"Damm it, Xena! Why won't you let me help you!?" Gabrielle's voice was full of fury as she got her healing kit out of Argo's saddle bag. Xena had just returned slightly injured from a fight which she had forbidden Gabrielle to take part in and the younger woman was seething with frustration as she slammed the pouch down at Xena's side, "if I'd been there to cover your back this wouldn't have happened!"
"Relax, Gabrielle, it's just a scratch" said the warrior calmly and flinched at the unexpected venom in the bard's voice as she replied "yeah, this time, but what about next time, Xena, or the time after that? What do you want me to do, just sit calmly and watch you get killed?"
The warrior took Gabrielle's trembling hands in her own and tried to soothe her, "it was too dangerous, Gabrielle. I didn't want you getting hurt, that's all."
"But you getting hurt is alright?! Xena, I can look after myself, you know?"
"I know that" replied the dark woman softly and was about to add something else when
Gabrielle spat out "do you?!" and yanked her hands from the warrior's grasp.

Xena fell silent, not wanting to inflame the young bard's anger any further, and she winced as Gabrielle grabbed her bleeding arm and started washing the wound vigorously. She stood the rough treatment for a few seconds before she jerked her arm away with a hiss of pain "aagh gods, Gabrielle! What're you trying to do to me?" but the bard snagged the arm again and resumed her 'treatment'.
"I'm sorry, Xena," she said, though her voice indicated the contrary, "but I have to clean this, or it'll get infected."
"It's clean already!" gasped the warrior, jerking away from the bard and bringing her hand up to cover the cut and protect it from Gabrielle's onslaught.
The bard took a deep breath and sat back on her heels, regarding Xena's confused face with a hint of sulleness, "I'm sorry," she said quietly, this time sounding like she really meant it, "let me calm down before I finish this, okay?"
"I think that would be a good idea" agreed the warrior, a little tearsely.

Gabrielle sat next to her friend and leant back against the fallen tree, taking some deep breaths, willing herself to be calm. She knew Xena loved her and worried about her, but she resented what she saw as the warrior's overprotectiveness. "Xena, I'm sorry I hurt you," she said softly when she had regained control, "I didn't mean to, but I think we have to talk about this."
"About what, Gabrielle?" asked Xena, her tone one of utter confusion, "I'm sorry if I'm being thick here, but I really don't know what this is about."
"It's about your apparent inability to see me as anything other than a vulnerable and innocent village girl, Xena." A dark head turned to face the bard incredulously as the warrior stammered
"I don't, Gab...I..I know...I mean," she took a deep breath and tried again, "I don't see you like that anymore, Gabrielle."
"Are you sure? Xena, I'm really good with these knives now, even Ares said so. You know that, you taught me after all. After Mavican, you promised me you'd stop being overprotective but you just can't help yourself, can you? You don't even trust me to look after myself, let alone help you in a fight."
Xena turned and raised herself onto her knees, taking the bard's biceps softly in her big hands, "I do trust you Gabrielle...with my life. But however good you are there's always a chance you could get badly hurt...or worse...I couldn't stand that." There was a look of such tenderness in her eyes that the bard's heart softened as she asked quietly
"and do you think I could stand it if you got badly hurt, or worse, knowing that I might have been able to do something to prevent it?"
Xena let her hands drop to her knees and admitted "I guess....I hadn't thought of that."
"I guess not" replied the bard sadly. "Xena, I'm not that little village girl with a crush that followed you out of Potedeia like a puppy."
"I know that...I do," the warrior lowered her head and whispered almost to herself "I know that every time I look at you" and she swallowed hard, not able to decide whether she wanted Gabrielle to react to the statement or not.
But the bard did react, "then look at me now, Xena" she requested and she pushed the warrior gently back against the tree and straddled her outstretched legs. "Xena, look at me" she ordered a little more harshly as she took the warrior's hands and laid them on her own thighs. When she still got no response she said imploringly, "please" and hooked a finger under the warrior's chin to raise her head.

There were tears in the brave warrior's eyes and she tried to wriggle out of Gabrielle's grasp but the bard wouldn't allow it. Her green eyes bored into Xena's and the warrior couldn't meet her gaze, her eyes darting around everywhere except where Gabrielle wanted them. "What is it, Xena?" she prompted gently, "why won't you let me in? You know I love you....let me help you.... please" and she was so close to tears herself that she had to stop, letting her concerned gaze rest on the warrior's troubled face as her eyes closed and a single tear trickled lazily down her cheek.
Eventually Xena spoke. "Gabrielle" she murmmered falteringly, "if I don't want you to get hurt, it's not because I'm being over protective, or because I don't trust you, it's...... it's because I...."
Gabrielle waited patiently but Xena couldn't make herself finish and so the bard urged tenderly "what, Xena, because you what?" Xena lowered her head again and flinched at the pain that suddenly grabbed her gut, shaking her head slowly, miserably. "Say it, Xena....just say it" urged the bard softly, knowing exactly what the warrior princess felt but needing to hear it and knowing that Xena needed to admit her feelings out loud.

Xena was quietly desperate, she didn't know why the words wouldn't come, why she couldn't force the truth of her feelings from her mouth, she only knew that if she did everything would change. She felt her hands being raised and looked up to meet Gabrielle's steady gaze, "what're you doing?" she asked as Gabrielle laid the warrior's hands on her breasts and arched into the touch. Xena tried to pull her hands away but Gabrielle pinned them to her bosom with unexpected strength.
"Showing you" she replied. "Despite what you said before, you still don't see me, Xena. Oh, you look...all the time. You watch me when you think I won't notice, and you think you know me but you never really see me, Warrior Princess." Gabrielle clasped Xena's hands to her harder and strained against them, letting Xena feel her hardening nipples beneath the fabric of her top.
"Gabrielle!" gasped Xena, powerless to pull away now, "stop it! please!" but Gabrielle began to press herself down onto Xena's thighs and continued, in a voice becoming thick with arousal
"you know I'd die for you, but you won't even let me fight; you know I can ease your pain, but you won't let down your emotional armour long enough for me to try; you know how you feel, but you won't admit it; you know I'm yours, but you won't take me." Xena was getting very aroused as Gabrielle's thrusting groin grew more insistant against her, but she was also horrified. She tried to throw the writhing bard off as panic rose in her chest but Gabrielle's resolve was like iron and she held the warrior's wrists tightly, "Oh no, Xena," she warned, panting now, "you're not going to run away from this, from me, again. That's what you always do, and I let you." She ground the warrior's hands into her chest and threw her head back with a gasp as a surge of pleasure rippled through her. Then she met Xena's stunned and horrified gaze with smouldering green eyes that captured the blue ones firmly and refused to let go. "Well, no more, Xena," she almost shouted, shuddering and gasping as she felt her orgasm approach, "no..more....do you hear me?"

"Gabrielle, please..." Xena gasped as she felt her own arousal growing. Appalled but mesmerised, she couldn't prevent her hands from squeazing Gabrielle's breasts, and as she felt the wetness seeping out of the bard to cover her own thighs she realised with a grunt just how turned on she was herself, "what's wrong with you, Gabrielle? This isn't you!"
Gabrielle's movements were becoming frenetic as she ground herself down onto the warrior's twitching thighs. "Yes it is Xena" she panted, "this is me. I've been holding back for so long... but I can't do it any more. Tonight I'm going to....show you....the real me. Aagh, gods!..... I'm going.....to make...you u..understand me, Xena, and understand...yourself." Her words became shrieks of pleasure as her orgasm bubbled up and hit her hard and she shuddered violently, throwing off Xena's hands and luching forward into her arms, surging furiously against her as she rode the endless shocks. "Aagh....gods....Xeennaa!" she sobbed as the last wave washed over her and she collapsed into the shaking warrior, panting and gasping for air.

Xena's face was pressed into the bard's heaving chest as Gabrielle's arms locked tightly around her head. She hadn't climaxed but she was close and unable to fight it. She had an overwhelming need to taste Gabrielle's skin and she snaked out her tonge and delved into the shuddering cleavage before her, licking and sucking and the salty flesh. Gabrielle moved away and pushed firmly against the warrior's shoulders shaking her head slightly as she regained her dignified calm. "Please...Gabrielle. I need....you can't stop now!" panted the warrior but Gabrielle smiled and answered
"I can, Xena, and I am." She bent down and, taking the warrior's face in her hands to wipe the tears away, she kissed her very gently, pulling back when Xena tried to deepen the kiss and saying softly but firmly "I want you to wait."
"I can't!" moaned the desperate warrior helplessly, trying to recapture the bard's lips, but then she gasped as Gabrielle grabbed a hank of dark hair and jerked her head back roughly.
"Yes you can, Xena," she said softly, "and you will," and she ran her tongue tenderly down Xena's sweaty exposed neck, making her whimper. "You will not come until I say so, Warrior Princess" the bard odered softly and then let Xena's head fall forward and rose up adding, "I'll know if you do, so don't you dare touch yourself" and she strode away into the darkness.

Xena clutched at the grass beside her and panted, trying to calm herself and supress the climax she was building towards. She discovered with surprise that she couldn't disobey Gabrielle's command, that she didn't want to. She was so stunned by the whole experience that she could hardly breathe. Where had this new Gabrielle suddenly sprung from,? Had she really been there all the time, bubbling beneath the surface of the demur bard? Suddenly the bard in question was at her side again, clutching a rope and bag, holding out her hand to Xena. "Come with me" she said softly. It was clearly and order and Xena wasn't surprised to find herself obeying it as she reached up to the offered hand and stood, letting Gabrielle lead her towards the darkness. "Gabrielle?" she whispered questioningly, but the bard stepped close and said softly
"sshhh, don't talk, Xena," as she kissed her gently and caressed her flushed cheek, "I know you're confused, but you trust me, right?" and Xena nodded without hesitation.

The bard let go of Xena's hand and circled her slowly, raking her eyes over the strong, muscled body with appreciation. She ran one finger lightly down Xena's spine, making her shiver, and said "take off your clothes" smiling as Xena obeyed without reservation. This had turned around very nicely, she thought; she hadn't been expecting the Warrior Princess to give in so easily, a testement perhaps to the depth of the passion she had been surpressing all this time. Gabrielle had been unsure whether she should try this seduction, but now she was glad she had and she gave a little shiver at how powerful she suddenly felt. She knew Xena could kill her with one move if she wanted, but it seemed the bard held the greater power of the two of them now. It seemed not to have occurred to the Warrior Princess that she could refuse Gabrielle's commands.

When the warrior was naked, the firelight glowing dimly on her perfect skin from a little way off, Gabrielle reached out and touched her very gently, running her hands over the smooth planes. "Let me tell you how this is going to work," she offered, never letting up on her soft exploration of the warrior's curves, "I'm taking the inititive here because it seems you were never going to and I was tired of waiting." She moved slowly around behind Xena and her hands reached under the warrior's arms to gently caress her breasts, eliciting a moan. "I'm afraid this is going to be tough on you, Xena, I know how proud you are, but 'tough' seems to be the only language you understand, so you've really left me no choice." She began to play with the warrior's nipples, gently squeezing and tugging them until she heard the breath catch in Xena's chest. "I know, how much you need to come, Xena, and you will, you'll come like you've never come before, but not until I say so, understand?"
The warrior shivered and whimpered "Gabrielle...." but the bard pinched hard on her nipples, making her cry out in surprise, pain and intense arousal, and repeated louder
"understand?" tightening her grip when the warrior didn't respond and thrilling to her gasp,
"yes!...I un..understand"

Gabrielle made Xena lie down and spread her arms and legs wide, tying her wrists and ankles to four convenient trees and leaving her helpless. She could feel the bard's eyes travelling up and down her body, lingering on her luscious breasts and her glistening crotch. The warrior felt a surge of pleasure when the bard's eyes rested on her quivering clit, quickly followed by a stab of shame, and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, her chest shuddering with desire.

Gabrielle knelt between the warrior's knees and ran one finger very lightly over Xena's dripping slit, smiling as she trembled at the touch. "Gods, Xena!" she observed quietly, "you're so wet for me, so ready. But I'm going to make you wait. You're not going to let me down now, are you?"
"N...no" gasped the warrior, it was all she could manage as she concentrated on trying to calm her body's reaction to Gabrielle's intense glare. The Amazon reached over to the bag and opened it, slowly bringing out Xena's flail. She dragged the leather strips down Xena's body with maddening gentleness. Normally the touch would hardly have been a tickle, but in Xena's current state of hypersensitivity it was unbearable. She jerked and tried to twist away from the flail's touch, but Gabrielle was not to be deterred. She brought the flail down sharply on Xena's right breast, making her arch her back off the ground and cry out. The strips of leather were soft and would hardly even redden the skin they impacted on but to Xena, in her present state, their caress felt like the bite of a bullwhip, making her howl in agony.

The flail landed on the other breast with a gentle thud, eliciting the same reaction from the bound Xena and bringing a smile to Gabrielle's wet lips. She set up a rhythm, landing the flail alternately on Xena's left then right breast, until the Warrior Princess was writhing uncontrolably and begging for mercy. "P...please Gab..rie..lle!" she gasped frantically, but the lashing stopped before she crested. "Please...let..me...c...come!" screamed the warrior, straining impossibly against her bonds.
"No, Xena, not yet. I haven't finished with you. Calm down, my warrior."

She gave Xena time to still her breathing before she lay down on her side next to her and propped herself up on one elbow. Trailing one finger slowly over Xena's stommach she asked seductively "are you beginning to undrstand, Xena? Do you still think I'm an innocent village girl?"
Xena swallowed to clear her throat and moaned "no, G...Gabrielle, I think you're a g...goddess."
The bard laughed softly, "a goddess!" she exclaimed gently, "well, there's a thought." After a few moments of gently caressing Xena's sweating body, Gabrielle stood and retrieved the flail. Her next assualt centred on Xena's heaving sex. She landed the flail directly on the glistening mound, as if she'd had years of experience. "Raise your knees, Xena," she commanded, "give me a clearer view of my target" and Xena obeyed. Despite the desire to close her legs and shield her throbbing clit, she exposed it further to the Amazon queen's gaze, perilously close to climaxing from that gaze alone. She screamed with the effort of obedience as the flail landed directly on her clit, and jerked off the ground.
"Aaaagh, Zeus! G....gab...rielle...please!"
"Please what?" asked the bard innocently as she continued to lash Xena's twitching clit, "you want to come?"
"yeeessss!" yelled the warrior, "pleeeaaase!"

Gabrielle was almost unbearably turned on herself now and she knew Xena was in an agony of frustration. She threw down the flail and dropped to her knees at Xena's side, quickly laying herself out beside the sobbing, pleading warrior. Unceremoniously she thrust three fingers into Xena's vagina, a stab of arousal exploding in her at the warrior's answering shriek. She pulled out and re-entered with four fingers, grinding her thumb against the warrior's clit as she thrust up as far as she could. "You're mine, Xena" she rasped, her throat tight with desire.
"YES!" yelled the warrior "I'm...y..yours!"
With the next ferocious thrust she asked "who's in control here?"
The warrior shook violently and cried "YOU!"
"Are you going to give me the respect I deserve?" asked the Amazon as she thrust up into Xena again
"YESSSS!" hissed Xena as she yanked at her bonds.
"Are you...going to...let me in?!"
"YE...ESSS!"

When she withdrew this time, Garbielle folded her thumb across her palm and formed a fist. Punching up into the thrashing warrior she finally ordered desperately "then come for me, Xena!" As soon as the last word left Gabrielle's lips, Xena convulsed. True to Gabrielle's word, the warrior came as she had never come before. Every muscle in her body contracted so hard it was painful as the shockwave of the massive orgasm hit her. If she'd had breath she would have screamed louder than she ever had before, but it caught in her chest and rattled around, unable to go further. The explosion left Xena unconscious.

When she came to, she found herself unfettered, cradled in Gabrielle's warm and comforting arms. She raised her head to meet sparkling, green eyes filled with tears, and love. Her own hot tears ran unhindered down her cheeks as she tried to raise herself and found she hadn't the strength. "Gabrielle," she whimpered, "I'm so sorry, I underestimated you but I never will again." The bard smiled down on her with infinite love and asked
" So I've made my point, have I?"
Xena smiled and said "Oh yes, my love. You've made it very well. Where did you learn all that?"
"Instinct," smiled the bard, "imagination....and practise," then at Xena's confused look she added
"I had to entertain myself somehow while you were away fighting."
Xena lowered her head in shame and winced at the memory of how she had excluded Gabrielle from her life. "I'm sorry," she said and then, looking into those beloved eyes again begged softly "forgive me? please?"
"I forgive you, Xena" said the bard, and smiled as the warrior lifted Gabrielle's hand to her lips, planting a reverant kiss on the pale skin. Then Xena faced her bard and said "I love you so much, Gabrielle. I promise I'll change."
Gabrielle smiled down on her lover radiantly and requested "don't change too much, Xena. Promise?"
"I promise" said the warrior, and then she raised herself up and made glorious love to her bard for the rest of the night.

The End

SW
09/04/01

Return to SapphicWarrior's f/f Zone