Rated: PG-13
Summary: An innocent mistake leads to potentially tragic consequences.
Timeline: AU Season 6, second year of Jett's parole from Maramis prison. This story takes place approximately a month after the events chronicled in "Changing Just Wasn't In the Cards."
Disclaimers: We don't own the characters or the show, nor do we intend on making any profit from this story. The usual suspects own and profit from 'em instead.

"Come on, you three! Shake a leg. We've lost a lot of time because of that blasted rain storm," Xena yelled over her shoulder as she spurred Argo onward. Gabrielle sighed and clucked to Amber, urging the mare to go faster. The chestnut colored horse immediately obeyed her mistress' command and Gabrielle easily caught up with her friend.

Jett and Joxer looked up from their conversation and Joxer shrugged his shoulders. "All right already!" Jett growled in response, rolling his eyes. "You heard the lady, Jox. Shake a leg. YAH!" Thunder snorted at Jett's yell and went into a canter. Joxer frowned and whistled to Speckle, who made a strange noise and followed after the three riders who were already several lengths ahead of him.

The four rode hard for some time and Joxer found himself eventually getting more and more uncomfortable in his seat. He needed a nature break and if he didn't get it soon, he felt like he was going to burst at the seams. "Xena!" he called out finally.

"What is it?" Xena's response was sharp as she continued urging the palomino onward, not bothering to glance back at the youngest triplet.

"I have toÉ" Joxer could feel his cheeks turning red.

"What's your problem?" Xena, who was never the poster girl for patience at the best of times, snapped. She reluctantly drew Argo to a slow walk, the others doing the same for their horses. She turned around to stare at him, left eyebrow raised. "Well?"

Jett glanced at Joxer, who was desperately trying not to fidget in his saddle, and grinned wickedly when he saw the expression of increasing discomfort on Joxer's face. "He's gotta visit the little boy's bush." He turned back to Xena, who rolled her eyes as she halted Argo.

Gabrielle shifted in her seat as she drew Amber to a halt next to Xena. "Actually, I think we all need to take a bit of a break. I don't know about the rest of you, but I need to stretch before I can't get out of the saddle."

"Three votes over one for a break," Jett nodded in agreement.

"I suppose you're right. We've been delayed for a few days already because of the bad weather. What's a little bit more time?" Xena's face softened in amusement as she watched Joxer slowly dismount from Speckle and rub his behind painfully. "Just don't take all day!" she called out as the lanky man straightened up and suddenly made a beeline into the woods.

Joxer breathed a loud sigh of relief as he pulled up his pants and then tied the laces that held them up into a knot. He turned around, walked over to a nearby brook and washed his hands, shaking them dry as best as he could. His stomach suddenly growled in angry protest and he smiled ruefully. I cook most of the meals, and yet I'm usually the last one to get anything to eatÉ Honestly, I don't know where Gabrielle puts all that foodÉ

Sighing, Joxer rose to his feet and began making his way back to the path when he happened to notice some wild grape vines. He saw that they were filled with large, plump, juicy and perfectly ripe looking blue-black grapes. His stomach growled again and he walked over to the vines, licking his bottom lip as he stared at the fruit with longing in his dark brown eyes.

Joxer knew that he shouldn't take any longer than he needed to, but he also knew that Xena wouldn't stop again until they got to Pinaeus. That was another five hours' worth of hard riding on the road and passing through a couple of villages. Plus, they wouldn't reach their destination until long past sunset. Well, maybe I should taste a couple of them to see if they're ripe. If they are, I can pick a few bunches to share with everyone else on the road for later. I better hurry up thoughÉ

Joxer reached out and picked two grapes from a cluster, popping them into his mouth. The sweet-tart juice spilled over his tongue as he bit into them. He frowned when he bit into some seeds and he spit them out onto the ground before he swallowed them down with the juice and the rest of the fruit. "Yuck!"

Joxer pulled out a small utility knife that he carried in his money pouch and cut a small cluster of grapes from the vine, popping a couple more of them into his mouth and spitting out the seeds in an effort to assuage his hunger. He quickly cut two more clusters and was about to cut a fourth when he heard some rustling in the bushes. He quickly put the fruit inside his pouch and held the knife out before him, hoping that whatever was approaching was just an animal.

"Hey Jox! Haven't you finished yet?" Jett's raspy yet amused-sounding voice called out. "You couldn't have gotten lost this short distance away from the road, Bro!"

Joxer lowered the knife and then put it away. "I'm on my way!" he answered just as Jett appeared in the clearing.

The oldest triplet rolled his eyes as Joxer joined him. "Come on! She's acting like her boots are on fire out there, for Zeus' sake." The two began walking towards the main path. "You're lucky that she sent me in here to find you instead of having BlondÉ uh, Gabrielle come after you!"

Joxer scowled at his brother. "Ha, ha. Very funny, Jett!"

Jett smirked and clapped his hand against Joxer's back, almost bowling him over. "I thought so," he said, snickering as they left the woods and walked onto the road where the two women were already waiting for them on their horses.

"It's about time," Xena said, giving Joxer 'the look' as he carefully mounted Speckle. "We can't afford to waste any more of it lollygagging about. YAH!" She turned Argo around and lowered her head as the mare sped away from them.

"Here we go again!" Gabrielle sighed and urged Amber after her friend. "XENA!" Gabrielle yelled in an attempt to get her to slow down a little. The brothers exchanged glances and spurred their own steeds into action.

The group had been riding for a little bit over an hour in silence, Xena taking point while Gabrielle, Joxer, and Jett followed a couple of lengths behind her. Gabrielle happened to glance in Joxer's direction and noticed that his naturally pale complexion seemed paler than normal and he was sweating. "Joxer, are you feeling all right?" she asked with audible concern in her voice.

Jett turned sharply at the sound of Gabrielle's voice and looked closely at his brother. His eyebrows furrowed together at what he saw. "Hey Jox?"

"I'm fine," Joxer replied distantly. "I'm a little cold. That's all." He turned his attention to the road and shivered violently. Jett and Gabrielle exchanged startled glances at his words. After three straight days of wet and completely miserable weather, the sun had finally broken through the clouds and the temperature was rather warm for the time of the year.

"Joxer, you're not fine!" Gabrielle moved closer to him, reached out with her left hand and pulled on Speckle's reins before Joxer could make any attempt to stop her. The gelding obediently slowed down and came to a halt. "XENA!"

At the sound of Gabrielle's urgent cry, Xena turned around and saw that her three companions had come to a stop in the middle of the path. "Now what?" she growled under her breath, irritated. She turned Argo around and rode back to them. Her eyebrows rose in concern when she saw Joxer's pale, sweaty complexion. She moved closer to him and saw that two angry-looking red spots had appeared on his cheeks. "Joxer?"

Joxer gazed blearily at Xena and he frowned a little. "Why are there two of you?" he asked in a puzzled whisper before his eyes rolled up and he slumped forward, landing face-first on Speckle's neck before anybody could grab him.

"JOXER!" Jett cried out hoarsely, trying to pull his brother upright as Thunder pawed the ground with his left front hoof. This made the normally good-natured Speckle anxious and the gelding bellowed in protest, trying to shy away from the stallion. Gabrielle shouted, desperately trying to keep her grip on Speckle's reins and not fall off Amber at the same time.

"Wait, Jett!" Xena easily jumped from Argo's back and held Thunder's reins to force the stallion to stop moving.

Jett nodded curtly and tried pulling Joxer's limp form upright and shook his head in frustration when he couldn't keep Joxer steady. "Damn it!" he growled. As Gabrielle grabbed at Joxer's shirt, he dismounted Thunder. Xena quickly moved the stallion away as Jett approached his unconscious brother, who was still slumped forward in Speckle's saddle. She ran back over to help Jett remove Joxer's feet from the stirrups while Gabrielle dismounted from Amber and held Speckle's reins.

"I've got him!" Jett grunted when Joxer began sliding off the saddle towards him. He landed heavily in Jett's arms. Xena reached out to help Jett pull Joxer the rest of the way off the gelding and together, they carried him over to the side of the road, laying him on the grass.

"What's the matter with him, Xena? He was fine this morning!" Gabrielle exclaimed softly as she took a folded blanket from Speckle's saddlebag and placed it underneath Joxer's head for a makeshift pillow. She felt Joxer's forehead and hissed. "Oh Gods! He's burning up!"

"I don't know, Gabrielle," Xena replied, her blue eyes filled with worry as she gazed down at her longtime friend. "He might have caught something while we were in those caves waiting out the storm." She wet a cloth and placed it on Joxer's forehead.

"Then we should be sick too," Jett spoke up in a cold, steady voice. His face was expressionless as he gazed down at his brother, who made no sign if he heard or understood anything that was happening around him.

"Jett's right, Xena. Maybe he cut himself on something and he's having a reaction to it. He's always managing to bang himself up," Gabrielle said with an anxious yet hopeful tone in her husky voice.

"Maybe," Xena agreed. She quickly inspected Joxer for recent cuts or scrapes and swore under her breath when she found nothing but a couple of fading bruises. She happened to notice part of a leaf hanging from Joxer's money pouch and she pulled it away, her eyes narrowing as she gazed at it with suspicion. "Jett, where did you find Joxer?" she asked, continuing to look at the leaf.

Jett turned in Xena's direction. "Not too far away from the road." He noticed the leaf that Xena held in her hand. "Oh yeah! He was standing near a bunch of wild grape vines," he recalled. "They really looked good tooÉ" His eyes darkened as he watched Xena's face turn pale. "Why?"

Xena didn't answer him at first but reached for Joxer's pouch, removed it from around his waist and opened it. She dumped the contents onto the ground and gazed at the fruit Joxer had gathered for a moment. She quickly plucked a piece of fruit from one of the clusters and used her knife to slit it open. "Oh GodsÉ" she whispered.

"What's the matter?" Gabrielle's voice grew shrill with anxiety. "It's nothing but a wild grape!"

"No, Gabrielle. Wild grapes have *lots* of seeds. This only has one seed inside," she showed Jett and Gabrielle the seed in the middle of the fruit. "These are poisonous. It's an easy enough mistake to makeÉ" She shook her head and swallowed hard.

"ButÉ" Gabrielle prompted.

"It could be a deadly one," Xena replied. She picked up a cluster of the berries as she rose to her feet while Gabrielle looked up at Xena in alarm, her face turning pale. "We have no idea of how many of those he ate to get a reaction like this."

"Don't you have anything for situations like this in that bag of herbs and other strange concoctions you carry around?" Jett growled, also rising to his feet.

Xena gazed at Jett steadily. "No - and the plants that can help Joxer don't grow in this area." She turned around and ran over to Argo, placing the poisonous berries inside the horse's saddlebag. "His only chance is if I head for the next village. There's a decent healer there who might have what I need!" she exclaimed as she mounted the golden mare.

"But it's two hours' ride just to get there!" Gabrielle protested. "We have to do something. Joxer could die! We can make a stretcher and take him with usÉ"

"No, Gabrielle. If we do that, it'll just slow us down and I'm not sure that it's safe to move him. It'll be faster if I go by myself. Every second that I delay here is making his situation worse," Xena's voice was hard as she gazed down at her friend.

Gabrielle's face fell and Xena sighed. "I'm sorry, but I've got to hurry." She reached into her pack and gave Gabrielle some herbs. "Grind these up and smear it on Joxer's forehead and chest. This might keep the fever from going out of control. Make sure that you give him plenty of water so he doesn't get dehydrated and try to keep him comfortable. Okay?"

Gabrielle took the herbs from Xena and nodded, her green eyes filling with tears. Xena returned the nod, casting her gaze in Jett's direction then in Joxer's before turning around and urging Argo into a hard gallop. The bard then turned to face Jett, who gazed at Gabrielle for a moment before he turned around and knelt down next to a silent and deathly pale Joxer.

With a quick, efficient movement, Jett ripped Joxer's white tunic open to expose his chest. He poured more water onto the already wet cloth and began wiping the sweat off Joxer's forehead and chest. He then took another rag and poured more water over it, this time lowering the rag to Joxer's dry, parched lips. He put a finger in Joxer's mouth to part his lips slightly and dribbled some water inside. He breathed a small sigh of relief that Joxer didn't choke on the water but swallowed it instead.

Gabrielle hurried over to Speckle and rummaged around in the saddlebags. After an anxious search, she was able to find Joxer's mortar and pestle. She stumbled over to where Joxer lay, fell to her knees and began quickly grinding some of the herbs into a mash so she could make a salve as Xena instructed.

Jett was quietly watching her put the mashed herbs onto a cloth when he spoke. "I'm glad Father isn't here."

Gabrielle took the cloth and gently smeared some of the mixture over Joxer's chest. She then placed her hand on his forehead. She sighed a little at the sweat pouring down his face and gently placed the cloth on his forehead. Joxer's body trembled. She looked at Jett, who seemed lost as he gazed at Joxer. "Why did you say that?"

Jett's face immediately became expressionless again. "Say what?"

"I'm glad Father isn't here," she answered.

Jett sighed heavily, refusing to answer her question. "Do you think there's anything else we can do for him?"

Gabrielle rubbed Joxer's arm. "We can't do too much more than wait for Xena and keep him comfortable. I hope these herbs do the trick."

"He's going to die. Isn't heÉ" Jett's voice was cold, matter-of-fact.

Gabrielle looked up at him sharply. "Not if we can help it."

"Don't you mean Xena?"

"No. I mean all of us, Jett."

Jett sat down next to Joxer. "Do you think he's comfortable?"

Gabrielle looked at Joxer with a worried frown. "I don't think he notices."

Jett's eyes were black pools as he gazed down at Joxer. "It's kind of hard for me not to. He's so paleÉ Like he's already..."

"It's not like you haven't seen death before," Gabrielle said sadly.

Jett turned to face Gabrielle at those words. "Don't you mean that I'm the bringer of death?" he asked bitterly.

Gabrielle said nothing.

Jett stared at her. "You don't understand, BlondÉ Gabrielle. This is different. This is my brother. I might not show it all the time..." Jett stopped for a moment, his jaw working as his thoughts whirled around in his head and he turned away from her. "Ébut I love him," he whispered finally.

Gabrielle reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know you do and you show it, even when you think that you don't. When we first met, you could've just killed us then there would've been no one to stop you." She stared at the muscles in his jaw twitching. "But you didn't because of Joxer."

Jett looked at her. "I could've killed that moron I teamed up with."

Gabrielle nodded. "Yeah, but I think Xena came in time."

Joxer moaned softly then and Gabrielle gently dribbled some more water into his mouth like Jett had earlier, carefully watching him to make sure he didn't choke on the liquid and sighed with relief when he swallowed the water. She watched as Jett slowly stood up and went over to Thunder. He took out another blanket. "This is just in case that fever breaks and he gets the chills," he said as he walked back over and sat down again. He placed the blanket nearby.

Gabrielle smiled at him. "Good idea."

Suddenly, Joxer began thrashing around, moaning loudly. It took both Jett and Gabrielle to hold the feverish youngest triplet down. Due to more structured workouts to help with his fighting skills, Joxer had become stronger over the past year and a half. His arms flailed about wildly and Jett got slapped hard across the mouth, making his lower lip bleed. "Joxer, it's okay! I'm here," Gabrielle said in a soothing tone as they finally managed to pull Joxer's arms down to his sides.

Joxer's struggles increased underneath their combined grip, but they managed to keep his arms from flailing about this time. His dark brown eyes were glassy and unfocused. "Father! Please! I'm sorry! Please don't, Father! I'm sorry, Father! Jett, help me! Help me! Gods, somebody please help me!" he cried out in a hoarse, cracked voice.

Gabrielle looked up at Jett, her green eyes large with panic. "He's delirious!"

Jett reached out and pushed her away. "No, he's reliving the truth of the past." Gabrielle started to protest about being pushed aside until she saw what Jett was doing. She watched in wide-eyed silence as Jett lay down next Joxer, placing his arms around him. Then, he spoke in a quiet and raspy yet soothing voice. "Shhh, Jox. I'm here. I won't let Father hurt you any more today. Come on. Go back to sleep."

Gabrielle watched as Jett softly hummed to his brother and ran his hand through his soaking wet hair. Joxer became quiet after a while and once Jett was convinced that he was asleep, he removed his arms from Joxer and rose back up to a sitting position. He looked at the bard. "He'll be okay. At least for now."

"I never would've expected that from you. Jace - yes. You - no," Gabrielle admitted. She gave Jett another wet rag so he could wipe the blood away from his mouth

Jett smiled slightly in thanks as he took the rag from her and wiped the blood away. "I was Joxer's protector from Father. I protected them both, but I had to protect Joxer more. He needed me more."

"What did your father do to Joxer?"

"Sometimes it wasn't just Joxer being Joxer. Father never liked any of us to be sick, so I tried my best not to be."

Gabrielle frowned at his words. "Jett, everyone gets sick! You can't help it if you do."

"Not in my family you didn't. Father would accept it if you were dead. He would say dead is dead but being sick was faking." He stopped and gazed at her. "He had a good way to cure you if you were sick."

Gabrielle looked confused. "Wait a minute! Your father's also a healer?"

Jett laughed harshly. "Oh, Father's a healer all right - his kind of healer." His brow furrowed as he glared at the bard. "You know, if I was a healer like my father thought he was, do you know what I'd do now?"

Gabrielle stared into Jett's dark eyes. "No. I don't know."

"I'd take Jox to the nearest lake around here and duck his head into the ice cold water until he came around. Then, I'd drag him to his feet and take the back of my hand and slap him until I knew he was awake and then push him around and watch him stumble and go back to work." He paused and looked into the distance, hatred in his eyes. "That's what I'd do if I was a healer like my father." Jett spit on the ground.

It was a few minutes before Gabrielle could find her voice again, and when she did, it was a whisper. "What kind of monster do you have for a father?"

"BlondÉ Gabrielle, monster's too kind a description for Father. He's nothing but a demon brought from the bowels of Tartarus," Jett replied harshly as he turned his attention back to his brother.

Gabrielle said nothing as she also turned back to Joxer to smear some more of the herbs on his chest. Xena, please hurryÉ

Xena urged Argo into a gallop down the road. The golden mare, sensing her urgency, snorted and went faster. "Good girl," Xena muttered under her breath. She was so intent on getting to the village and finding the healer that she almost plowed down a man walking in the road.

"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING, YOU LUNATIC!" the traveler screamed. He shook his walking stick at her and Argo, cursing them both soundly.

"Sorry!" she yelled, not bothering to look back. I've got more important things to worry about at the moment - like the fact that one of my best friends could be dying, her voice echoed in her head. The hair on the back of her neck suddenly stood up and she hissed, "I can sense you, Ares! I don't have time for you now!"

"Don't you think that the dork might already be dead?" Ares' voice echoed in her ear.

"Go away!" Xena's eyes glittered with anger and her lips turned up into a snarl.

"It's not like he'd be a great loss to the world, you know. Life would easily go on without him, after all. It'd be like he never even existed in the first place."

"You bastard! You have no idea of who really he is and what he's done to help others!" Xena growled.

Ares' laughter rang in Xena's ears harshly. "Oh, please! Give me a break! He can't even walk without falling into something - or someone! He's the laughingstock of Greece with his so-called fighting skillsÉ"

Xena's face grew expressionless. "GO AWAY!"

The God sighed in frustration. "All right. I'll do as you say - for now." There was a slight pause before he continued with a, "This do-gooder stuff's made you soft, Xena. I miss what you used to be."

"I'll never go back to what I was before, Ares. Count on it!" Xena vowed. Her shoulders sagged as she realized that Ares was no longer in her presence. She closed her ice-blue eyes briefly and shuddered once. When she opened them, she saw that the sun was beginning to lower in the sky and she felt a ferocious determination fill her soul that she would save her clumsy but gentle friend - no matter what. Joxer, I'm coming! Hang onÉ

Gabrielle turned her gaze upwards and saw that the sun was slowly beginning to make its way down. "Maybe we better start a fire in a while. It'll be starting to get dark soon," she said to Jett, who was giving the horses some grain from their dwindling supply. She turned back to Joxer, who moaned softly but did not stir otherwise. "Xena will be back with something to help you," she murmured.

Jett looked up into the sky and saw that Gabrielle was right. "I saw some dry wood that we could use just a little way back down the road. I'll be right back," he answered curtly.

"Okay," Gabrielle agreed, watching Jett stiffly walk away to gather the wood. She turned back to Joxer and wiped the sweat away from his cheek. She then felt his forehead and breathed a small sigh of relief that his fever seemed to be going down. She brushed a lock of hair away from his eyes and wondered what other horrors he and his brothers endured while growing up. She had tried to get Joxer to talk about his past before, but he always turned the conversation to something else. She had stopped asking after a while, knowing that it made him uncomfortable, but she still yearned to know.

Gabrielle smiled sadly as the lock of hair she brushed away before fell back down onto Joxer's forehead. She didn't bother to brush it away this time, but gazed down into Joxer's face carefully instead and swallowed hard. His features, usually lit up in a goofy smile or filled with enthusiasm for life as he listened to Gabrielle tell stories to make the day go by faster for the group, were drawn into a pale and expressionless mask. "You'll be fine, Joxer. Just hold on until Xena comes back, okay?" She wiped at her eyes carelessly and sniffled.

Gabrielle jumped when Jett cleared his throat gently to get her attention. He was so quiet when he moved that she hadn't heard him approaching. "Damn it, Jett! Do you have to do that? You're twice as bad as Xena is!"

Jett shrugged his shoulders as he put the pile of dry wood he held in his arms down onto the ground. "Old habits die hardÉ"

"Yeah. I know," Gabrielle sighed as she looked down at Joxer. "Listen, Jett. I'm sÉ"

"Never mind," Jett cut Gabrielle off before she could continue. "It's getting dark and we need to get this fire started up." He began gathering some rocks to make a circle for the fire.

Gabrielle gave Joxer some more water and watched Jett as he placed some tinder inside the circle. He then walked over to Thunder and searched for a flint inside the stallion's saddlebag. Finding one that hadn't been ruined from the rainstorm, he walked back over and struggled to light the fire. After a few minutes, he was able to get a spark and the fire slowly came to life.

Jett sat down on the opposite side of Joxer and gazed into the fire, his knees drawn up and his arms clasped together over them as the flames danced before his eyes.

"Jett?" Gabrielle's soft voice broke the heavy silence that had settled over the small camp.

"What?" Jett's voice was harsh as he turned away from the fire to gaze at the bard.

"Well, your childhoodÉ" Gabrielle bit her bottom lip nervously.

Jett raised an eyebrow. "What about it?"

"Was it all bad?" Gabrielle asked quickly before she could stop herself. She looked down at Joxer and gently touched his cheek. "Joxer will never talkÉ" She sighed loudly then, embarrassed by her impulsiveness. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business."

Jett continued gazing at Gabrielle before he spoke. "You're right. It's none of your business."

Gabrielle turned away. Jett placed his head in his hands, gazing into the fire. "It wasn't always bad for me. It was mostly just Joxer."

"What about Jace?"

Jett laughed sarcastically. "Jace could hide in his mind from Father. Joxer, on the other hand, would bend over backwards to please him, but nothing worked. Nothing Jox ever did pleased him."

The bard turned back in Jett's direction to gaze at him. "There must've been something that pleased him! He gave Joxer his scabbard."

"That thing? It was a joke. Father knew Joxer would never be a warrior, so he gave it to him as a joke. I remember that day so clearly. I was visiting home after completing a jobÉ"

"We were just talking and catching up on things when we heard Father," Jett began his story. Leaning back, he cleared his throat and imitated his father's voice. "Jett! Joxer! I want to see you two now!" Gabrielle shuddered at the sharp cruelness in Jett's voice, but nodded for him to continue. "We both looked at each other and Joxer shivered a little, thinking that he somehow managed to screw up something again. I told him to come on because Father wanted us." He paused and gazed at her. "You didn't keep Father waiting - not if you wanted to keep breathing."

Gabrielle said nothing but listened carefully.

"Joxer nodded at and followed me to Father, who was standing in front of his horse with that scabbard. He bellowed to Jox, "'Come here, boy! I have something for you!'"

"I looked at Jox and saw that his eyes were filled with tears. Father never gave him anything in his life aside from a beating. Joxer walked over to him. Father placed his hand on Jox's shoulder and said, "'Son, it's time for you to go out into the world. Jett here's done it and you can too.'" I watched him hold out the scabbard to Jox. "'Boy, this belonged to your grandfather before me and is passed down to father to son, and now I pass it down to you.'"

Jett had a drink of water before he continued his story. "Jox took that scabbard and swallowed hard, trying not to cry in front of Father. He said, "'Thank you, Father. I will take good care of it.'" Father said to him, "'I know you will, Son.'" That was the only time I ever heard Father call Joxer Son."

Jett stopped again when he heard Joxer moan. Gabrielle turned her attention back to Joxer and saw that his teeth were beginning to chatter. She reached out and touched Joxer's forehead before looking up at Jett. "It looks like the fever is finally going down. I think we better cover him up just a little."

"Okay," Jett gave Gabrielle the blanket and she carefully covered Joxer's legs, not wanting to go up any further at the moment in case his fever went back up again.

Gabrielle looked up when she was finished. "Please go on if you can."

Jett leaned back, stretching a little. "There's not much more to tell you except that after Joxer left to show Mother the scabbard, I heard Father laughing. I turned around and asked him what was so funny. He told me that the scabbard was something he found at the marketplace. It had no real meaning at all. I never told Jox the truth because he was so proud of it. I couldn't."

Gabrielle nodded and gazed back into the fire. "I wish I'd known Joxer as a child."

"Why?"

"Maybe I could've been the friend he could've talked to when things were bad." Gabrielle looked up and gazed at Jett. "He needed one."

Jett said nothing and simply stared at her. Gabrielle sighed and watched Joxer, wondering how much longer Xena would be.

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