Show and Tell, The Sequel
a story by Suzar
SuzarD@aol.com

The afternoon sun gently warmed the exposed flesh of Xena’s backside as she looked down at Gabrielle lying beneath her. "So while I was sitting in on those treaty negotiations in Astragulus, you were back on the ship...trying out Hereifa’s collection of sex toys?"

Gabrielle nodded, looking up at her.

"Which day was that?" Xena asked.

"Let me think... we got to Astragulus on a Tuesday, so this was... Thursday. Why, does it matter?"

"Not really..." Thursday. Her thoughts had lingered over Gabrielle many times that day. She’d spent the afternoon in that meeting hall bored out of her mind -- bored , that is, until she began to entertain herself with visions of how Gabrielle had looked when they made love the previous night, and imagined what delights she might practice on her lover when she returned to the ship that night. But not once during the course of that day had she envisioned Gabrielle experimenting with an assortment of erotic playthings. The jolt of arousal that shot through her with that mental image, even now, startled her with its sudden power. She ran her hand beneath Gab’s skirt and pushed the fabric panel aside as her thigh began a subtle movement against the bard’s leg. "Interesting," Xena said. "I take it you found something that... pleased you?"

Gab smiled and ducked her head.

"Yes," she said quietly.

Amazing, Xena marvelled. Even discussing dildoes, Gabrielle remained every bit the innocent who’d first stolen her heart. Gods, how she loved this woman! She smoothed the strawberry blonde hair back from the bard’s forehead, then stroked her cheek. "What did you like most about it?" she asked, holding Gabrielle’s eyes with her own.

"How it felt... inside me. When I came."

Xena’s arousal deepened into full-fledged lust. She bent down to run her tongue along Gab’s neck, tasting the sweat-salted skin, taking her earlobe between her teeth-- alternating between sucking and biting it. Then she pressed her lips to Gab’s ear and in a low, breathy purr suggested, "If you told me more about it-- described it-- maybe I could find one like it for you, and we could--"

"You don’t need to do that, Xena."

"Oh, but Gabrielle, I want to--"

"I mean, Hereifa let me keep the one I like best. As a gift."

Xena’s blue eyes widened. "Really?"

"Uh-huh."

This just kept getting better and better... "That was awfully nice of her."

"I thought so, too."

"Where is it?" Xena asked.

"Oh, I’ve got it. But are you sure you’d have any interest in... what did you call it just a minute ago? A goofy little piece of--"

"Never mind what I said. Where is it?"

"Somewhere safe. Don’t worry."

"I’m not worried, I just want to see it. Come on, where’d you hide it?"

"Hey, what is this? Got a little secret desire of your own, princess? Now, I insist that you tell me all about it, in graphic detail. And don’t leave anything out. They say communication is a two-way street, you know."

"Gabri-ELLE..."

"Don’t be so shy, dearheart. I won’t be shocked. Really, you can tell me..."

"Actually, I’d much rather show you..."

Xena nibbled persuasively at Gab’s neck, while she teased first the bard’s left breast, then her right.

"Well," Gab sighed at last, "If you really think you’re up for this..."

Xena raised her head to give the bard a slightly crosseyed look. "Are you out of your mind? Of course I am. Go get it."

Gab rolled to her right, rose and stepped around to the far side of the big driftwood log where they’d piled their gear. She began rooting around through the bags.

Xena stretched and raised her head up, watching to see where Gab had hidden her sex toy. "Bet I know where it is," the warrior bragged.

"Bet you don’t," Gab replied, shifting piles of equipment and bags out of her way. How on earth did a couple of nomads manage to accumulate so much junk? Aha. She saw what she was looking for.

Xena had lain back against the blanket, digging her shoulder blades into the sand, smiling smugly. "Sure. It’s got to be someplace completely devoid of interest for me. Somewhere I’d never bother to look in a hundred years... home to other long, cylindrical objects... Your scrollcase, right?"

Gab had just opened the top of the bag, and she paused to make a rude face in the naked warrior’s direction. Why did she have to be so annoyingly right all the time?

"Now that’s weird..." she said distractedly, loudly rattling the scrolls. "I could have sworn I put it in here when we left..."

"You lost it?!" Alarmed, Xena sat quickly upright and whirled toward the bard-- who was holding up the sex toy in question, smirking at her.

"Just trying to determine your level of interest," Gab explained.

"How’d I do?"

"You passed."

She returned to sit cross-legged, knee to knee with Xena on the blanket. The warrior princess reached out to examine the dildo.

"Oh Gabrielle, this is nice. Really nice. I’ve never seen one like this. What’s it made of?"

"Hereifa says it’s some terribly exotic substance from the Indies. Supposedly comes from the milk of a rare tree."

"Tree sap?" Xena wrinkled her nose at the notion, but quickly forgot her suspicions as she ran her fingers over its surface-- it had a satiny-smooth texture, seemed firm but peculiarly pliable...

As she handled it, a slow smile played across her face at the thought of what uses Gabrielle had already put it to. A series of unbidden images cascaded through her mind, quickening her heartbeat, and she raised the toy up to feel its texture against her cheek. But it was the scent which proved her undoing: faint traces from the leather bag, mixed with the deeper, heavier notes of something smokey and elusive-- all interwoven with the maddeningly provocative scent that was Gabrielle’s alone. She shook her head and took a deep breath in an effort to regain her composure, then opened her eyes, which had somehow fallen shut under the weight of the sensory tidal wave.

"Very nice," she managed to say, holding out the toy to Gabrielle, who observed her with attentive curiosity.

"It is, isn’t it?" the bard agreed. Instead of taking the dildo from Xena, she shifted her position so she was lying on her side, propped on one elbow. She patted the blanket next to her and Xena obligingly joined her, lying on her back to look up at the bard. She let the toy rest across her stomach. "You know, Hereifa had quite a collection of these things," Gab remarked, fingering a strand of dark hair. She brushed it first over Xena’s right nipple, then her left.

"So you said."

"There was one made of ivory, and it had the most elaborate, intricate carvings of these... I guess you’d call them ‘erotic scenes.’"

"Sounds a bit uncomfortable," Xena remarked.

Gabrielle abandoned the strand of hair and began a more direct approach, kneading the warrior’s breast with her palm, gently rolling the nipple between her fingers.

"Oh, no, it was just fine--see, the carvings were on a handle type of thing. Otherwise, well--you wouldn’t be able to see them, right? And that would be a shame because they were very nice to look at while I was... trying it."

"I can almost imagine," Xena replied, and reached up to touch the bard’s face. If her little fairhaired innocent was intent on driving her to distraction with this, she was doing a fine job of it.

"And there were some of different polished woods, with different shapes. They were alright, but ..." she shrugged. "Nothing special."

"Only the best for you, my love," Xena murmured, tracing the bard’s lips with her thumb.

"Mmm... though there was one with a leather covering on it that I kind of enjoyed...."

"Did you?" The warrior was sure she’d reached the limits of her endurance: her mind was filled to the bursting point with images of Gabrielle experimenting, aroused and moving against any one of the sex toys she’d already described, opening to it--and each time the bard touched Xena’s breast the ache between her legs grew to overwhelming proportions.

"But then I tried this one--" Gab reached down and rolled it along Xena’s belly with her palm. "And there was no contest."

Xena closed her left hand over the bard’s, trapping it and the dildo tightly against her. With her right she pulled Gab down toward her for a deep, demanding kiss. The bard answered, welcoming Xena’s tongue with a hungry, relentlessly building passion. Gab withdrew her fingers from the warrior’s grasp, leaving her holding the dildo, and moved them slowly along the warrior’s arms, then along her waist and hips -- pressing deep into the musculature there, her every touch seeming to raise new flames of desire that left the warrior panting.

Gabrielle broke off their kiss and rose up, planting her knees on either side of Xena’s thighs and leaning over her. She resumed her commentary as if there had been no interruption.

"Now, the interesting thing about this one is, the warmer it gets the more pliable it becomes... which, oddly enough, reminds me of a certain warrior princess I know...."

"I’m sure I don’t know what you mean," Xena responded languidly, slowly rubbing the tip of the toy down Gabrielle’s midriff, coming to a stop just at her belly-button. "But don’t you think you’re taking an awful risk?"

"What do you mean?" She cocked her head, curious.

"Well, you’re generating some pretty intense heat here. Aren’t you afraid this thing might melt?" She prodded the bard’s navel with it.

"Nope." Gab smiled. "It's been thoroughly tested." She traced her index finger down the center of Xena’s belly and reached down to coax the warrior’s legs apart. She ran her fingertips through the trail of moisture on her inner thighs, tracing it to its source. She dipped between desire-swollen labia and heard Xena’s breath catch in her throat, felt her lurch forward. Gab eased off a bit, raking her fingers upward through silky curls.

"But you know, now that you mention it, I am curious about all this heat," she said. "Tell me just one thing?"

Yet again, Xena found herself captive to the bard’s emerald gaze-- it always seemed to act upon her like some potent drug: the longer it held her, the more deeply she was enthralled.

"Tell you what?" she murmured.

"You obviously find the idea of this little thing appealing," Gabrielle said, bumping against the dildo with her stomach . She leaned low to brush her lips against Xena’s ear and spoke in deep, sultry tones.

"But what I can’t figure out ..."

The vibrations of her voice made the hairs on Xena’s neck rise and tingle. Gab’s fingers inched back toward the warrior’s moist center.

"...is whether you’re more excited by the thought of it inside me..."

She teased the tip of her tongue into the warrior’s ear and ran her fingertip lightly over Xena’s clit, causing a shiver to run down the length of her body. Then Gabrielle’s finger moved deeper, easily entering her.

"... or inside you."

An involuntary moan escaped the warrior as the force of her accumulated desire threatened to overtake her, then and there.

Gabrielle gently took possession of the dildo and slid its tip between the warrior’s thighs. She drew it along her inner folds and pushed it snug against her opening, then waited.

The warrior held her breath, absolutely motionless for a long moment. Gabrielle didn’t move, merely lifted her eyebrows expectantly.

"Well? Which is it?"

Finally, Xena exhaled and threw her head back with a noise that was half groan, half laugh.

"Gabrielle, you are getting far too good at this..."

"If you want to play with my toy, dearest, you’d better answer the question. Or I may have to decide for you."

"Uhm... wait now, hold on... it’s really got to be just one or the other? Don’t I get to choose ‘all of the above’?"

Gab grinned broadly. "Excellent answer," she said and gave a slow, steady nudge forward.

Xena gasped with pleasure and rose to meet the movement, wrapping herself around it.

"...gods..." she breathed. "You--oh, gods yes-- like that--"

"Like that?"

"Mmmmm.... yes..."

Xena alternated between moving hard against the pressure and relaxing utterly into the sensation of fullness. Gab quickly picked up on her rhythm, pressing forward with long, deliberate strokes.

"Gods, Gabrielle," Xena breathed, "where did you..." The question was abandoned as she closed her eyes and bore down harder. Gab tried a swirling movement and the low sounds emanating from Xena’s throat suddenly jumped an octave. And when she began to rub against Xena’s clit with the her thumb, she could feel the warrior’s muscles begin to tense, her body nearly levitating off the blanket.

"Is that good? Hmm? Do you like that?" Gab asked, not because there was any doubt in her mind, but because she knew the effect her voice would have on the warrior. Sure enough, Xena’s movements quickened, seeming to double in urgency, and her cries of pleasure dissolved into hoarse gasps. Ripples of pleasure travelled visibly though her body, deepening into shudders that gripped her powerful limbs and brought her shoulders up off the ground.

"G--Gabrielle...

An aftershock bent her forward, doubled-over, culminating in a decidedly unwarrior-like whimper. Her shoulders heaved once more and she struggled for breath before expelling it in a choking gasp...

Of laughter. The spasms of pleasure somehow transmuted themselves into waves of hilarity. She rolled on the blanket-- hooting, then snorting, literally convulsed with laughter-- pausing only long enough to fill up her lungs before another fit took posession of her body.

Gabrielle watched, fascinated and a little alarmed. She’d never seen anything quite like the spectacle of Xena, the mighty warrior, helpless with post-orgasmic laughter.

"Is it something I said?"

"You--I can’t--" Xena gasped, struggling unsuccessfully to get herself under control. Another deluge of laughter came and went, leaving her limp, shoulders heaving silently.

"Ah, gods..." she breathed, finally, wiping tears from her eyes with her knuckle. "That was fun..." She opened her arms wide, inviting the bard into them. "C’mere."

"Want to let me in on the joke?" Gabrielle asked, settling down next to her.

"Joke? There isn’t one... it’s just another kind of release, you know? A reflex or something. Sometimes you cry--well, you’ve done that, you know what I mean." She tightened her arms around the bard, giving her a hug. "And sometimes you laugh, but there’s no real reason. I have to say, though, I can’t remember the last time I got so, um..."

"Cheerful?" Gabrielle suggested.

Xena chuckled, then pursed her lips. "Don’t get me started again,"she warned.

"Why not? I kinda liked it."

"Me too." Her energy entirely depleted, the warrior closed her eyes and buried her nose in Gab’s red-blonde hair. "You’re so good to me, Gabrielle," she sighed. 

"Right back at ya," the bard murmured sleepily, as the sun’s tranquilizing effect began to kick in again.

"You know, I think I could do with a little nap..." the warrior admitted.

"Uh huh..." Gab yawned.

The two drowsed for a few minutes, lulled by the warmth of the sun and the rhythmic sound of waves breaking against the shore.

"Gabrielle?"

"Uhhhhnn..."

"Where did that thing end up?"

"...thing?"

"Dildo. Phallus. Goofy little piece of... whatever it is."

"Um... I dunno." Gab stirred reluctantly, raising her head slightly to look around.

"Down there," she said, nodding toward the foot of the blanket. She lowered her head and closed her eyes again. A long time passed before she thought to add, "Why?"

"It’s probably not a good idea to leave it sitting out in the sun like that."

"Oh."

Clearly, Gab had no intention of budging from her comfortable position. Xena sighed, untangled herself from the bard and crawled down to rescue it from the sun’s rays.

"Didn’t your mother ever tell you to pick up your toys?"

"Yeah," Gab replied, voice thick with impending sleep. "That, and ‘never trust a warrior, she’ll just try to get into your pants.’"

"Wise woman, your mom." 

When Gabrielle opened her eyes again, there were a few changes in store for her. First of all, she was in the shade-- Xena had rigged up a sort of canopy to shield her from the sun. And the sun by now had dropped considerably lower in the western sky-- it had to be late afternoon or perhaps early evening by now. Gabrielle couldn’t believe she’d managed to sleep so long, and so soundly, in the middle of the day. She didn’t see Xena from where she was lying, so she rolled over onto her stomach to check the beach in the opposite direction-- and immediately regretted it as her tender breasts brushed against the blanket.

"Yi-ouch!" she yelped, and scrambled to a sitting position. She instinctively brought her hands up to the red, burning skin surrounding her nipples, then just as quickly pulled them away, hissing at the pain. Sunburn. Hurt like Tartarus. She stood up, cursing under her breath.

"You’re up," Xena observed mildly, from a few feet away. She was back in her leathers, busily sorting through a pile of firewood and assembling the components for a campfire. "Got a little burnt, didn’t you?"

"Fried to a crisp." She stepped toward Xena, grimacing as her breasts swayed painfully. She hunched her shoulders forward in an effort to keep them still. "Ow..."

Xena smiled at her, bit her lip in an expreesion of sympathy, then shook her head. "We should have known better," she said, returning her focus to the task at hand. "I thought we might as well stay here tonight, it’s a nice enough spot. And I didn’t think you’d feel up to travelling any more today."

The prospect of putting on her shirt tomorrow and walking a dozen or so miles in it seemed too painful to bear. "Maybe we could just spend the week here..." Gab suggested, without much hope.

"You’ll survive," Xena chided her.

Gab peered down at her, checking out her cleavage for signs of sunburn. "Why aren’t you burnt? You were more naked than me." She lifted up a tail strip from the warrior’s battle skirt to check out her butt, and Xena batted her hand away.

"Ah, well, you see I’ve got this nice naturally-bronze complexion... Plus, I didn’t just lie there like a slug for hours on end. I went and found us some dinner." She reached into the basket next to the woodpile and pulled out a big gray-green crustacean, still energetically waving its claws.

"Crabs!" Gabrielle cried, delighted. "I love crab!"

"Yeah, I know," Xena said, pleased at her response.

"But you have to throw them in the pot. I hate that part."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that, too..."

Gabrielle tended to her sore breasts, dabbing them with an herbal compound from their kit while Xena started the fire and put the pot on to boil. By the time they’d cooked and finally extracted the last morsel of sweet meat from the crabs, the sun had dropped to the horizon and the breeze off the water had grown cooler. The heat from the campfire just managed to take the chill off, and Gab had even draped a light blanket around her shoulders as she did the washing-up.

"Better wash this, too," Xena said from behind her, and handed Gab the dildo.

"Oh yeah..." the bard laughed. "So it didn’t melt after all?"

"No, I got to it in the nick of time."

"Warrior Princess and rescuer of sex toys..." Gab said, rinsing it off carefully. "Senticles would be so impressed."

"Hmm. Do you suppose he does make this kind of toy?"

"If you wrote him a letter and asked really nicely, I don’t see why not...I am glad you liked it. I wasn’t sure if you would or not."

"Well I’m glad you finally decided to tell me about it." The warrior tugged the blanket from the bard’s shoulders, slipped her arms around Gab’s waist and pressed against her naked back. Her lips crept toward a favorite spot just below her ear. "You know, if you...."

Her words trailed off as a thought crossed her mind. "Hey!" she said, accusingly, and turned the bard around to face her. "I believe we’ve got some unfinished business, don’t we?"

Gab gave her best wide-eyed expression of suprise. "Do we?"

"Yes, we do. You never did get specific about what you wanted, before you so cleverly distracted me with that thing. All you ever told me was... I believe your exact words were, ‘It involves a sex toy.’ That covers an awful lot of territory, young lady."

"Really?" Gab marvelled, looking down at the dildo in her hand. She ran her finger around its flared base. "So you can think of quite a few uses for this, then?"

"Offhand?" Xena asked. "Yes. Quite a few."

Gab handed it to her, wordlessly, and Xena contemplated the base, which had evidently caught the bard’s attention. "For instance... look at the way this is shaped. See how it flattens out here at the bottom? That’s so it can be used in a harness-- kind of a belt. It goes through a ring in the belt--" she demonstrated by forming a circle with her fingers and slipping the tip of the dildo through it. "And because of the way its shaped here, it stays put."

"I know," Gabrielle said.

Xena arched an eyebrow at her. All things considered, this was not an entirely suprising development. "And....?"

Gab turned and went in search of her scrollcase, which was easier to find this time, and came back with something resembling a very wide dog collar.

"Ah-- accessories included," Xena remarked.

"So you know what this is for?" the bard asked, handing it to Xena.

The warrior examined it more closely, as a smirk spread across her face. She slid the dildo through the ring in the center of the belt and took it out again, experimenting with it. "Why, yes, I believe I do. Do you know what it’s for?"

The bard nodded. "That’s, uh... what I had in mind. If it’s alright with you."

"Gabri-elle... of course its alright." She juggled the belt and the dildo for a moment, wishing her leathers had pockets-- then slipped the sex toy between her breasts and pushed the loop of leather up her arm, so she could take the bard’s face between her hands and kiss her tenderly.

"Sweetie, it’s fine. Really. Whatever you want is absolutely fine with me. What more do I have to do to convince you of that, hmm?"

Gabrielle frowned uncomfortably. "I already know that, Xena. I do. It’s just that.... with some things, talking about it feels so much different than doing it. For some reason, the words just don’t fit, and I can’t find the ones that do, and it makes me feel so --so..." She shook her head violently in frustration.

"Gabrielle, you’ll find the words," Xena assured her, finally beginning to understand. She put her arms around the bard and hugged her tightly to her chest. "I know you will-- you’re very good at that. And in the meantime, you can just show me. Okay?" She kissed the top of her head and gave her a squeeze.

"Xena?"

"Yes?"

"This is killing my breasts. Sunburn, remember?"

"Sorry!" The warrior threw up her hands and took a quick step backwards. She fought an impulse to reach out and soothe the bard’s reddened nipples with her hands. "I forgot, I-- sorry."

"It’s okay," Gab winced. "Just-- no more full-powered hugs for awhile, alright?"

"I’ll try to remember." Xena toyed with the leather strap that hung from her wrist.

"I suppose kissing them to make them feel better is out of the question?"

"You’re just trying to make this worse, aren’t you? I feel deprived enough already."

"Poor thing. Any other tender bits I should know about?" Xena smiled, teeth white in the gathering darkness, and reached out to touch a spot low on Gab’s hip, just above the waistband of her skirt. "How’s this?" she asked, massaging it gently. "Is it sore here, too?"

"Ahm, no, that part’s just fine." Gab smiled and leaned into her touch., half-laughing at the sight of the dildo poking out of Xena’s cleavage.

Xena hooked her index finger in the waistband of the bard’s skirt and pulled, bringing Gab toward her. "How about up here?" She leaned forward to lightly trace the outline of Gabrielle’s lips with the tip of her tongue. Gab caught it between her lips, inviting it into her mouth for a long, liquid caress. She felt strong hands sliding over her waist, moving down to slip beneath the panels of her skirt and cup her buttocks, drawing her closer...

"I love this skirt," Xena whispered. "All these convenient access points...But don’t you think it’s time we got it off you?"

Gab agreed. She unfastened its ties and stepped out of it.

Xena took a moment to admire the bard’s body in the flickering light from the campfire, struck once again by how it combined strength with softness, and the firmness of youth with the ripe sensuality of a mature woman. Her heart swelled and she said a quiet prayer of thanks to whatever power had brought Gabrielle into her life. Then the bard moved toward her and they resumed their embrace, taking up where they had left off.

As they kissed, Xena let the wide leather belt slip back down to her wrist and she dragged it teasingly along Gab’s lower back, to bring it to her attention. She felt the bard smile into their kiss. Xena brought that hand around to move it over Gab’s belly, downward between her legs, knowing by heart the familiar route of curves and folds, seeking out warmth and wet, eager flesh. Gabrielle shifted-- legs spreading wider, lips parting, wanting her...

Xena pulled her hand away.

"Show me," she prompted, gently.

And the bard began a slow descent, moving her hands downward over Xena’s body as she dropped to her knees. She pushed aside the leather strips of Xena’s battle skirt and pressed her cheek first against one powerful thigh, then the other, arms wrapped around them as she nuzzled her face blissfully between her legs and drank in her lover’s intoxicating scent. She paused there, tongue darting out to taste her skin, until she felt Xena’s fingers in her hair, then under her chin, tipping her face upwards. Xena handed her the leather strap-- having learned not to assume anything with Gabrielle, ready to let her demonstrate her desires. Then handed her the dildo.

Gabrielle ran her fingers over the warrior’s right thigh, tracing the spot where she would fasten the strap. She slipped the dildo through the ring, then looped the strap around Xena’s leg at mid-thigh. Tightened it. Stood. Looked questioningly at the warrior, who smiled and reached out for her.

Gabrielle moved closer, one foot between Xena’s, poised to straddle her leg. The warrior rested a hand on her waist-- not directing her, simply touching her. Gab pressed closer still, sliding herself along the length of the dildo, rubbing against it. Xena inched her foot forward, to angle it upwards slightly. The bard reached down to guide it into her.

Slowly, Gabrielle opened to it, welcoming it deeper-- eyes closing as she eased forward, sighing softly, wrapping her legs around Xena’s thigh. Xena pressed slowly forward and upward to meet her, ams tightening around her waist as the bard’s footing grew precarious, focused as she was on the exquisite sensations inside her. Xena began to work her thigh rhythmically and Gab found her mouth again, seeking out her tongue, needing it, drawing it into her mouth--Xena’s tongue following the same pulse-beat as her thigh. The warrior reached behind Gabrielle’s left knee, raised it slightly-- and the effect was immediate, deepening the bard’s pleasure and drawing a guttural moan from her.

Gabrielle seemed intent on climbing the warrior’s body, and it took a considerable portion of Xena’s strength to keep them from toppling over backwards. She wished desperately for a convenient wall, a table, any sort of surface to offer leverage, but the beach was an utterly barren place... She leaned forward, gripping Gabrielle more tightly, motioning her intent to move to the ground.

Gabrielle shook her head in protest. Her eyes lit on the big driftwood log behind them and she said "No-- sit..."

They disengaged long enough for the warrior to back up a few steps and sit down on the log, and Gab lowered herself onto her thigh, bracing her hands against Xena’s shoulders as the motion resumed. Eyes closed, open mouthed, she rocked against her.

"Oh, that’s-- Xena, you-- -- ohhh..."

Xena watched, mesmerized by the motion of the bard’s hips beneath her hands-- by her voracious hunger and the firelight flickering over her skin, glinting in her hair, illuminating the beloved features that blazed with desire.

"Gabrielle... I love you."

Gab moaned in reply.

"Is this what you want? Does it feel good?"

Gabrielle nodded wordlessly and threw her head back. Xena’s mouth twitched, wanting so badly to take those red, swollen nipples into her mouth, but she stopped herself, reaching forward to the bard’s neck instead-- running her tongue from ear to collar bone while her thigh continued its steady movements. She took her hand from the bard’s hips to run her fingers along her moisture-slicked thigh and brought them to her mouth, relishing the taste of her. Then pressed them against Gabrielle’s pulsing sex, felt the dildo moving in and out and the liquid flow of her.

"Gods, Gabrielle... You are so wet. So open. Look..." She leaned forward to kiss the bard as she slid her finger in alongside the dildo. Gab moaned loudly into her mouth. Xena withdrew the finger and used it to rub a slow circle around her clitoris.

"I want to make you come, Gabrielle. I want it to feel so good ... Will you come if I do this?"

The bard writhed against her in reply.

She began to pump her thigh faster, bouncing her knee and playing her fingertip quickly against Gab’s clit. The bard had begun to make a high pitched keening sound that grew steadily in volume and her spine seemed to elongate, stretching further as her back arched and her muscles tensed, climbing higher and higher.

"Tell me, Gabrielle... Do you want to come? Do you? Right now?"

The bard gasped as she crested the peak of pleasure, crying "YES!"as she whipped her head from side to side.

"Yes," she moaned again, as the jolts of her orgasm surged through her.

"Yes..." she breathed, falling limply forward, her forehead coming to rest on Xena’s shoulder.

Xena held her, rocking gently, for a long time. Then lowered her to the blanket on the sand in front of them, slowly withdrawing from her, unfastening the belt from around her leg and putting it aside. She pulled a sleeping-fur up over them to ward off the chill of the sea breeze and curled around the bard. Gabrielle took Xena’s hand and led it to her damp mound, pressing it against her with her with her own, sighing with happiness.

"You know, I love you..."

"I think you’ve mentioned that."

"Wouldn’t want it to slip your mind."

"Mmm. Not likely..."

They lay quietly, contented and comfortable in each others arms. A burning log shifted and dropped in the campfire, sending a shower of orange sparks heavenward. They watched as the bits of light drifted upward, merging with the stars.

"So tell me-- got any more secrets in that little bag of yours?"

Gabrielle laughed. "Well if I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore, would it?"

"Guess not."

They snuggled in under the blanket for awhile. "That fire’s not going to last the night. I’d better get up and put another log or two on it."

Gabrielle shrugged. "You don’t have to. I’m fine under here."

"It’ll just take a second." Xena slipped out from under the fur and tended to the fire. Then she disappeared from view. Gab heard a familiar rattling noise and rose up on one elbow.

"Hey! What are you doing over there?"

"Just checking..." She had emptied the contents of Gabrielle’s scrollcase on the ground and was now stuffing the scrolls back into place.

Gab grinned, shook her head and lay back down. In a few moments Xena rejoined her, burrowing in beside her. "Ah," the warrior sighed, settling down. "Now I can sleep."

"Find any more suprises in there?"

"Not a one."

"Hmm..." Gabrielle replied, and turned over on her side. She smiled into the dark, and waited.

Xena showed enormous restraint and warrior-like control. Almost a full fifteen seconds passed before she asked, "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, I looked. There’s nothing in there but a bunch of scrolls."

"Uh-huh."

"So?"

"Well...you might want to consider reading one or two of them before you--"

"Oh!" The warrior nodded, eyes widening in enlightenment.

"But I’m sure you’re right-- you are always right. There can’t possibly be anything in those scrolls that you’d find the least bit-- Xena, come back here..."

 END