Gabrielle looked at the mass of round cherubic faces gazing back at her with expectation. She smiled, taking a seat at a chopped hunk of stump that sat next to the now deserted puppet stage. The rest of the village buzzed around them, and Xena had long gone to settle Argo for the afternoon. She could have killed Xena for what she had done. "Well if you're having problems being creative - why not tell the kids some stories? They love bards..." And so Xena had told the Village Magistrate to gather the children and tell them that the great bard Gabrielle would tell them a story.

Now Gabrielle sat here, in front of those waiting faces, those large pool eyes filled with a haunting wisdom that only youth held, and felt absolutely, entirely and without any doubt - empty. Empty, dry, without inspiration. The children waited, tapping the sandy floor, whistling, playing hand clapping games with each other.

With a sigh Gabrielle clapped her hands together.

"Okay children," she said, "Hi, hi... how are you?"

She smiled at a little brunette girl sitting quietly nearby, the very vision of obedience. The girl waved and giggled.

"Right... now I'm going to tell you a story today..."

"About Hercules?"

The voice came from a little boy near the frown, his big brown eyes gleaming.

"Nnno, about Xena..."

"Awww," came another voice belonging to another little boy, "Xena sucks."

A little girl jumped to her feet, blonde piggytails bouncing, "She does not!"

"Siddown, Sally, you don't know anything! You're a donkey poo!!"

"JERK!"

"QUIET!!!"

All eyes turned to Gabrielle, her neck muscles clenching under the tufts of blonde hair that framed her face.

"You made her angry you big dork!" the girl called Sally shouted.

"If you don't be quiet I won't tell the story!"

A small plump hand went up and a dark skinned girl smiled, "I wanna hear a story - about a - a story wit Aphedite!!!"

Gabrielle sighed, sitting down again, stretching her fingers out and waving her hands at the children, "Okay okay... a story with Xena, Aphrodite -"

"And Hercules!" called out a few boys.

"Okay, and Hercules..."

"And a monster..."

Gabrielle glared, "Do you want to hear this story or not?!"

A green-eyed cherub at the front began to sob.

The bard buried her face in her hands, despairing as soon more voices joined in on the wailing. Great - how was she going to be with Eve? The children sobbed with no restraint, a few adult heads turning at the sound. Gabrielle looked to one particularly concerned woman and smiled thinly.

"Sad story - I'll tell 'em something funny now..."

At that she buried her head in her hands again.

"Now what have we here? Sad faces?! That's no good!!"

The voice was jolly and masculine, and she felt like strangling it's owner and hugging him all at once. She looked up to the man, narrowing her eyes and smiling grimly.

"Joxer..."

He smiled to the children, waving and grinning, crouching down and tilting his head to Gabrielle in concern.

"What in Tartarus are you doing? Trying to depress them into obedience?!"

"I just - I - " She looked to the children looking up at them in wonder and smiled tensely, "Children - I'm just going to talk to this nice man for a minute - can you wait here? I'll be back in just a moment!!"

She stood, dragging Joxer behind the puppet stage and collapsing onto the floor, leaning against the thin wooden wall. The stage shuddered at her weight.

"Gabrielle, you okay?"

Joxer sat next to her, his brown eyes glowing warm in the suns reflected light that hit them from the shadow of the stage.

"No, you saw what happened..."

Joxer rose his brows, nodding, "Yeah I did. You're usually great with children, I don't get it..."

"I'm not," Gabrielle said, shaking her head, "I'm terrible with them when they're - that age!"

"No you're not!" He tisked, shaking his head, "You're not, you're great! I remember..."

"When?" she said, glaring at him.

He stumbled on his words and went pale with a strangled smile, "Uh - a couplah years ago..."

"Exactly!" she sighed, "I haven't done the bard thing with kids for - years! I could tell a room of adults stories but - I mean - I don't know what kids want to hear anymore."

"You're distancing yourself from them," Joxer said, "Don't you remember being a kid?"

She looked to the goofy man next to her and sighed, tilting her head, "Yes... I remember hating it."

Joxer pouted at her in surpised, "You hated being a kid?"

"Are you kidding?" she said, "Everyone in the village would talk down to me. 'Go play with Lilla, Gabby. Go draw some pictures.' It drove me nuts!"

The lanky man had his head tilted and looking up, gazing in the air, but his mind set directly on what she was talking about. He crinkled his nose.

"What's so bad about playing with Lilla?"

"Nothing!" she hissed, "That's not the point! And anyway - she usually got me into trouble."

Joxer rose a brow and glared at her pointedly, "She got you into trouble?"

Gabrielle twisted her lips, then rolled her eyes in defeat, "Well I'd be there, stealing a freshly baked muffin from mother's pantry, and then she'd have to make a noise, or trip up, or demand she can have one too - and then bam! Mom would hear and - what are you sniggering at?"

Joxer shook his head and chuckled, "Just the thought of you stuffing your face with chocolate muffin..."

"They were blueberry," she said, pouting and folding her arms in a huff, "They were the best damned muffins you ever tasted and they were best when they were hot!"

"Okay okay," Joxer smiled. He looked to her and pointed at her, "There, you told a good story."

She frowned, "What?"

"The story about the muffins..."

She tilted her head, "Joxer-"

"You told it to me," he shrugged.

She eyed him, "You're an adult."

Joxer nodded, "And they're little people."

Gabrielle glanced to him, gazing over his earnest features.

She smiled softly, "You amaze me sometimes."

He tilted his head, leaning to Gabrielle, his tone jovial, "Well you know, I amaze myself sometimes..."

She sniggered, leaning to Joxer and snuggling his shoulder and hugging him. "Thank you!"

"When can we hear the story?"

She glanced up, the little brunette girl she'd smiled to earlier standing before them, her blue eyes large and worried.

"Oh I'll be out there in a minute, I was just saying hello to my friend."

The little girl's eyes traveled over the tangled arms and smiled, running off. Gabrielle looked down to herself in Joxer's arms and blushed.

"I better... uh I mean..."

"Yeah," Joxer smiled, helping her up to her feet. She looked up, and smiled.

As they cornered the stage the children cheered uproarously, and Gabrielle smiled brightly, taking her seat. Joxer tumbled down next to her, his fingers fiddling as he looked up to her.

"Who's he?!" the children cried out in a cacophonous mess, and Joxer smiled widely, patting his helmet and grinning.

"He's my friend Joxer," Gabrielle said, "He and I are friends with Xena."

"Do you love hiiiim?!" cried out a little girl, who was by no coincidence sitting next to the angelic looking brunette one with the baby blues.

Gabrielle blushed, "What makes you think-"

"You were hugging him..." giggled one girl and Gabrielle nodded.

"Yes yes I love him very much."

"Ooooooooooooh!"

Joxer blushed too, looking up to Gabrielle.

"He's one of my best friends - we've had a lot of adventures together."

"Like what?" asked one girl.

"Do you know Hercules?!" the Hercules obsessed boy at the back asked Joxer.

"Sure," Joxer nodded, "He and I like this!" He twisted his two fingers together. Gabrielle twisted her own features in incredulity at Joxer and scoffed, but he frowned at her, waving a hand. She nodded, rolling her eyes. She'd let him twist the tales if he wanted - a little.

"Who wants to hear the story about the day Joxer thought he was Attis the Apeman, and I thought I was the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth?!" Gabrielle asked, her eyes growing wide. She looked to the dark girl, "It has Aphrodite in it," then to the Hercules fan, "And big warriors!"

A cheer broke out amongst the children, and Joxer grinned up to Gabrielle.

Gabrielle grinned back, then out to the children, "Well, it all started when Xena, Joxer and I walked into the temple of Aphrodite...."

Please take the time to write to Nancy at tosh@opera.iinet.net.au, and let her know how you liked the story!

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER:
Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, and all other characters who have appeared in the series, together with the names, titles and backstory 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. This story is copyright © 1999 by Nancy Lorenz and is her 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.