Perdicas swallowed hard, "Well, Cupid and Aphrodite came to me for some help. I couldn't believe it
when they said you weren't together yet. I mean the way you ran off after Xena and all. I just figured the
kiss at Troy was us reliving old memories." He saw the growing fury in the jade eyes.
The love goddess backed the young man up, "You two are like the poster children of true love. Except
neither one of you would pipe up. We figured if you didn't have like forever to say something, then you'd
move a little faster. Perdy was a sweetie to help raise the stakes."
Azure eyes sparkled in mirth as Xena knowingly purred, "And what was in it for you, Perdicas? Hmm?"
The man suddenly found his boots quite interesting. "Umm, Helen and I could have a peaceful life without
everyone hounding us," he murmured.
The bard's mouth hung open. "You're involved with Helen?" Perdicas looked up hesitantly and nodded.
Gabrielle became livid and bludgeoned her fiancee and the two gods verbally. "I cannot believe this! Did
any of you think about what would have happened if Xena hadn't said something?" She focused on her
childhood friend, "You and I would be married right now. Is that how you show your love for Helen?"
Gabrielle backed away form the group, "You all disgust me." With that, she ran for a door at the side of
the temple, throwing down her bouquet as she went.
"Gabrielle!" Xena started after the distraught woman.
"Leave me alone!"
The warrior came to a halt, not knowing what else to do. She rounded on the others, stalking up to
Aphrodite, eyes ablaze with a cold fire. "Are you happy now? When are you gods gonna learn to stop
meddling in our lives?" she yelled.
"Exsqueeze me?" The Goddess of Love's face took on an expression of anger. Her voice was raised now,
"In case you've forgotten, if we hadn't meddled, you'd still be wondering what your precious little
Gabster's feelings were! Tell me, warrior-babe, if it were up to you, would you have said anything to her in
this lifetime?"
Xena stood there, glaring at the goddess. Her hands were clenched in white-knuckled fists, the veins
popping out in bas-relief. The muscles of her jaw jumped furiously.
"That's what I thought," Aphrodite muttered after a few moments of silence. "I'll have you know, I didn't
go anywhere uninvited."
"What?"
"You heard me. And I heard the both of you." The goddess' face softened considerably, and she began to
pace slightly. Her voice rose and fell as she tried to explain to the warrior. "There wasn't a night this whole
past year when one of you didn't pray to anyone who would listen to help you win the other's love.
Sappho's got nothin' on you in that department. And the kicker was that neither of you had to win
anything...only speak up. But I didn't get involved because I know how you hate that."
Aphrodite turned fully to the silently listening warrior and spread her arms out, "How long is a goddess
supposed to just sit there? Xena, I'd give up all my powers to just once be able to create the kind of love
that you two share. But that's something that can't be created; it has to happen on its own." Xena saw a
few tears slipping down the goddess' face. "It was breaking my heart to see you. Would you really rather
live life not knowing what you do now than have us meddle a bit?"
Xena couldn't think of anything to say. Her anger had subsided as the story was told. She sighed, shaking
her head a bit.
"Can I give you a friendly piece of advice?"
"Why do I need your advice?"
Aphrodite put her right hand on her hip, placing her weight on her left leg and cocking her head to the
right. "Look, I am the Goddess of Love. I think I know something about the subject?"
Xena sighed, "What?"
The blond glanced the way the bard had gone, then tossed her head in that direction. "Don't leave her
alone for too long." She shrugged her right shoulder and sounded contrite, "It's us she's mad at, not you."
Azure orbs studied her from beneath dark brows. Aphrodite asked sweetly, "G'wan...trust me?" Xena
cocked her head, chewing the inside of her lip.
The goddess shifted her balance to her right leg and held out her left hand. "Awe, c'mon! I've never been
wrong about the mushy stuff. Gimme a break." She gave the warrior puppy eyes, "Please?"
Xena stared at those eyes. She does that almost as well as Gabrielle. No wonder she's Zeus' favorite.
"Okay," she nodded.
"We'll be here when you get back."
Glancing at the other two matchmakers who prudently remained silent and shuffled their feet, Xena started
hesitantly after her bard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
