Thanatos shifted his leathery wings slightly in the still air, stirring up both dust and the ash from when he had burned frankincense earlier. His forked tongue slithered out between his razor sharp teeth in a silent giggle. His pale eyes crinkled with mirth, Thanatos watched in his scrying mirror as Ares battled with a queasy stomach when the War God translocated into the King of Corinth's bedchamber.

Death Incarnate had been one of Ares' occasional co-workers ever since the Olympian had taken up his Sword and his duties. In fact, he had been charged with teaching the younger God several aspects of War and Violence, specifically, those things that involved the death of both warriors and innocents. Over time, they had become a sort of friends and from there, their relationship morphed into that of lovers.

Thanatos was well aware that they couldn't have any intimate contact now that the War God was with child. The Demi-Gods would never survive his touch. However, as much as he would miss curling up against Ares' heavily muscled body, it would be more than worth that sacrifice. Strife would be reborn. And any sacrifice, any pain or loss, would be worth the return of his best friend.

Wearing a soft smile that none would believe he was capable of, Thanatos watched and listened as Ares and Iphicles sat down to a cozy candlelight dinner for two. The lovers talked about the twins and what they would grow to become.

Death Incarnate was almost as thrilled as the War God when Iphicles made it clear that he had never had any intentions of rejecting his children, that he wanted them, not just to know he was their sire, but *in* his life. As Demi-Gods, the children would be welcome on Olympus, but couldn't *live* there permanently, so Iphicles wanted them to live with him in his palace in Corinth...as his Heirs.

Ares went on to explain that many of the Gods and Goddesses, especially those of the Houses of War and Love, were pushing for Zeus to allow them to have Ambrosia after they were born, so that they would be full Gods. The War God went on to say that he didn't think that would happen since the other Houses were against that idea. They weren't thrilled with the return of the Mischief God even in Demi-God form, let alone offering him back his true Godhood.

Iphicles frowned and began asking if the other Gods would try to hurt the children, but Thanatos knew that would never happen. Zeus' law would protect them and fear of Ares' wrath and vengeance would stay even the most rabid hands.

It was other concerns that captured Death's attention. If the twins were refused Ambrosia, then *he* could never ever touch them. Even if they were gifted with immortality, his touch would be harmful to them, not fatal perhaps, but definitely painful. And that was not something he wanted to have happen. He had risked too much to insure his best friend would have a change to get his greatest wish, and he wasn't willing to give up on him or lose him altogether.

Then a nasty evil horrible and absolutely *delightful* thought entered his devious mind.

If Zeus refused the twins *Ambrosia* then they would never become Gods of Olympus... however, Ambrosia was *not* the only way to become a God... only an *Olympian* God... He himself had access to *Blood Wine*, which was what gave *Asphodelian* Gods their power and strength.

An evil and merciless gleam in his pale eyes, Death Incarnate smiled a shark's grin at his scrying mirror and the image of the lovers that it showed him. He would give Zeus a fair chance to do the right thing... and if he didn't, it was okay. Thanatos had a back-up plan.

*

Iolaus walked behind Hercules, a scowl on his normally sunny face. He was still angry with his lover and had refused to even share a bedroll with the Demi-God, let alone a kiss. The only reason he was even with the big idiot was because it had been painfully clear that Hercules was upsetting Iphicles. So, Iolaus had taken Hercules off to find Xena under the pretext that she needed to know what was happening.

Now, here they were, just topping a rise that gave them a perfect view of the two women below. Both of them were smiling and Gabrielle was, as always, chattering away at top speed. Suddenly, Xena stiffened and looked up, but when she saw that it was them, she visibly relaxed and waved them forward.

Iolaus was relieved that they found them so quickly. The air between he and his lover was almost unbearably tense and it was his hope that this would provide a much-needed distraction so that tempers could calm down and fences could be mended. Feeling a smile stretch his face for the first time in several days, Iolaus veered around Hercules and bounded down the slight hill.

Gabrielle, as bubbly as ever, dashed away from Xena and Argo to meet Iolaus halfway. The hunter suddenly found himself caught up in a huge hug even as his ear was pierced by a high-pitched shriek of pure happiness. Before he could get his bearings, the bard pulled back and grasped his hands. Then she danced him around and around in a dizzying circle.

"Oh! Did you *hear* the news?! Xena's gonna be a big sister and it's someone *special*!"

Iolaus was about to answer her when Hercules voice cut through her excited babbling.

"We heard. And it's a *lie*! You should both know better than to trust Ares. I can't believe you two fell for his story! There's no babies on the way, he's just saying all that to try and hurt *me*! His lies have managed to tear Iolaus from me and I won't even go into all of the things that *Iphicles* said to me. Ares just wants to see me hurt and he wants control of Corinth's Army. You've *got* to see that."

"Herc!"

However, whatever else he was going to say to his longtime friend and lover was cut off by the suddenly furious blonde woman that he had just been dancing with. Even Xena appeared stunned by her reaction.

Gabrielle had pulled away from his hands, gripped her staff tightly in both fists and swung it in a low sweep, knocking the startled Demi-God off his feet and onto his ass. The long staff has swirled around in her hands, it's twin tips whistling in the air, only to come to a jarring stop, one end slamming into Hercules' stomach. His breath whooshed out of his lungs violently.

"Wha..."

"Shut up and listen up!"

Iolaus blinked in shock. Rarely could anyone bring Hercules down and the fact that Gabrielle *could* was both unexpected and unnerving. How much had they all underestimated the bard simply because she didn't *like* to get violent?

"Don't you *dare* do anything to disturb Ares *or* his unborn children!"

Hercules began to sputter. Iolaus didn't blame him, he was surprised at her vehemence as well. Gabrielle had *never* had a good relationship with the War God. However, the bard didn't give any of them time to question her before she was off on her diatribe.

"Don't ever forget that I *am* Queen of the Grecian Amazons. Just because I rarely use that power does *not* mean that it doesn't exist. If you go against Ares, I will call down a Blood Hunt on you the likes of which have *never* been seen before. I will also invoke our recent treaty and alliance with the Centaurs, sending *them* after your head as well. I will do *anything* to protect and ensure Joxer's Rebirth! Do you understand?!?!"

Her last question had been screamed and punctuated with another slam of her staff into Hercules abdomen. Turning, the blonde bard swirled away, stomping off the path to go calm herself down. Iolaus stunned eyes tracked from his lover lying in pain on the ground up to Xena who sat in astonished stillness upon Argo's back.

"Uh... Xena? What was *that* all about?"

Sadness suddenly washed over the Warrior Princess' face and a haunted look entered her bright blue eyes. With a long look in the direction Gabrielle had marched, Xena sighed once and then turned to face him.

"About six months ago Joxer finally found the courage to confess his love for Gabrielle. He knew that she and I were lovers, but he wanted her to know. His idea was that, if he could sit down and talk to her about it, maybe he would be able to put his feelings for her into perspective... so that he could learn to love someone else. Instead, they ended up in a huge fight, yelling and screaming at each other. It was... bad. Very bad."

Iolaus swallowed hard, a sinking feeling in his gut. He had an idea where this was going, and it was not a nice place.

"Finally, I demanded that they stop fighting. That they either find some way to work it out or that they separate. Gabrielle agreed that was a good idea, that perhaps if they had time apart to think on things, that they could work things out. So, Joxer left our camp. He said he would head towards the nearest village and wait for us to catch up."

Xena's voice hitched slightly and Iolaus was suddenly certain of what she was going to say next. It didn't make it any easier to hear, though.

"The very next morning, Gabrielle felt awful about the whole thing. She told me that she had blown everything way out of proportion and that she wanted to apologize to Joxer. She could see now that he *wasn't* trying to come between the two of us, that he wished us well. He just wanted help to find that same type of love for himself.

So, we set off to the town he said that he'd wait for us in. We found his body about one hundred feet from the village borders. Apparently, he had been attacked by bandits before he even got there and they had killed him."

Iolaus had an epiphany at that point and he suddenly understood why the bard was so willing to throw away all her ideals regarding peace and non-violence.

"Gabrielle is waiting for Joxer to be reborn so that she can protect him and love him in a way she never could before, isn't she?"

Xena's grim visage softened and she smiled slightly.

"Yeah. She's been babbling for days about being 'Aunt Gabby' and being able to baby-sit for him."

Iolaus shared a smile with Xena, thoughts and images of the blonde bard running around after toddler aged Joxer and Strife dancing in his mind. Then as one, they both turned to look down at Hercules where he still sat upon the ground. The Demi-God was scowling in anger and annoyance.

Iolaus sighed.

END: Death's Gift II