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Xena urged Argo faster along the road, squinting through the rain that assaulted her eyes and forced her to constantly blink away the freezing droplets. What had started out as a mist had turned into a drizzle, then a downpour, and now, finally, a torrent of heavy raindrops that pounded the ground and soaked through her cloak.
Shaking the droplets out of her eyes again, she called back to Gabrielle, “almost there! Don’t let go!”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” the blonde grumbled back, tightening her grip around Xena’s waist for emphasis.
At least the rain’s not in her eyes.
A pang of guilt entered Xena’s mind; it had been her idea to move on to the next town rather than stay at the inn another day. The sun had disappeared long ago, concealed by cloud cover, but based on the new, darker hue of the sky, it was truly night-time now.
She’s gonna kill me as soon as we get off this horse.
Argo’s hooves splashed through puddles on a half-paved road, and a few buildings with candles in the windows finally came into view. Her eyes searching desperately for for the tell-tale signs of an inn, Xena let up on Argo a bit and brought her to a canter.
Finally spotting the correct structure, she stilled the mare and watched as Gabrielle dismounted, taking the saddlebag with most of their dinars and walking through the door without a word.
“I’ll go find a stable that’ll keep Argo for the night if you take care of the room,” Xena said quietly to the open air, anxiety settling heavily in her stomach. She turned her horse and trotted towards the stables, finding a stall for Argo and removing her tack along with the rest of the saddlebags. Leaving a few dinars for the stable boy and tucking her supplies beneath her cloak in a feeble attempt to keep them from getting wetter, Xena made a mad dash back towards the inn and inquired about which room Gabrielle had reserved for the night.
After the innkeeper directed her towards a room in the far corner of the inn, she stood in front of the door and swallowed hard, uncertain about what admonishings awaited her on the other side. With an uncharacteristically meek demeanor, she opened the door and entered, her heart sinking when she saw that the room featured two beds instead of one. A fire already crackled in the fireplace, and Gabrielle’s clothes were laid out on the floor in front of it.
Making no attempts to hide her guilt, Xena spread out all the gear from the saddlebags on the floor, as well, then grappled with the ties and straps of her soaked leathers to set them down, too.
“Are you going to stand over there all night and let the water get cold or are you going to join me?” Gabrielle’s voice called from behind a curtain on the other side of the room and Xena flinched, prepared for the reprimand she was sure to receive.
Gabrielle’s silhouette was visible behind the curtain, backlit by several candles placed around the room that flickered softly to fight off the dark and the cold. Slowly and tentatively, Xena made her way across the room and slid into the tub across from Gabrielle, who punctuated her arrival with a “took you long enough.”
“I’m sorry,” Xena said earnestly, trying to pack as much meaning into the words as possible to get her point across before sullenly tacking on, “everything was wet.”
Gabrielle snorted, “yeah, no kidding,” and produced a bar of soap from beneath the water, drawing it across her arms absentmindedly before shooting Xena a suggestive smirk, “do you wanna do the rest?”
Xena couldn’t stop the bewildered expression from flashing across her face, and Gabrielle picked up on it instantly. “What?” she asked, concern evident in her voice, “are you not in the mood? Is that why you were staying by the fire? Xena, you know you didn’t have to get in-”
“No, no,” Xena cut her off, shaking her head, “it’s not that at all, I just… you’re not angry with me?” The diminished nature and rising intonation of her question sounded pitiful and she knew it; she instantly winced and wished that she had maintained her composure better.
“What? No, Xena, of course not! Why on earth would I be angry with you?”
Looking down and flicking at the bathwater apologetically, Xena murmured, “because I got us caught in the rain and everything got soaked… and then when I saw the two beds, I just figured-”
“By the gods, Xena,” Gabrielle interrupted, laughing and breaking into a smile, “sure, travelling today may not have been one of your best ideas, but I’m not upset about it.”
“So when you didn’t say anything to me earlier-”
“I was wet and cold and just wanted to get us into a room with a bath- by the way, the only rooms that have baths in them at this inn also have two beds.”
Relief washed over Xena and relaxed her muscles as she sheepishly muttered, “oh,” and Gabrielle propelled herself across the tub to settle between her legs, resting a hand on both of her thighs.
“Honestly, Xena, after all we’ve been through, getting caught in a thunderstorm is not going to keep me from wanting to be by your side every night.” She ended her statement by placing a tender kiss on Xena’s lips, a kiss that lit a warmth in the warrior’s heart and spread out through her entire body, curling her lips upward and into a grin.
“Oh yeah?” she teased, raising an eyebrow, “so what would it take?”
A mischievous twinkle in her eye, Gabrielle quipped back, “if you start snoring, I might have to seriously reconsider our sleeping arrangement.”
With an expression of mock outrage, Xena moved her hands underwater and aggressively wiggled her fingers against the bard’s bare stomach, eliciting a squeak of surprise and forcing her to spin around in an attempt to escape.
Capturing her soulmate in her strong arms, Xena held Gabrielle hard against her and growled playfully, kissing and nipping at her earlobes and neck, “you’re one to talk; you snore and you know it!”