Rating: PG-13
Summary: Takes place during Season 5. Down on luck and love, Joxer decides to go to a small celebration party in Athens. By a sudden twist of Fate, Joxer's life is about to be changed.
Author's Note: Not to get to personal, I have never been inlove (and really don't want to), so it's ok to feel kinda weird cause I have no idea what love I'm writing about in this story.

"You're kidding, right?" Xena asked her best friend.

"No, it's the truth! He came up to me and told me he loved me more than anything. He said I was the only thing he needed and could not be by without." Gabrielle smiled brightly.

Xena let out a small giggle. "Wow. Congradulations, Gabrielle. I think you might have found a winner after all."

"Yeah well, Hercules is the lucky one to have you, Xena."

Xena threw down the small rock she used to sharpen her sword. "Exact same thing he says. You know, even though we thought it would never work out, it actually has so far."

Just then, the two heard a clanky sound from behind, not too far away. Gabrielle rolled her eyes in annoyance as Xena sighed in frustration. Walking up to their campsite was non other than Joxer. But something was not right with their companion.

Joxer sat on the other side of the fire, sitting on the hard ground. His eyes, dark and full of hurt and anger, gazed almost at nothing as he looked down, his fingers tracing the ground.

Gabrielle and Xena looked at each other, a bit worried for their friend, and turned back to him.

"Uh.hello Joxer. Is everything thing all..." Xena began.

Joxer raised up his hand to stop her, and pulled out from his bag a scroll and handed it to Gabrielle. Confused, Gabrielle began to unravel it, and smiled as she learned what it was and who it was from.

"It's from him, Garrien." Gabrielle said excitedly the warrior princess.

Her joyness soon faded as she realized now why Joxer was so gloomy. He lost her to another man who she loved back. What really hurt is that she told everyone about Garrien, all except Joxer.

"This Garrien," Joxer began, " He's a...a really nice guy. Very nice. You two uh..have a lot in common. He's a bard, and a fighter too. Nice looking guy...just wish...wish I knew about him like everyone else." He glared at Gabrielle.

Gabrielle put her head down in guilt. "Joxer, I-I was going to tell you when...when we met again."

"Then tell me now. What is Garrien to you and how long have you two been...together?"

FLASHBACK

Gabrielle watched with a huge crowd at a young, tall, and very handsome and well built man continued his story about a braveless and shy peasent who became a couragous hero. He told the story exactly how she would have, that's what surprised Gabrielle. The crowd roarly applauded the young man as he finished his story. They began to walk away, but she stayed. She needed to meet this young man.

The young man began to pack up some of his own scrolls in his bag. Gabrielle walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to face her. Gods. he's gorgeous! she thought.

The young man had short blond hair and light blue eyes like Xena's. She was rather breath-taken by his looks, but then again, she reminded herself of how Ares was.

However, later on the day, he was nothing like the good looking, bad boy types. He had a pure heart of good and was kind to anyone he came acrossed.

She had spent the entire day with him, forgetting she was suppose to meet Xena in the town's Inn. As they said their good-byes, Garrien did the most unsuspected, unbelievable thing that anyone had ever done to Gabrielle when she first met someone; Garrien gave her a soft kiss on her lips and walked away.

FLASHBACK ENDS

"And...well, that's about it. Since then, he's been traveling with us." Gabrielle finished. Both her and Xena looked over to Joxer.

Joxer was completely silent as he looked back at the two strong women, then his eyes trailed down by the warm camp fire.

He didn't say one word through the entire night.

"...I can't wait any longer to hold you in my arms, to feel soft skin with my finger tips...ooohh gods, Xena! How much longer till Athens?" Gabrielle asked like an excited and impatient child.

Xena chuckled as she shook her head, holding onto Argo's reigns as she led the horse down the path. Far behind the three was a sulking Joxer.

Xena and Gabrielle stopped as they reached the town of Athens. Both inhaled and exhaled the air of the city. Xena then looked over her shoulder, and sighed in frustration.

Gabrielle looked at her best friend. "What is it?"

"Joxer." Xena sighed.

Gabrielle looked behind her. Pretty far off was Joxer, looking down at the ground that he walked on. She sighed. " Why is he acting like this? I mean, I was going to tell him. And besides, he doesn't have any right to be upset. It's my life, and he's just not a part of it. Why doesn't he understand that?"

Joxer overheard Gabrielle. Her words made him feel even more worser. He picked up his pace and walked pass the two warriors.

The crowd was unusually huge in the streets today. He found musicians, bards, and people dancing. It must be some sort of celebration today, possibly in memory of Eli or Cupid's Day....Cupid's Day, the day of love. Love...nothing but a lousy, worthless emotion to him. Love; can't live with and and don't want or need it.

As he scanned the crowd, Joxer noticed Gabrielle, who was dancing to slow music with Garrien. Rage boiled in his blood as his jaw tightned. He snapped his eyes away before they could notice him, only to see Xena next to Hercules, both laughing with Iolas and Nebula. He looked away from them, and to his surprise, his spotted Meg in the crowd.

He smiled and began to walk over to her, but he stopped before taking one step forward as he saw Autolycus with his arm around Meg. Great! So I lost her too. He thought.

He began to walk away, until a small group of young guys and women caught his sight. They were playing around, laughing, and smiling together. He looked back in his past, remembering his times with his friends as a child. He was out so much, it made no difference to his family who barely acknowledged him, except for his mother.

His eyes kept on the small group of friends. One of the girls caught his sight. The girl had long red hair the reached down the center of her back, and her clothes were similiar to Gabrielle's when he first met her, only the color of her top was brown and black. Her eyes, though, were an emerald green, like Gabrielle's.

She was simply beautiful. In fact, possibly more prettier than Gabrielle. Woah, wait a minute, where did that come from?! He actually thought that someone was more prettier than Gabrielle!

One of the girls in the group noticed Joxer looking in her friend's direction. The girl looked disgusted and tapped the red haired woman's shoulder, and pointed to Joxer. Joxer's eyes went wide in realization that the woman was staring back at him, and he immediatly tore his eyes away from her and began to walk in the nearest Inn.

Day turned to Night, and still Athens was loud and filled with music, laughter, and....love.

"Damn, stupid Cupid's Day." Joxer mumbled, sitting alone at a table in the crowded Inn. Out of all the people who talked and laughed with each other, Joxer felt completely embarressed and miserable. He was always alone and he was use to this, but this was another Cupid's Day where he had nobody to love. It was so frustrating that he even thought about ending his own life.

His mother always told him to look up, walk up straight, keep your head high, shoulders back, and feel confident. But none of that worked for him. Hell, he even tried it just a few minutes ago, but nobody noticed. Figured.

"Hey look, Satine. It's that dork who was drooling at you." A male voice spoke.

Joxer didn't even acknowledge it.

"Shut up, you. He's just a lonely guy." Satine spoke.

Joxer smirked. Lonely guy, yeah that was him alright. Joxer the Lonely, Joxer the Miserable, Joxer the No-Self-Confident guy. Self-Confidence, why should he even bother. Never had it before, so why now. Hell, why not stop believing in love.

"Exsqueeze me?! But not believing in love?! Like, hello, a life without love is like...bad." Aphrodite scowlded, materializing in the seat next to Joxer.

Joxer's eyes were still on the table. "Oh, hi Dite. What's new?"

The Love Goddess sighed. "Well, definately not your attitude about yourself and love. Why do you keep doing this to yourself, Joxie? I mean, come on, smile for once, be happy, enthusiastic."

"Been there, done that, didn't work for me. Just face it, Aphrodite, I'm gonna be just Lonely Joxer for the rest of my life. I mean...I guess...in some ways...that I d-d-deserve it. I mean, I've done some many things wrong in my past life, and I'm getting punished for them.."

"OH JOXER JUST STOP IT!!" the love goddess yelled, making him jump a bit and finally look at her.

"Look, I promised you I would do no spells and you would fall in love for real, and I am sticking to that promise. But the reason you don't have anybody is because you're not giving yourself a chance. You know that red head you were looking at earlier is now looking over here at you." She pointed behind Joxer.

Joxer looked over his shoulder, and followed Aphrodite's finger, and saw a pair of beautiful green eyes staring over at him. He quickly faced around and looked down at the wood of his table in embarressment.

"No...no way. She can't be looking at me. Yeah, she's uh...she's looking at somebody else. Like maybe that muscular guy over there..."

"Joxer," Aphrodite softly spoke his name.

He looked over to her.

"Shut up, get over yourself, and tell that girl how you feel." With that, the Goddess of Love dissappeared.

Even though he heard Aphrodite, he shook her words out of his head. Like he said, been there ,done that.

"Why are you sitting here by yourself?" A female voice asked from behind him.

Joxer jumped and looked behind him, only to find the beautiful red haired woman looking down at him. She reached over and took the seat that Aphrodite was sat in.

"I said, why are you sitting by yourself? Where are your friends?" She asked.

"O-o-o-o...o-out p-partying." he stuttured.

"Oh. Well, do you want to hang out with me and my friends?" She asked.

He looked at her for a moment, then looked back down at the table. "No thanks. Sorry, but I rather be alone right now."

"Let me guess...uh...you have nobody to celebrate Cupid's Day with?" She asked, even though she knew the answer.

Joxer's lips made a smile as he looked back up at her. "That too and I just rather be alone right now." He repeated.

She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. This guy was really pathetic, but she would not give up. Her lips slowly turned into a bright smile as she heard a familiar tune of music play.

"I'm sorry sir, but...." She stood up and grabbed his arm. "...I just can't let that happen. Can you dance?"

"Can I d-d-dance?" Joxer looked uneasy.

"Come on. I'm gonna look ridiculous if I go out dancing alone." She removed his hat and threw it down on the table before he could protest. "Besides," she continued, "It's a ballad song their playing."

With that, she led Joxer outside. As the got into the center of the the town, she turned and faced him. She placed on of his hands on her hip, which made him gulp as he felt her naked hip, and placed his other hand in hers. They began to move around slowly, and surprisingly, he never once stepped on her feet.

"You're good at this." She spoke softly.

"Th...uh...thanks. My first time actually." He replied.

For the rest of the dance, neither one said a word. Joxer eyes could not tear away from the emerald green eyes that looked back at him. So far, she was such an interesting person, even though he's only noticed her for now three or five minutes.

The song had ended, and the huge crowd around them began clapping, all except Joxer and this red haired woman he was holding. What was it about her that attracted him to her. Correction, what is it about ME that attracts her to me. he thought.

"Come with me." She insisted.

"W-where?"

Without saying a word, she took his hand and lead him out of the city.

Joxer sat next to the red haired girl on the ground, watching the stars with her. He looked over at her.

"Why did you bring me here?" He asked.

She looked at him and smiled. "This is my...favorite and private place. I come here every night and look on the stars, wishing....that I could just fly away from here."

"Why?"

She smirked. "It's nothing really. Don't you have a favorite place you'd like to go or thing you'd like to do?"

Joxer thought for a moment as he looked back up at the sky. "You know, I don't have a favorite place or thing. Never thought about it anyway, until now."

They were silent for a long moment, until Joxer looked back over at her.

"Why do you wanna fly away from here?" He asked her.

She was silent. He thought she either ignored his question or didn't hear him.

"I just want to." She finally answered. "I just want to...explore...go on adventures...see the world, you know? I just...for once..I just want to fall in love."

Joxer looked down. "Well, I've explored a lot of the world, gone on some amazing adventures. But I've never been in love....or that is...be in love and being in love in return."

"It sucks, doesn't it?" She smirked.

"Yeah it does." He chuckled.

They were silent again as they both stretched out and laid on the soft grassy ground. Every chance they got, one of them would look at the other, wondering what they are thinking.

Joxer looked over at her. "You know, I never caught your name."

She looked back at him. "You know, I never caught yours either."

"I'm Joxer." He smiled.

The red haired smiled lovingly at Joxer, and propped her self on her elbow. Suddenly, her lips careesed Joxer's in a soft kiss that caught him off gaurd.

She pulled away and smiled at him. "I'm Satine." She spoke softly.

With that, Satine leaned forward again to Joxer's, and their lips met in a passionate kiss.

Joxer slowly and weakly opened his eyes to the morning light. He yawned and stretched, and probbed himself up on his elbows as he looked around to see where he was. He was in the same place with that Satine girl last night. As he looked around, he realized she wasn't there, which worried him.

Joxer began to get up, until he realized that the only thing covering him was that jacket of his now torn up armor. He grinned at the thought of sharing an intimate moment with such an incredible woman last night. In fact, it was the best expierience he ever had. They must've have done much more than once as he felt his legs were pretty weak.

Joxer scanned through the crowd in the city of Athens. He asked nearly everybody if they knew a red haired woman name Satine. Some said no, but others said yes. One gave him information that she worked at the Inn he was in last night. He gave the person a dinar and headed for the Inn.

He opened the doors of the Inn, and found her serving a couple at a table, then walking back to the counter. He was about to walk up to her and surprise her, until...

"SATINE!! WHAT IN TATAURUS DO YOU THINK YO DOING?!!"

Satine jumped and looked up at an older woman. She must've been the owner of the Inn.

"N-nothing...I-I was jus getting these people their food." Satine replied, fear in her tone.

"Well, hurry it up! They want their food! Don't just stand there like the stupid little girl that you are!" The woman hissed.

Satine looked on the verge of tears, but held them back and quickly took the food , only to trip as the old woman put her foot out in Satine's way. The old woman grinned at her work, then looked disgusted and angry.

"NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!! CAN't YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT?!! YOU LITTLE BITCH!! YOU LITTLE WORTHLESS WHORE!! NO WONDER NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU! YOU'RE USELESS!!" The old woman dragged Satine up and slapped her across her face.

It was all Satine could take as she began to cry, wanting the nightmare to end.

The old woman shook her. "STOP YOUR CRYING AND GET BACK TO WORK..."

Joxer rushed forward so quick like lightning an pushed the old woman off of Satine.

"You...leave...her...alone!!" Joxer growled at the old woman, putting Satine behind him.

Satine paniced as she saw Joxer in front of her. "Wait, Joxer no! You have to get out before she calls.."

"BULL! Take care of this damn runt!"

Just then, a big and heavy weighted man marched out from the back off the kitchen, towering over Joxer.

Bull grinned and grabbed Joxer by the neck of his dorky armor, and threw the lanky man across the room. Joxer slammed into a table, and spat out blood from his lips. It was all Satine could take.

Satine grabbed the tray on the floor next to her, and swung so hard at the back of Bull's head, she broke the wooden tray into pieces. Bull crashed to the ground, unconcious from the powerful impact with the tray.

Satine dropped the broken tray and ran over and helped Joxer to his feet. "Joxer, what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

Joxer rubbed his neck and looked at her. "People told me you were here. I...I had to find you."

She began to tug on Joxer's arm. "You have to go! Before Bull wakes up! You must leave this place!"

"No."

"Joxer please!"

Joxer reached out his hands and cupped her face in them. "Come with me. Fly away with me, Satine."

Tears began to run down from her eyes. "Joxer..I can't. T-this is my home. I have no place else to go."

"Yes you do. You have the world. You don't deserve this, Satine. Please, fly away with me, far away from this place. No matter what happens, I love you."

She looked at him, his hands never leaving her face.

"I know I've only known you for awhile now, but I can't explain what you've done to me. And what ever you've done, Satine, you've made me see the beauty of life and what love is. Love is like oxygen, it's like wind that lifts us up where we belong. Satine, your my breath I take, your my wind under my wings. I want you Satine, that's all I want. I love you."

Satine, unconciouslly, began to move her hands around Joxer.

"Joxer? Do you really love me?"

"Oh Satine, I do."

She cupped one hand on his cheek. "Forever?"

"Forever."

With that, she took his hand and ran out with him. They ran so fast, they were out of Athens in seconds.

Satine jumped up in the air in excitement. The nightmare was over. She was free at last.

Joxer smiled at her. He was happy to see her like this.

Satine rushed over to Joxer and embraced in a tight hug.

"You made my wish come true, Joxer. I finally flew away. Oh thank you so much!"

"It's all for you, Satine." He whispered in her ear.

Satine grinned. "I love you too, Joxer."

He couldn't but feel a single tear go down his eye. He was going to definatetly get used to hearing those three words directly at him and in the way he means it.

Satine, suddenly pulled away, leaving Joxer puzzled.

"Do you think we're moving to fast?"

Joxer looked at her, but then got the point of what she was acting. "Well, we've only known each other since yesterday."

"Yeah. That is kinda...funny. I mean...you know what the say. Only fools rush in."

Joxer nodded. Just then, his lips formed a smile bright as hers.

"Then consider us fools." They both said as the embraced each other again.

"Wow. Guess you were right, Mom. They do make a nice couple."

"Oh of course, Sweety. And what really makes this cool, is that we didn't even have to lift a finger for those two, and that...is real love." Aphrodite grinned.

"Well, at least he's got a new perspective on life and love now." Cupid shrugged.

Told you, Studmuffin, that love does happen. Aphrodite thought to herself.

Please take a moment to write to KScott2112 at KScott2112@aol.com and let him know how you liked the story!

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER:
Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, Aphrodite, and all other characters who have appeared in the series, together with the names, titles and backstories are the sole copyright property of StudiosUSA and Renaissance Pictures. No infringement of copyrights or trademarks is intended in the writing of this fan fiction. The character of Satine was created by the author for use in this fiction. This story is copyright © 2001 by KScott2112 and is his sole property along with the story idea. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.