Iolaus found himself to be even more vulnerable than Gabrielle as he kissed her; the strength of the feeling, the pure power of it, gave rise to more doubts and fears, as well as desire. It was Gabrielle's pure heart and strong, simple nature, along with her quirky sense of humour, that had always drawn him to her, but experience had taught him that consummating love had a habit of binding two hearts with knots that could not be undone, only worn away over time.

"You know, that's so unfair ..." Gabrielle let the inference of all the ways that Hercules deserved better than he got, drift into silence.

"Yeah. I know."

"You do know... don't you?"

"Gabrielle, I ..."

"Oh, Iolaus, it's alright. I know," she told him, putting a hand on his arm and then putting her arms around him.

"Iolaus ...?" She pulled away a little to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Xena's a target, isn't she?"

"Yes, I'm afraid she is."

"Then I guess that makes me a target too," Gabrielle concluded.

"Yeah ... I guess it does," whispered Iolaus, pulling his inward gaze away from peering into anticipated, bleak regret at the thought of Gabrielle attracting that kind of attention from gods like Ares.