kiddo.  Maybe one day, we’ll talk.”

He turned and followed Gabrielle into her room and closed the door behind them before Dinah could blink and take a deep breath.  Then she shook her head.  “Did he really just…?  I’m gonna kill him!”

“No, you’re not,” Barbara instructed coldly.  “You’re gonna sit here and help me narrow the parameters on this fifth box.  I have a feeling it’s here in the City.”

Dinah swung around and plopped into the seat next to Barbara’s.  She leaned into the computer, studying it for a moment before lifting her eyes to meet Barbara’s.  “What makes you say that?  I don’t see anything here to draw that kind of conclusion.”

Barbara threw the image up onto the big screen and grabbed the laptop before she rolled close to the large screen.  “All right… let me show you what I’m seeing.  Then you can tell me if you think we’re on the right track or not.”  In minutes, they were immersed in their work once more.

************

Ares looked around the boudoir, though he didn’t comment before he brought his eyes back to Gabrielle’s.  She gestured him towards the two chairs sitting in front of the fireplace, and he nodded and moved to them, sitting down only when she made to seat herself.  She noted the odd courtesy but made no mention of it, delightedly surprise at the old-fashioned manners that he’d never seen fit to observe before.  She’d mention it to Xena later, just as a curiosity, but for now, she was content to appreciate it silently.  She tilted her head at him in question.

“So, what brings you here, Ares?  Have you located another box?” offering him a small smile.

He smirked at her as he shook his head.  “Alas, no.  I still haven’t figured out exactly what I did to find the other one.”  He raised his hands.  “Not gonna knock the luck, though, if that’s what caused it.  I’ll take whatever good luck we can get against Saligia.”

“Same,” Gabrielle agreed shortly.  “Really not a fan.”

“I think you can say that about a lot of us,” Ares reminded her solemnly, and she didn’t disagree.  “However, that’s not what I came here to talk about.  I was doing some research,” rolling his eyes when hers widened in surprise.  “Shocking, I know, but I’m actually pretty good at it,” he shrugged his shoulders, “and I enjoy it.”  He waved his hands before she could comment.  “Not the point, and we’re getting off-track.  While I was reading, I came across a place called Purgatory and a woman named Wynonna Earp.  Ever heard of her?”

Gabrielle shook her head.  “I met a man named Wyatt Earp more than a century ago.”  She frowned.  “He was supposed to be a Federal Marshall, but he always struck me as a little too slick to be a real lawman.  He didn’t give me any trouble though, and I was so close to reuniting with Xena then, he was more of a footnote to me than anyone of real consequence.  Why?”

“Your buddy Wyatt was a recognized lawman, as you called him, and with a firearm he named ‘Peacemaker’ he killed seventy-seven people before he died.  The problem is, those seventy-seven souls didn’t stay dead, thanks to a witch’s spell, and they’ve been haunting and taunting his descendants ever since.  And I think Saligia may be using them to gather an army to go against you and Xena.”

Gabrielle’s jaw tightened, but otherwise she gave no reaction to Ares’ words.  “What makes you think that?”

“All the people in her town of Purgatory have disappeared.  Legend says they can’t leave that place, but suddenly, they’re just not there.  Now, I’m not saying Saligia has them, but you have to admit that the timing is suspect at least.  And despite our mutual disdain of that asshat, neither of us can deny his intelligence, and he has to know that you and Xena will be gunning for him with both barrels and everything else you can bring to this fight.  He’d be stupid not to do the same, especially since the vibe of this whole situation is vastly different than it was before.  Then it felt like…” he paused to search for the right words.  “He had the jump on us, and he knew it.  He fully expected to win.  Now he knows - or at least thinks he does - what he’s up against.  We can’t afford to assume that he won’t treat this like a winner-takes-all, final battle.”  He sighed.  “It’s what I’d do… if I was him.”

Gabrielle sat silently for a few minutes, contemplating everything Ares had said.  The truth was, she wasn’t exactly surprised by the last part - it would be what she would do too… knowing what she did.  Finally, she brought her thoughts back to the present and her eyes up to meet Ares’.  “So, you think Saligia is gonna build his army with the dead, and we’re facing the zombie apocalypse?”

He glared at her, thinking she was making light of a situation that wasn’t a joke; then he realized she was quite serious about her question and shook his head.  “No.  The people in Purgatory are alive until an Earp kills them, but unless all seventy-seven are killed by the same Earp, they come back to life again until the next Earp tries.”  He sympathized when Gabrielle started rubbing at her temples.  “Yeah, I know, but I think we’re gonna need Wynonna Earp on our side if Saligia is gathering that army.  She’s the only one who can kill those from Purgatory.”

Gabrielle released a breath and nodded.  “I assume you’ve already spoken to her about it?”

“Yeah.  She said let her know the time and place - she and Peacemaker would be there with bells on.”

Gabrielle nodded again.  “As soon as we have one, I’ll let you know.  Thanks, Ares.”  He nodded, but didn’t move from the chair, and Gabrielle looked at him with more than a hint of confusion in her expression.  “Was there something else?”

He shrugged casually, though she could sense his discomfort.  “You said you were gonna call out to Aphrodite, and I just… I wondered if there was something I could do - you know, since I’m already here and everything?”

Gabrielle almost bit her lip through to keep her surprise contained and idly wondered what exactly Ares was playing at.  He’d never volunteered to help before, and any effort on his part was always made grudgingly at best.  Still….  “I was actually trying to reach out to Storybrooke particularly,” seeing no recognition in his eyes.  “That’s where Dite is right now.  The problem is, it’s protected by magic, and we’re getting a lot of interference on this end.”

He shrugged.  “Give me a couple minutes; let me see what I can do.”

Before she could respond, Ares was gone in a shower of blue sparkles, and Gabrielle blinked at the empty space he’d just evacuated.  “This just gets weirder and weirder,” she mumbled, then picked up the phone to call Xena.



Chapter XLIII

She jumped when it started buzzing in her hand and likely would have tossed it across the room had she not noticed Xena’s name on the screen.  She took a deep breath and accepted the video call.

“Hello, Warrior Mine.  How are things going?”  She glanced at the clock and frowned when she saw the deep circles beneath blue eyes.  “Have you gotten any rest at all?”

Xena sighed.  “Few minutes… about like you, My Bard. Janet has offered me a place to lay down while we wait for the bank to open.  They’ll go retrieve the box so I can confirm it’s the Egyptian talisman, and then Shaw and I will head back… unless you’ve got somewhere else to send us.”

“Not yet.  I had a visit late last night from someone I believe is the Norse Guardian; they are headed back to Toronto this morning to acquire the box and see if I’m right.  Barbara thinks the fifth box is here in the City.  But Xe… you’re not gonna let her open the box and remove the talisman, are you?”

Gabrielle watched Xena scrub her hands over her face and wished she could reach out and touch.  Instead, she traced her finger over Xena’s image, feeling her relax at the phantom touch.  “I thought about it - for about a third of a millisecond - but no.  As tired as I am, my impulse control would disappear and that wouldn’t be good for anyone.  Besides, we don’t want to give Saligia a chance to find it.  I just need to see the box.  I’ll ask Sam to keep the box closed until she hears from me,” noticing Sam nodding her agreement vigorously.  “And speaking of - I know why she wanted to come to New York to talk to us.  I think you need to hear her story yourself.  It might… give us a leg up or something.”

“Okay,” Gabrielle drawled slowly, wondering when this whole situation had gotten so convoluted.  “Is she there?”

“She is.  But before I let you go, you need to know that I think we’ve got a good place to stage the final battle picked out.  And also, I love you.  Goodnight, My Bard.”

“I love you, My Warrior.  Hand the phone to Sam and go get a few minutes’ rest.  I’ll see you soon.”

Xena did as Gabrielle instructed and handed the phone over to Sam.  Then she rose and followed Janet without a backwards glance.  Sam waited until the door swung closed before she met Gabrielle’s tired green eyes.  She frowned.  “Are you sure you’re okay, Gabrielle?  You look like….”  She trailed off when she noticed Daniel shaking his head vigorously, and she blushed.  “I’m sorry - that was rude.  I didn’t mean to imply….”

“… anything that wasn’t true,” Gabrielle offered.  “Sometimes, there just aren’t enough hours in the day.  But we’re getting sidetracked.  What story did you want to share with me?”

“When you told the story of the Headless Horseman, it kinda niggled at me.  I mean… it didn’t sit right, and I didn’t know why.  I was going to come to New York and ask if you could tell it again, hoping that maybe I could figure out what about it bothered me.  Then my friend Daniel helped my work through my memories, and I realized I had heard that story before, but it wasn’t the same as the one I heard.

In your story, she was ultimately one of the good guys.  Her job was to protect and defend, and that’s where it ended.”  She waited until Gabrielle nodded her agreement, though she frowned hard as she considered Sam’s words.

“Are you saying there’s more?”

“Yes, and it’s… not good.”  Sam glanced down at the table and bit her lip.  She only looked up when she felt Janet place a supporting hand on her arm and offered her a smile.  Then she turned back to Gabrielle, who was patiently watching her with understanding eyes.

“I know you haven’t actually gotten up to share a story with everyone yet, but you did attend the storytelling lecture I gave in Orlando, and you’ve listened to all the stories that others have shared.  You can do this, Sam - all you have to do is tell me your story - tell me the story you want to share.  There is no right or wrong here.  It’s just us.  No judgment.”

She smiled when Sam straightened and took a deep breath.  “How do you do that?” she muttered, then shook her head.  “When my mother told me this story, she told me about how the Archangel came to be the Headless Horseman, and how her original objective was as you described it - to protect the weak and the innocent.  But Mom’s story didn’t end there.”

The Horseman traveled the world for centuries - millennia, even - on a never-ending quest for redemption, and the longer she rode, the angrier and more bitter she became.  She had made one mistake - one - and she was being made to spend eternity paying for it.  Even Lucifer’s price had not been so high when he had defied the Father himself.

And so it came to pass that her disillusionment led her to and down an even darker path… because she made a deal with someone worse than the Devil.  You see, the Devil would have made her his Number One if she had sworn fealty to him.  It would have released her from her punishment, of course, but Lucifer was the Archangel she’d challenged when she’d killed the innocent that had set her on the path she currently traversed.  She trusted him less than the Father - though in fairness, the Father had never lied to her.  He was simply unfair and unjust in her unmitigated opinion.

Instead, one who claimed to be a god - not unlike the Father, but not the same - offered her the one thing neither the Father nor the Devil were willing to give her… her freedom.  In return for her allegiance for the time it took to accomplish a specified task, he would release her from the eternal servitude by which she was enslaved.  She agreed, and they sealed it with a blood pact.  But before the contract could be completed, the god was defeated by an unknown foe and disappeared from the landscape of this world. Having no other option, the Horseman returned to her duty of protecting the weak and the innocent.  Now, however, she collected those she destroyed, keeping their souls for the time - and the possibility - of a return of the god to whom she had sworn allegiance.

It is said that once she delivers the souls of those she has collected, the blood oath will have been fulfilled, and she will no longer be obligated to ride as the Headless Horseman.

“Did the god have a name?” Gabrielle asked quietly.

Sam shook her head.  “Not one that Mom ever shared with me, and I never thought to ask.  I mean… as a kid, I just thought it was a cool story.  But given the story you told at the conference, I thought you had the right to know the rest of the story.  My gut tells me that this one and the one you are trying to put together with the boxes are related, and those instincts have rarely failed me.  They’ve kept me alive more than once.”

Gabrielle nodded.  “I can respect that.  I’ve had the same, and mine is telling me that you’re probably right.  The biggest question is how can I use this information to our advantage.”

“If I could make a suggestion?” Daniel piped up, and Sam turned the phone around so Gabrielle could see him.

“Of course, Dr. Jackson,” eyes twinkling briefly at the sheer shock that covered his countenance at her address of him.

“How do you…?” he started to demand, then shook his head.  “Nevermind… it doesn’t matter right now.  We can talk about it later.  Maybe you should look for who her guilty victims are and where she found them.  You know she was in New Orleans - is that the only place she’s been riding?”

Gabrielle looked at him thoughtfully for so long that Daniel felt the need to squirm.  It was only the many, many hours he’d spent doing kelno’reem with Teal’c that kept him from fidgeting.  “Those are good points, Dr. Jackson.  We’ve pinpointed a number of locations in the United States, but we haven’t really looked at those who would qualify as her victims.  Sometimes, vigilante justice is the fairest for the victim.  Perhaps, we should take a closer look.  It would at least give us an idea of what kind of army we might be up against if her pledge is sworn to Saligia.  Thank you, Daniel,” surprising him again with her use of his first name as though they were old friends.  She looked back to Samantha and Janet as the screen turned in their direction once more.  “I’d like to ask that you go to the bank without Xena, and that you send me a picture when you remove it from the safety deposit box.”

“I’m pretty sure we can’t get signal down there,” Sam commented.

Gabrielle smiled.  “I’m pretty sure you can find a way around that little obstacle, Sam.  After all, that’s kinda your jam, isn’t it?”

Sam blushed and nodded, though she couldn’t contain the grin that slid across her lips.  “Yeah.  I miss that challenge sometimes.”

“Good - this will be right up your alley.  You’ve got a couple hours, so… easy peasey, lemon squeezy, right?”

Sam chuckled.  “Right.  No pressure.”

“Excellent.  Once you send me the picture, I’ll let you know if it’s the talisman box.  If it is, please take it back to your house and lock it in your safe until Xena and Shaw are on their way back here.  Given that the Egyptian talisman is Greed, I… no one wants Xena or me exposed to it before it becomes necessary.”

Daniel jumped on that information quickly.  “Is there a reason you’re concerned about its effects on you and not on the rest of us?”

Gabrielle gestured, and Sam immediately shifted the phone back towards Daniel.  She frowned.  “Actually, you would do well to stay away from it for the time being as well, Dr. Jackson.  We know it has an effect on immortals - it hits Xena and I the hardest because of our age.  We don’t, however, know how it would interfere with a god or an ascended being.  None of you were around when Xena built the boxes or when we chased after the talismans.”

“You’re immortal??” he asked aloud with shock in his voice, even as Sam and Janet exchanged astonished glances at what had just been revealed.  “How did that even happen??  I mean….”

Gabrielle waived him off.  “How it happened is of no importance.  The fact that it did, and we are, is.  I would appreciate it if the three of you would treat this with the same secrecy that was required of you as part of the Stargate Program.”

“Do you think maybe one day we could sit down and talk about it?” Daniel asked.  “Not the immortality thing, much as I would like to,” he admitted.  “But mostly about how you seem to know so much about us, despite the beyond top secret clearance that shields us and most of the truth of the Program from every casual Congressional nitwit that wants access.”

Gabrielle laughed.  “I think we can arrange something, though it will have to be after we take care of Saligia once and for all.”  She looked at Sam.  “Did she tell you…?”

“… the responsibilities of being a Guardian?  Yes.  You let us know when and where we need to be, and we’ll be there.”

“Me, too… if I’m welcome,” Daniel commented.

“Of course.  We appreciate all the help we can muster.”

“I don’t suppose telling you to go get some more rest right now would do any good, would it?” Janet questioned, even as she recognized the telltale signs of disagreement in Gabrielle’s visage.  She sighed.  “Do me a favor then, will ya?  Go to bed early tonight and actually get a little sleep.  We all understand that what you’re doing is important, even if we don’t understand why.  But the fact is, it doesn’t matter what we do or don’t know or understand if you and Xena aren’t both there to lead us when the time comes.”

Gabrielle shifted her eyes to Sam, who was doing her best to contain her laughter, before she lowered her brows and frowned at Janet.  Then she looked at Sam again.  “You don’t get away with much, do you?”

Sam shook her blonde head.  “Not even a little bit.  But she’s always got my six, so….”

“… so, you all learned to respect the Napoleonic Power Monger.”

“How the hell…?”
“How did you…?”
“Where’d you hear…?”

“Gotta go,” Gabrielle said with a chuckle as she closed the connection.  Sam, Janet, and Daniel looked back at each other in shock and silence.

************

“What’s going on?” Gabrielle asked as she slipped back into the living area of the penthouse, carrying a fresh cup of coffee.  She’d gone to the kitchen first, only a little surprised to find Barbara and Dinah had shifted back to the dining table where they could spread out.  Still, she could sense the excitement surrounding them.  Dinah looked up with a big grin; even Barbara couldn’t hide her satisfaction.

“We found the fifth box, and you’re not going to believe who’s got it.”

Blonde brows slid into an equally blonde hairline.  “I take it you found it here in the City?”

“We did… at the home of one Captain Olivia Benson.”

Gabrielle’s eyes widened in shock and her jaw dropped.  Dinah simply preened at her reaction, and even Barbara couldn’t keep a smile from her lips.  “You’re kidding,” watching Dinah shake her head as she rocked back and forth on her heels.  “Seriously?”

“As a heart attack,” Barbara assured her, turning back to her laptop.  Gabrielle followed the motion until she was standing behind her looking at the screen.  “We think that Olivia opened the box, and She confirms the probability on that is high, though we won’t know until we can actually ask.”

Gabrielle nodded slowly.  “If that’s true, that will be one good thing that’s happened as a result of Saligia’s emergence.  It should make the other two boxes easier to find… assuming they are in the possession of their rightful owners.”

“How do you figure?” Dinah asked as she resumed her place beside Barbara.

Gabrielle sighed.  “Now that Saligia is out in the world, the boxes will open in the hand of the rightful Guardian.  The good news on that front is that he can’t just take them from a Guardian, and he doesn’t know who they are.”

“And the bad news?”

Barbara looked at Dinah.  “The bad news is there are still two boxes we haven’t located yet, so either the Guardians lost possession of them at some point, or they are still unaware of what they hold… like Sam Carter was.  And if they’re locked up in a bank vault, we may not find them in time.”

Gabrielle nodded, not surprised Barbara had already figured out part of their problem.  Before she could speak, Dinah cut in again.  “Okay, not to be stupid or anything, but how important is it to have all seven? With five, that means more than two-thirds.  Can he not be defeated with the seventy percent you hold… especially if he has no way to find the other two either?”

“I wish it was that simple.  Could we defeat him?  Yes, more than likely… especially with the Guardians and all our allies standing with us.  But we don’t want to defeat him - we need to destroy him.”  Gabrielle scratched at her forehead.  “Otherwise, he’ll just keep coming back.  Just his waking allowed those tiny, enchanted talismans to resurface and begin stalking the gods of their assigned pantheon again.  And if by some chance he does manage to get his hands on even one of the unclaimed boxes, we’re screwed.”

Dinah frowned as she nodded.  She still didn’t understand completely why Saligia couldn’t be destroyed with the power that they already had, but she knew Gabrielle believed what she was saying beyond a shadow of a doubt.  That was more than reason enough to accept it for truth.  “I would like to make a suggestion then, my Queen?” waiting for Gabrielle to agree as well as acknowledge her role as an Amazon.  When she nodded, Dinah nodded back and swallowed hard.  She knew she had earned her place - knew that she was trusted and respected by these women who still mentored her in many ways.  She sucked in a deep breath.  “Two things, actually.  I think we need to move the Guardians we’re aware of to a safe location… preferably somewhere that can’t be scanned by me or someone like Regina, because if we can do it, Saligia surely can.” Gabrielle nodded again, but she didn’t speak, waiting for Dinah to continue.  “The other is… I, uh… I think we should read everyone in on this.”  She looked down and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, biting her lip a moment before she met Gabrielle’s eyes.  “I know they can’t really help with the box search and all, but they’re all out there trying to find the truth behind the Headless Horseman, because they think it can help you in some way - and they don’t even know what the real problem is!  I just… I think we’d be better off if we could get as many of the women we’ve come to know as friends through the years to stand with us when the time comes.  And it’s only fair to give them the truth and let them decide for themselves.”  She dropped her eyes almost immediately and looked at her clasped hands, knuckles turning white under the strain of clenching them together.  She closed her eyes when she felt the warmth of Gabrielle’s hand cover hers.

“Dinah,” in a gentle whisper, knowing Dinah could hear as well as feel her voice.  “I need you to look at me.”  Dinah shook her head and kept her eyes firmly squeezed shut.  Gabrielle chuckled softly.  “C’mon… aren’t you the same woman that stood up to the God of War just a little while ago?”

Dinah snickered just a little bit.  “Yeah, but he was just the God of War.  You are my queen.”

“And as your queen, I promise you’re not in trouble for speaking up or speaking out.”  Dinah’s head popped up, and she met Gabrielle’s understanding eyes. Gabrielle was reminded again of how young Dinah still was in many ways.  She patted the hand she covered and grasped the fingers lightly when they loosened under her touch.  “I did give you permission, after all.  I need people who will speak up if I want to keep the Nation happy and headed in the right direction.  But the truth is, Xena and I have already talked about this and had come to the same conclusion.  Talking to the women from our conferences was on my list of things to take care of today.  I just haven’t had the time to do so yet.”

“Really?”

“Really.  Having them dig into the backstory of the Headless Horseman is dangerous at the very least, and I need to make sure they stop before someone gets hurt… or worse.”

“You know, they really believe that you don’t know about them researching.  They wanted to help, so they decided to surprise you by solving that mystery.”

Barbara snorted.  “They have no idea the power of the Nation.”  She looked at Gabrielle.  “Should I contact Captain Benson and see if she has time to come meet with you sometime today?”

“Please, and impress upon her that sooner is better than later.  And make sure you make Casey aware as well.  She deserves that much courtesy.  Then get back to searching for those two missing boxes, please.  I feel like we’re overlooking something obvious.”  Gabrielle turned back to Dinah.  “In the meantime, if you would please start contacting as many of the women on our list as you can.  I’ll get Lucy up here to start working on Xena’s list.  Set up a video conference for eight o’clock this evening.  Hopefully, Xena and Sameen will be back, and we can do this together.”

Dinah grinned and nodded, confident once more now that she was certain she hadn’t overstepped.  Gabrielle made a mental note to talk to Diana about that situation when this was all over.  There had to be something they could do to make Dinah more comfortable in her role as an Amazon.  For now, there was plenty of work to do.



Chapter XLIV

“Hey, Boss Lady,” Lucy greeted as she stepped into Gabrielle’s office dressed in her business clothes and carrying at least two guns on her person.  Gabrielle looked up and smiled as she motioned Lucy forward.  It had taken them a while to get to this point, since she wasn’t really Lucy’s boss, other than as half-owner of the company for which she worked.  All the day-to-day stuff went through Xena, as she absolutely kept her hand in their security business.  Still, Lucy had never failed to show her the same respect and more deference than she gave Xena, and she was honestly a delight to talk to.  Gabrielle counted her as one of their closer friends and allies.  She cocked an eyebrow in Lucy’s direction.

“Not even,” she responded with a smirk.

“Pretty sure Xena would disagree,” Lucy said with a little laugh.  “What can I do for ya?” she asked as she took a seat.

“I need you to get ahold of as many of the convention goers from your side of the hall as you can.  I would like to do a video conference with them at eight o’clock tonight.”

Lucy leaned forward, allowing Gabrielle a glimpse of the Glock tucked under her arm.  “Can I tell them why?”

Gabrielle tilted her head and propped it on her hand.  “I need for them to understand the importance of stopping their research and investigations of the Headless Horseman,” smiling when Lucy jerked in surprise.

“You, uh… you know about that, huh?” shaking her head.  “I tried to tell them….”  She sighed.  “If it makes you feel better, we’ve been keeping an eye on them - me and Santana and Zoe.  We might have had Brittany’s help misdirecting them a little bit.”

“Really?  Why would you do that?  Does it have something to do with the reason you came in here loaded for bear this morning?”

“Huh?” a look of confusion crossing her face until she followed Gabrielle’s gesture and glanced down.  “Oh… no.  This,” sweeping an arm down herself, “is because I had a meeting this morning where I needed to make a point.”

“And did you?”

Lucy smirked.  “Oh yeah.  It was epic.”  She straightened up and met Gabrielle’s eyes.  “As for the other, well… one of the things you pay me for is to keep an eye on things.  They didn’t want you to know about what they were doing, so I figured it bore watching.  When we realized what they were doing, we just….”  She waggled her hand back and forth a little bit.  “… made sure they were going in circles.”

Gabrielle laughed, and after a moment, Lucy joined her.  She wasn’t sure why they were laughing, but she’d learned a long time ago to appreciate every minute of levity offered.  “Whoo,” Gabrielle breathed out as her chuckles wore down.  “I needed that.  Thank you.”

Lucy grinned.  “Always happy to help - you know that.  But, um… why were we laughing exactly?”

That made Gabrielle start giggling again, and this time she was wiping tears from her eyes. Lucy responded immediately, grabbing tissues from the nearby table and reaching them over to Gabrielle.  She accepted them with a smile and took a couple, wiping at her eyes as she tried to catch her breath.  Finally, she released a deep sigh and looked up at Lucy, who was studying her with some concern.  Gabrielle waved her back to her seat.  “I’m fine… honestly.  They’re happy tears.  The thought of you and the Fixers sending them searching in circles - I shouldn’t laugh, but it really is funny and great stress relief.  It’s just been that kind of day for… gods, seems like weeks.”  She caught the expression on Lucy’s face.  “What?”

“It has been weeks.  Only a couple since we got back from New Orleans, but still.  We haven’t stopped going, and I know for a fact that you and Xena have been going twice as hard as the rest of us.  So, what else can I do to make things a little easier?”

“Remind me to tell Xena to give you a raise,” smiling at the blush it caused even as Lucy tried to waive away her words.  “Just set up that meeting for me with as many folks as you can.  It’s time to let them know what’s going on.  We only have a few more days before this goes down if it happens the way Xena and I expect it to.”

“Gabrielle, Captain Benson is here to see you,” Casey said through the squawk box.  Lucy rose from her place.  

“Guess that’s my cue.  I’ll be in my office unless you need me to go elsewhere?”

“I told Dinah you’d be upstairs with them, but if you prefer your office, that’s fine.  Just let her know your progress.”

“I’ll grab my computer and go upstairs.  It’s not like it’s a hardship to hang out in the penthouse,” giving Gabrielle a rakish grin as she reached the door.  “Who knows?  Maybe I’ll stick around for dinner.”

Gabrielle snorted.  “Like it would be the first time.”  She shooed her out.  “Please ask Olivia to come in.”

Lucy just held the door open and pointed at Olivia, then gave a dramatic flourish to motion her into the room.  Her lips twitched at the discombobulated expression on Olivia’s countenance, but she didn’t smile until the police captain walked past her.  Then she waved at Gabrielle and closed the door soundlessly, before she made her way to the stairs.  A glance at Casey made her pause briefly.  She and Casey weren’t well known to one another - other than the polite platitudes one exchanged with a friendly coworker in passing - mostly because they were rarely in the same space.  Still, Lucy would never let that stop her from helping out someone, and maybe a little more effort on both their parts could be the start to a real friendship.  “Hey… you okay?”

Casey looked up in surprise.  Even though both Barbara and Olivia herself had informed her of Olivia’s impending visit, she was still a little thrown by the reminder of the life she’d once had in this town.  But this time, she put aside her nerves and set up a time to meet with Olivia and Alex.  It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but as soon as Olivia had crossed into Gabrielle’s office, she felt the tremor of nerves run through her.  She hadn’t even noticed Lucy until she spoke.  “Um… yeah, yeah… I’m fine.”

Lucy arched an eyebrow over one eye in question and crossed her arms over her chest.  “Uh huh.  Is that why you’re shaking hard enough for me to see it from here?  Tell ya what,” she continued without pausing.  “Let me get Amy down here to take over for a bit, and you can come upstairs with me for a cup of coffee.”  She smiled when Casey hesitated, understanding all too well the effort to remain professional, despite how obvious it was that she’d been thoroughly shaken up.

“Hey babe,” she heard Amy’s smile as she brought her phone to her ear.  “What’s up?”

“Can you come upstairs to Casey’s office, please?  I need her help with something, and we don’t want to leave Gabrielle without an assistant… just in case, ya know?”

Amy understood exactly why Lucy was asking her to sit in for Casey instead of asking Amy to help her, and she was quick to agree.  “Yep.  Give me two minutes, and I’ll be right up.”  She ended the call, and Lucy slid her phone back into the pocket of her jacket.

“There you go,” she said to Casey.  “We both know she can do it - she’s covered for you before.”

“Why are you doing this?  Why do you care?”

Lucy shrugged and strolled back towards the chairs in front of Casey’s desk.  “Honestly?  You look like you could use a friend, and I’ve been told I’m a pretty good one to have.  Besides, we’ve worked together - or at least in the same vicinity - for almost a year.  I’d say we were a little overdue in getting this friendship started,” offering a blinding smile.

Casey looked at her with eyes full of tears and a smile that would melt butter.  “I think you’re right,” she agreed, “on all those points.”  Then Amy came in like a whirlwind and chased them out of Casey’s office without so much as a by-your-leave.  They were laughing as they entered the elevator together.

************

Olivia had been more than a little surprised by Barbara’s phone call, but she had been stunned by the urgency she conveyed in her tone.  That, and her adamance that Olivia respond immediately, despite whatever police business was going on, had piqued her curiosity and ensured her instant compliance.  She had hesitated long enough to call Casey, figuring she had the right to be prepared for Olivia’s presence this time.  She had given instructions to her detectives, then called Alex to let her know what was going on as she made her way to WarriorBard Enterprises.

She took a deep breath as she stepped inside the building, but this time, it seemed that the receptionist was expecting her.  She greeted her by name and motioned her to the elevator, even as she placed a call to Casey’s office.  It was only another moment before Olivia arrived upstairs and stepped off into relative silence.  She stood for a moment, observing Casey and her environment, before she was invited further into the space.  Casey offered a tentative smile, even as she pressed the squawk box and announced Olivia’s arrival.  Then she turned her attention back to her old friend.

“Good morning, Olivia.”

“Good morning, Casey.  Do you have any idea…?” spreading her hands in question.

Casey shook her head.  “Not at all.  Barbara called to tell me you were coming, and then you called me yourself.  It was the first I heard of it.”  She took a shuddering breath.  “However,” she continued, squaring her shoulders and sitting up a little straighter, “it seemed a little fortuitous and an opportunity I shouldn’t ignore.  So, I was wondering if you and Alex might want to get together for dinner sometime soon.”  She bit her lip nervously and let her eyes drop to the desk in front of her.

Olivia grinned and stepped closer to the desk, reaching out and just covering the clenched hands in front of Casey.  “We’d love to,” she responded.  “You just say the word and we’re there.”

Casey looked up into brown eyes that shone with happy tears and smiled.  “Sounds good,” she said, clearing her throat.  “It’ll probably need to be when all this Saligia mess is over, and I’ll have to check Ian’s schedule to find a date that will work for all of us, but yeah,” she said.  “Sounds good.”

At that moment, the door to Gabrielle’s office opened, and Lucy Diamond pointed directly at Olivia, then ushered her into the room with a sweeping bow.  Olivia looked a bit startled, but she understood the silent directive well enough.  With a nod to Casey, she strode into the office without a backwards look, only relaxing slightly when the door closed soundlessly behind her.  She accepted the seat Gabrielle offered her with a smile and crossed her legs and folded her hands as she waited for Gabrielle to speak.

Gabrielle took a moment to study the woman seated in front of her.  Though outwardly calm, she could see the nervous ticks that most others wouldn’t even notice - heightened breathing; the slight sway of the foot crossed over one knee; the rubbing of two fingers and a thumb together; widened eyes.  Nothing that an average person would notice, and still mostly hidden from her despite knowing what to look for.  She smiled and felt Olivia relax.  “Can I offer you something?”

Olivia shook her head.  “No, thank you.  I’d prefer to just get on with things and know what was so urgent that Barbara Gordon demanded my immediate presence here.”  She tried not to sound harsh, but she could feel her nerves getting the better of her despite her best efforts.  Gabrielle looked at her for another long moment, then rose from behind the desk.  She stepped around and extended her hand, waiting for Olivia to make the decision to accept it.  It took mere seconds, and Olivia clasped her hand and stood.

“C’mon,” Gabrielle invited as Olivia’s hand slid from hers.  “I want to show you something.”

They walked back into the outer office, and Gabrielle greeted Amy as though it was a normal thing.  Olivia blinked at the changed guard, but before she could comment, they were in the elevator and headed up to the penthouse.  When the doors opened, they could hear light chatter over the clicking of keys, and three heads lifted briefly to offer a hello before turning back to their work.  Gabrielle padded from the elevator without hesitation, and Olivia was only a step or two behind her.  They made their way over to where Barbara was sitting at the end of the table, and Olivia dropped into a chair next to her where she could see what was going on.  Barbara glanced at Gabrielle and asked her question silently.

“I need you to show Olivia the boxes we’ve found, then we can go from there.”

Barbara nodded and dropped the screen she’d been working on and pulled up the information she had on the other five boxes… bringing the one she suspected was Olivia’s right to the forefront.  Olivia’s eyes widened when she saw it, and she shot up from her seat.  

“Where’d you get that??”  She turned accusing eyes towards Gabrielle.  “What’s going on here?”

Gabrielle walked back to where Olivia was and lightly pressed on her shoulders until she was once more sitting beside Barbara.  “If you’ll give us a chance, you’ll get your answers, Detective, but you need to take a deep breath and chill, all right?  You wouldn’t be here without a reason.”

“Right… sorry,” Olivia replied as she rubbed her eyes.  “Do you think I could have a cup of coffee?”

Gabrielle smiled.  “Of course.  Anyone else?”  Dinah held up her cup without moving her eyes from her screen.  Barbara just shook her head, though Gabrielle could see her cup was freshly full, and Lucy called out a muted, “no thanks,” as she continued to punch numbers into her phone.  She turned back to Olivia.  “How do you take your coffee?”

Olivia’s lips quirked upwards.  “I’ve learned to take it however I can get it, but I prefer it with a hint of sugar and a little more cream.”

“You’ve got it.  Give me a couple minutes, and then I promise to explain everything.”  She walked into the kitchen, not surprised to find Casey sitting at the island staring into her cup.  She placed a hand on her arm and watched as the red head jerked up and met her eyes.  “It’s okay,” Gabrielle reassured before Casey could speak.  “I figured Lucy brought you with her when I saw Amy sitting at your desk.  Everything okay?”

“Yeah… mostly,” said with a wan smile and a tiny twinkle in her eye.  “Just nerves.”  She lifted her coffee to her lips and took a decent swallow.  “Kinda stupid, huh?  All this ‘end of the world’ crap we’ve got going on, and I’m a blubbering mess over things I can’t change.”

Gabrielle finished preparing Olivia’s cup, then turned and grabbed the pot from its place.  She and Xena had a single serving machine, of course, but with all the people currently shuffling in and out of their home on a regular basis, it made more sense to use the large percolator.  “No, it’s not stupid.  We’ll take care of Saligia, and then we’ll go back to our normal lives.  And if that gives you the impetus you need to find your place in this place once again, well then… more power to you, I say.”  She patted Casey’s arm again, then lifted the cup and pot.  “You take the time you need,” nodding her head to indicate the space around them.    “Amy’s covering your desk, and Root’s in with The Machine.  We’ve got this for now.”  Then she slipped out the swinging door and back into the living area of the penthouse.  Casey watched the door swing closed behind her, and she lifted her cup to her lips, drinking the dregs and sighing in relief… before she made a face as she registered the taste.  She moved over to the sink and rinsed out her cup, then ran a little water to rinse out her mouth.  Then she washed and dried the cup and put it away, before she straightened her skirt with a twitch and squared her shoulders as she slipped out the door and headed directly towards the elevator.  She offered Gabrielle a little wave when she looked up, but otherwise, everyone else remained focused on their tasks.  It was her first sure inkling that they were going to win.

************

“So, there are seven of these boxes, and I have one of them - the one representing pride,” Olivia stated, though there was more than a hint of question.  She and Gabrielle had moved to the couch to allow Barbara, Dinah, and Lucy the chance to continue their work, and give the two of them a bit of privacy to talk and discuss Olivia’s concern.

“Yes.  When you opened it last night, the computers caught the surge, and Barbara was able to track it to you.”

Olivia frowned.  “Surge?  What kind of surge are we talking about?”

“Nothing that would affect you,” Gabrielle assured her.  “The only reason we could spot it is because we’ve been deliberately searching for them, and the team has written a number of algorithms to utilize a broad parameter of anomalies.”

Olivia remained quiet as she studied Gabrielle’s face, and Gabrielle forced herself to stay relaxed under the scrutiny.  Finally, “It does affect you, though, doesn’t it?  The box, I mean… or the talisman inside of it.  It does… something, and probably nothing good, judging by your reaction.”

Gabrielle couldn’t help the widening of her eyes, but she was careful not to let her temper flare.  As easy as it was becoming with each box they found, she had no desire to unleash that part of herself on anyone… because she knew how truly vicious she could be.  And no one deserved to have that side of her inflicted upon them, especially not those who she could see becoming not only allies, but friends as well.  She cleared her throat.  “And what makes you say that?”

Olivia gave her a tiny, knowing smirk.  “Gabrielle, I have been a detective for a very, very long time.  And in my line of work, you look at all the little details so you can put together a whole picture.  I’m not asking you to share any secrets you’re not comfortable with… or at all, really.”  She reached over and covered one of Gabrielle’s hands with her own.  “But if you ever need someone to talk to, I’d be glad to be that friend for you.  No judgement.”

Gabrielle turned her hand over and squeezed Olivia’s lightly.  “I appreciate that.  Maybe when this is all over, we can have you and Alex join us for dinner one evening. I‘m a pretty decent cook.”

Olivia smiled.  “We’d love that.  Now, tell me more about these boxes and the whole Guardianship thing.  How is it supposed to work, exactly?”

Gabrielle released Olivia’s hand and told her the whole story from the very beginning, bringing her up-to-date on where they were in their search for boxes.  When she was done, she caught a look at the pensive expression on Olivia’s face.  “Is something wrong - other than the obvious, I mean?”

Olivia shook her head.  “No.  I just realized I’m gonna need to put in for emergency leave for an undetermined amount of time.”

“Well, no - not undetermined, exactly.  We fully expect him to make his move on Halloween.  He has his highest chance for success then.”

“Right, but what about the fallout afterwards?  If we succeed, there should be less than if we fail, but the truth is, there’ll likely be some serious collateral damage.  We’re gonna have to assume responsibility for taking care of it.”

Gabrielle leaned forward and patted Olivia’s hand.  “You’re good people, Olivia Benson.  But don’t concern yourself with the consequences.  Xena and I are already making arrangements for whatever aftermath we end up with.”

“Maybe, but I’m still going to give an opened end date… just in case.”

Gabrielle nodded.  “In that case, you and Alex need to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice… even as early as tonight.  Xena told me she thinks she’s found a place to have this showdown - somewhere remote to cut down on the casualty count.  As soon as I know where that is, I’ll make the arrangements to get you there and will let you know all the details.”

“If you can just tell us where, Alex has access to her family jet. So, um, yeah….”

Gabrielle rose, and Olivia followed suit.  “As you wish,” she replied with a smile.  “As long as you can get wherever quickly.”  She led Olivia to the door and crossed the hallway to the elevator, then pulled her in for a hug.  “Either way, we’ll be seeing you soon.  Take care in the meantime, and don’t open the box again if possible.  We don’t want to give Saligia the chance to get a read on anything before we’re ready for him.”

Olivia nodded as she stepped onto the elevator.  “I’ll be waiting for your call,” was all she said as the doors closed on her.  Gabrielle turned back to the penthouse, needing to see what progress had been made before she headed back downstairs to her office.



Chapter XLV

She halted in surprise as she crossed the threshold, wondering how she had missed Kurt and Amy coming upstairs.  Yet, there they sat - Kurt with Lucy and Amy with Dinah - working their way through the list of attendees.  When she started moving again, she caught Kurt’s attention, and he turned to greet her.

“Good morning, Gabrielle,” he said with a charming smile.  “I just spoke to a….”  He glanced down at his notes to make sure he got the name correct.  “… Ms. Nikki Beaumont.  She’s asked that you get in touch with her as soon as possible.  Said it was related to the Horseman, but not to the search that was going on with the others.”

Gabrielle pressed against her temples and sighed.  “Did she give you any kind of detail?”

Kurt shook his head.  “Not really… other than you were really going to want to hear it.”

She sighed again.  “All right.  I’ll call her as soon as I get back to my office.  Anything else?”

“Not from me, I’m afraid.  Although I’m enjoying this a little more than I probably should.  It’s kind of funny listening to these women stutter and stumble over themselves trying to validate their search efforts… like they know what this meeting is about and are afraid of your response.”

“Same,” Lucy concurred.  “You can almost hear them paling when they realize who I am and what I’m calling about.”

Gabrielle turned to Barbara.  “Am I really that scary?”

Barbara tilted her head and spoke honestly.  “You can be… especially when you channel certain aspects of your personality.  But generally speaking, no.  They’re just reacting to the fact that they got caught doing something they all know they probably shouldn’t have tried to hide from you in the first place.”

“I also got a request for contact,” Dinah reported, “but in fairness, she called me before I reached out to her… or her moms, at least?”

Gabrielle frowned.  “Emma?”

Dinah nodded.  “Emma.  I don’t think it had anything to do with the Horseman.  She sounded like she needed to talk to her Auntie Gabrielle.”  

“More like her Godmother,” Gabrielle muttered, though it was loud enough for the others to just make out and glance around at each other in surprise at her casual acknowledgement. And hadn’t that been quite the unexpected experience, she remembered.

Shortly after the first conventions were over, and everyone had returned to their respective homes, Olivia Spencer had jumped through a number of hurdles to find their contact information beyond what had been given to them at the convention.  She and Xena had been impressed by the woman’s persistence and ingenuity and had invited her to New York to speak to them directly.  What she had said had thrown them both for a loop.

“I realize we’ve only known one another for a very brief time, but I learned the hard way how to read people; how to look for the signs of trustworthiness; how to tell if people are genuine or just having you on… especially where Emma is concerned.  And you’re probably some of the realest people I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet.  Thing is, my kid has taken a big shine to the two of you, and despite the fact that she thinks her father can do no wrong, she’s actually one of the best judges of character I’ve ever seen.  And she’d love the chance to spend more time with you.”

She held up her hands to forestall any interruption.  “I know it sounds weird, and crazy, and any other number of adjectives you can think of.  But I saw how you were with her, and I saw how she was with you.  And I’d like to give her more of that - more positive re-enforcement; more strong female role models; people she feels comfortable being herself around.  You’ve never experienced the strangeness that is our part of Springfield, but if you had, you’d understand why I don’t want to miss the opportunity to put people like you - to put YOU both - into her life.”

“What exactly are you asking us?” Gabrielle asked when the silence began to stretch too long.

Olivia looked at them directly, allowing them to search her eyes for the truth as she spoke.  “I would love for you to consider becoming her Godparents.  Not in the strictest sense, of course.  Neither of you strike me as particularly Catholic, and besides, that road is a few years gone from us already.  But maybe you would be willing to come visit us in Springfield for a few days every few months.  Or we could come here, and she could spend some time with you in the City.  Whatever is better for you, of course.  I’ll do what it takes to make this work.  But I’d really like for you to be in her life in some way.  Honestly, she hasn’t stopped talking about you since BEFORE you dressed up as an Amazon Queen and her Champion.  And after everything you did for her during and after the conferences… well, I’d love to be able for her to hold onto that for as long as she can.”

She stopped speaking suddenly when Xena’s hand covered her own.  “Olivia, it’s all right.  We’d love to,” she promised with a smile, and Olivia could see Gabrielle nodding her head in agreement.  She released a shaky breath and blinked to keep from falling the tears that rushed to her eyes.

“Thank you,” said sincerely.  “Thank you both so much.  I promise you won’t regret it.”

And they hadn’t.  Emma had helped keep them young, and she had blossomed and thrived under their tutelage and attention - even when she developed crushes on both of them, something they were careful never to embarrass her about.  Ian and Colleen had practically adopted her; Colleen had been especially thrilled to finally be an older sibling, and she and Emma had become great friends, despite their age difference. Only rarely had Emma called them on her own specifically looking for help, so Gabrielle took the request seriously now.

“All right.  I’ll call Emma, and then I’ll talk to Ms. Beaumont.  If anyone else asks to speak to me, find out why and then send the request to Casey.  I’ll decide if it’s necessary before the meeting tonight.”  She turned to Barbara.  “How goes the search?”

Barbara frowned at her screen before meeting Gabrielle’s eyes.  “I think I might have a lead on the sixth box, but I don’t have enough information yet.  No one’s opened anything recently, though.  Also….”

“Gabrielle?” Casey’s face popped up on the comm screen.  “I have Sam Carter on the line.  Should I…?”

“Route it to my cell phone.  I’ll take it up here, and then I’ll head down.”  She looked back at Barbara.  “Also?”

“It’ll wait.  It’s speculation at this point, and Sam Carter is the real deal.”

Gabrielle nodded.  “Keep me posted.”  Then she crossed to the bedroom, carefully closing the door behind her before she greeted the woman on her screen.  “Hello, Sam.  I see you were successful in boosting that signal,” giving her a big smile.

Sam chuckled. “Hi, Gabrielle.”  She nodded and panned the phone around the room.  “Yeah.  It wasn’t easy, but we got it covered.  Um… I’m gonna give Janet the phone - you know, so I can open the safety deposit box.”  She did so and Janet waved quickly before flipping the phone around so Gabrielle could still see and hear Sam.  She had moved to one of the larger boxes where the bank president stood waiting for her.  The woman had been a little less than happy when Sam had pulled out her phone to make a call… especially when she actually managed to get significant cell signal so deep in the vault. While not strictly forbidden, it wasn’t encouraged as a matter of both security and privacy.  Still, they were the only ones in this vault, and it was certainly Sam’s decision with whom she wanted to share her private business.  She placed her key in one keyhole and waited for Sam to do the same.  Then they turned them until the click indicated the box was free.  She removed her key and put a hand on Sam’s arm.

“I’ll leave you to your business,” she said as she moved toward the door.  “When you’re done, if you’ll lift the receiver,” indicating the phone on the wall by the door, “I’ll be back so we can lock your box back.”

“Thank you,” Sam acknowledged, waiting until the door closed behind the woman before she looked back at the camera. “I think I need to restart my military training,” she fake wheezed as she set the box on the table.  “I don’t remember it being this heavy before.”

She lifted the top and stared for a long moment, recognizing immediately that her dad had added to what had been there the last time she’d been in this box.  She blinked rapidly to keep her tears from flowing at the memories she found there, then cleared her throat.  “Um… there’s more stuff in here than I remembered, so, um… yeah - it’s gonna take me a minute to find that box.  I’m pretty sure it was one of the first things Dad put in when he brought Mom’s stuff here.”  She shifted a few things around, careful not to remove anything until she reached the box she had been searching for.   She grabbed it with both hands and gently urged it forward until she could remove it from the deposit box.  She lifted it up until it was in front of the camera.  “So, um… is this what you’re looking for?”

Gabrielle released a slow breath and nodded.  “Yes.  That’s the Egyptian box.  If you could take that with you and put it in your safe, please, and be ready to move swiftly.  We want to try and start moving the Guardians to a safe, remote location where we can make a stand.”

“I’ve got a bird on standby.  Janet and I can be anywhere in the US pretty quickly.”

“Some days it’s good to be a general, I guess,” Gabrielle teased with a big grin.

Sam chuckled and blushed slightly.  “Some days,” she agreed.  She tucked the box into the carry sack she’d brought with her and took the phone from Janet.  “We’ll get this home and put away, and we’ll be waiting for your call. Is there anything else you need us to bring with us?”

“Aside from whatever you’ll need to be off the grid for a while?”  Gabrielle shook her head.  “No, not that I can think of at the moment, though if we think of something, we’ll let you know.  But honestly, you’re probably in a better position to advise on that point that almost anyone else.”

“Probably,” Sam agreed with a smirk.  “Do you know if this ‘safe place off the grid’ has a power source?  Or should I arrange for some MRE’s?”

Gabrielle wrinkled her nose.  “I’ll find out.  We’ll get some of the French ones if we need to.”

Sam’s eyes widened.  “You can do that?”

“Oh yeah.”  She glanced at the clock.  “Hey, I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got a couple more calls to make.”

“Yeah, and we should probably get home. We left a note, but I’d feel better if we could get home before Xena and Shaw wake up.”

“Fifty bucks says they’re gone when you get back.”

Janet snorted from behind Sam.  “No bet,” chuckling at Gabrielle’s raised eyebrow. “C’mon, Gabrielle… you and Xena have been together long enough to know each other better than you know yourselves some days. If you think she’s gone, odds are greatly in your favor that they’re on the way to the airport already.”

Gabrielle shrugged and nodded her agreement.  “I’m kinda hoping they are.  I’d really like Xena to be here for the video conference tonight.”

“I won’t be there,” Janet informed her, though not with much regret in her tone. “I’ve got a shift at the hospital tonight… filling in for one of the trauma doctors.”

Gabrielle smirked. “You won’t be missing much. Just me making sure all those lovely women playing detective understand how dangerous continuing to investigate the Headless Horseman could become.”

“Do you really think she is?” Sam asked as she relocked her box. “I mean… you think my story and yours are real?”

“I do. There is another part of the story I have that I didn’t share; it’s what makes me sure yours is truth.”  She shook her head.  “I won’t look for either of you tonight, but please keep your phones on and nearby.  I expect things to start moving pretty quickly from here.”

“Yes ma’am,” Sam responded to the authority in Gabrielle’s voice, even as she lifted the phone receiver. “We’ll make sure we’re packed and ready to go.”

“Thank you, ladies. We’ll speak again soon.” Then Gabrielle ended the call. The bank president walked back into the vault, and things were put back into place in short order. Sam hefted the backpack she’d brought in to carry the box out with her, and she and Janet were silent as they followed the other woman back into the main part of the bank. They shook hands with her and exited quickly. It wasn’t until they were halfway back home before Janet spoke.

“I’m scared, Sammy.  What the hell did we end up in the middle of this time?”

Sam shook her head and shrugged.  “Dunno. But at least we won’t be doing this alone. We’ve got help this time.”  She cleared her throat. “C’mon. Maybe we’ll get lucky and be able to say goodbye to Xena and Shaw.”

“You don’t really believe that?”

“Not even vaguely.”

************

Shaw jerked out of a sound sleep, gun at the ready before it was caught and held in an unbreakable grip. There were only two people in the world that could sneak up on her so easily, and one of them was back in New York.  She blinked her eyes open and pushed the hair away from her face and she consciously relaxed her body. “I’m awake,” she grumbled, knowing Xena would hear her.

Xena did, in fact, hear her, and she released the hand that had caught the pistol that had been headed in her direction by sheer reflex.  She backed away from the bed a step, then waited for Shaw to finish orienting herself, smiling as she recognized how safe the other woman felt with her.  It had taken a while, but it had been such a wonderful thing when she understood that Shaw finally considered them family.  Now, she watched the hand scrub over the face, knowing it was the last thing Shaw would do before swinging her legs off the bed and stepping into her shoes.

“Time to go?”

Xena nodded.  “Yeah. I know we could both easily sleep all day, but Gabrielle needs me at home, so it’s time to head out.”

“Wish we could sleep on the plane,” Shaw grumbled as she jerked her jacket from where it had lain as she slept.  She thrust her arms in and hiked it into place, then pulled her hair out.  She shoved her gun into its holster and motioned to Xena. “Go on,” impatiently.

Xena would have snorted had she not thought Shaw would take it the wrong way.  “You didn’t learn how to as a Marine?”

Sameen shrugged. “Not the same - no gear… no noise.”

“Gotcha.” They jogged down the stairs, and Xena tossed her the keys to the rental car they were using. “Go warm it up - I’ll be right there.  I’m gonna leave a note.”

Shaw snatched the keys from mid-air and nodded.  “Got it.”  Then she opened the front door and stepped out into the cold, crisp air of Colorado Springs.  Xena continued moving until she reached the desk, rummaging around until she found a post-it note and a pen.  She scribbled her words quickly and left them prominently front and center on the desk. She had just capped the pen when her phone rang, and she frowned when she didn’t recognize the number immediately.  Then she noted the location and realized what she’d done.  She answered it, even as she made a mental note to correct the oversight of no name.

“Yes?”

“Um… is this Xena?”

“Yes, Myka. How can I help you?”

“Oh, um….”  Xena could almost heard her curls moving back and forth as she shook her head. “Nothing… I mean, I didn’t call to ask you for anything. I called to let you know that Helena and I talked to Claudia, Artie, and Pete, and they’re on board with you bringing everyone here to Univille.  We’re actually going to see if we can find a more deserted area out past the Warehouse area to gather, you know, so we can maybe keep the town from being destroyed and all, but at least Univille will give them a place to come to while we search for a better spot to fight.”

“Thank you, Myka.  I appreciate it. If you’ll send me the specs, I’ll start sending people your way.”

“Do you know exactly how many? I know you mentioned seven Guardians, but you talked about there being others?”

“Not yet… we’re looking at the possibility of several hundred,” hearing Myka’s breath catch.  “I need to catch Gabrielle up and find out what’s happening with the rest, but I figure it’s likely that there will be a couple hundred participating.”

“Oh… wow.”

“Yeah, so, let me know what we can bring to make it easier for the surrounding communities, all right? We don’t want to create a burden if we can help it.”

“Um, yeah… yeah. I’ll talk to Artie and see what we need… probably some temporary housing, because there are only a couple bed and breakfasts in the area. But I’ll send you everything we have right now.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be out of contact for the next few hours but expect a phone call from me later tonight.   Hopefully by then, you’ll have a list of supplies and things we can bring with us.”

“O… okay.  Um… do you know how people are planning to get here?  I mean, we’re not exactly a major tourist destination; we’re at least two hours from everything.”

Xena pinched the bridge of her nose.  Univille really was the perfect choice for a showdown for that very reason, but it did make logistics a little more complicated.  “I’ll let you know.  A lot depends on what we can arrange on this end.”

Myka nodded.  “I’ll see what we can do on this end as well.  Maybe the Warehouse has something that will make it easier to bring people directly here.”

Xena had to chuckle.  “Somehow, I don’t think Artie will be too keen on letting loose the original Star Trek transporter.”

Myka’s eyes grew rounder.  “Wait… that’s a real thing??”

“Yeah, but there’s gotta be a lot of bugs worked out before it’s viable.  No one is ready for the consequences otherwise.”  She glanced at her watch.  “I’ve gotta go, but I’ll be in touch tonight.”

“Thanks, Xena.  We’ll get started with what we can on this end until we hear from you.  Bye.”

Xena ended the call and slid her phone into her pocket as she made her way to the front door.  She wasn’t surprised to find Shaw at the door, despite the fact that the car was running.  She simply arched a brow, and Sameen blushed, though she did her best to hide it with a smirk.

“Write a novel?” she asked as they made their way from the porch to the car. Xena waited until they were settled in the car and headed to the airport.

“Nah.  Confirmed the battleground location.  Now we need to start sending people out there.”

“You sure he’ll come?”

“We’ll be there.  He’ll come.”


Part 6