All disclaimers can be found in the first installment...

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Part Fourteen -- Haggling For Sanity
"I’m knitting with only one needle -- unraveling fast, it’s true.
I’m driving only three wheels these days, but my dear, how about you?"
Queen / I’m Going Slightly Mad

The pain in Gabrielle’s stomach woke her. It was a sensation that she was familiar with; it meant that she needed more wine. These pains were coming more frequently and it was starting to take more wine to quell them. Gabrielle didn’t mind when it all came down to it. As long as she was able to dissolve her mounting sorrows in the red liquid, she would drink all day. Covering her stinging eyes with her hands, she rolled over and groped for the wineskin, which should be right next to her head. Her hand smacked hard wood instead. She carefully peered through the slits between her fingers. There was a table she could make out through the crisping pain of the sun. She turned her head slowly to look ahead of her. A dark figure was sitting at the foot of the bed. As her eyes adjusted to the light, the figure took on depth, colors and familiarity.

"Xena? Where’s the skin?" She said around a thick tongue. She could already taste the sweetness eroding the gummy sap in her mouth. With a couple of swigs, her mind would clear up and Gabrielle could figure out why Xena had her in this room. As she sat up, she felt the sheets rub against her skin. "Where are my robes?"

"The answer to your second question is: back where you tossed them off to roll in the grass with the rest of the Maenads. The answer to your first question is: you’re not getting any more. I’m cutting you off." Xena stood up, holding her sheathed sword in one hand and pointing it at her. "From here on out, the only thing you’re drinking is water."

Gabrielle snorted, then winced. "You’ve really lost your mind. I’m getting my hands on the wineskin with or without your help." She stood up slowly, letting her budding anger begin to burn away the sickly feeling like the sun through a morning fog. Gabrielle dressed in whatever she could find on the floor, which was the ridiculous green clothing that the Amazons gave her to wear. When I get some robes from Nysa, I’m going to have this burned, she thought as she started to walk for the door. Xena slid in front of her, coming between her and the door.

"You’re staying here until I can trust you." Xena said.

Gabrielle’s teeth ground. "Get out of my way, or so help me Dionysus I will--"

Xena didn’t wait for her to finish her threat. She stepped forward, placing both of her hands on Gabrielle’s small shoulders and send her stumbling back with a small push. Gabrielle regained her balance, then launched herself forward with a bellow. Xena sidestepped her clumsy attempt and stuck her leg out. The blonde caught her foot on the leg, then slammed onto the wood floor. As she tried to push herself to her feet, something hard crashed onto her back. Vice like hand wrenched one of her arms back and up in a painfully efficient manner. Another strong hand lifted her chin up.

"There are two ways to be treated as far as I am concerned. One of those ways is like a human who needs help. The other is like an animal in need of discipline. Which way you want to be treated is up to you." Xena held Gabrielle’s head back for a second longer before letting it go. She stepped over the bard’s legs as she rubbed her shoulder to ease the pain. Her green eyes welled up with tears as she rolled into a kneeling position.

"Xena . . . Xena, please. . . it hurts inside. I just need something to hold me over. Please, I can get better, I -- I need to just take the edge off of today." Gabrielle’s voice hitched as emotion bubbled over. "Just a little wine to keep me good." A tear dripped from her eye to the edge of her chin, holding on for a second, then disappearing into the cracks in the grain of the wood. She leaned forward and up, clasping her lover around the waist and burying her face in the leather stitching covering her stomach.

"No." Her voice was flat and emotionless.

Gabrielle roared as she brought her fists back to slam Xena in the stomach. The warrior braced her foot and shoved the shouting woman back several arms’ lengths. She lay there crumpled in a small ball, the only motion she made was the shudder of her sobs. Slowly, she raised up her head to let the tears pour down copiously. Her face was ripped into a quivering grimace of hate. Green eyes were puffing around their orbits. "I’ll bet this is getting you excited." Her voice cracked once as she hiccupped another breath and wiped away a string of tears from her cheeks. She saw a tiny hole in Xena’s mental armor as a glitter of sorrow flared for only a tiny fraction of time. "Yes, this is how you like me, don’t you? Powerless, captive -- something to be possessed and trained. You like me on the animal path. I’ll bet you’ve been dreaming of someone like me to come along. An innocent little girl to despoil --"

"Be quiet."

"-- to ravage --"

"I told you to be quiet." Her voice gathered strength.

"-- to adulterate and to drag into ruin because gods know you’ll treasure the company in Tartarus."

"IOLAUS!" Xena bellowed. Gabrielle made another pass with her hand over her eyes and nose to remove more evidence of her emotional estate. She grinned as the door opened. Iolaus gave Gabrielle a wary glance as he slid around the edge of the doorway. He cleared his throat with a soft cough, then tried to fake a casual smile. The bard could almost feel the trepidation wavering off of him like heat from an oven. Xena’s eyes never broke their locking gaze. "Take over for this shift. I will be back at sundown to relieve you. You have my permission to punish it however you feel necessary" She turned stiffly and marched out, shutting the door behind her with a jerk.

Gabrielle’s grin grew as she stalked to where Iolaus was standing. "Hello, Iolaus," her voice dropped in a promising growl, "can I ask you a question?" She drifted closer to him, tracing a line down his breastbone with the tip of her finger.

"Umm. . . sure, Gabrielle." Iolaus swallowed nervously.

"We’re friends, right? I mean, being sidekicks and all that, we need to look out for each other. If the tables were reversed, I would do that same for you. Follow me so far, handsome?" Another step and she was practically nose-to-nose with the man.

"Gab-Gabrielle, I don’t think that this is a good idea. What if Xena should come back? This is, uh, a very compromising position for us to be in." Iolaus took a large step backwards, bumping into the footboard of the bed.

She followed him, keeping her fingers on his body at some point. "Forget Xena, she’s not going to be back for a while. Look, I just need for you to do me a favor. When you switch off with Xena, just go down to the Dionysian temple and ask for Nysa to bring a wineskin back here. Have her throw it up to the windowsill so I can have it for the night." Gabrielle brought her lips close to the blonde man’s ear. "If you do this for me, I can do a favor for you." Her hands slid down his arms to rest on his belly. "Get my meaning?"

Iolaus jumped out of her hold. "Hey! Are you trying to get me killed? Even if I wanted to get the wine for you, which we’re trying to wean you off of, if Xena or Herc saw us . . . umm. . . getting together like you’re suggesting. . . I. . . we. . . no! Gabrielle, I respect you a lot more than that. You need help, real serious help. That’s why we’re here. Let us help you out."

"That’s all I’m asking for. You help me and I’ll help you. I have long hair, so you can run you hands through and say whatever name you want. I’ll bet you’ve been dying to know if the farmer’s daughter reputation is true or not. Let me show you what I learned behind the barn." Gabrielle pressed herself onto the flaxen haired man, almost sending him tumbling onto the bed. Iolaus twirled himself out of the trap, launching himself to his feet and holding up his hands in a universal warding gesture.

"Gabrielle, stop it and stop it, now! I don’t want you, not in this or any other condition. Whatever feelings of romance--"

"Who’s talking romance? I’m talking about good, old-fashioned ru--"

"No! You are not in your right mind and I am not going to take advantage of you in this state."

Gabrielle rose to her own feet, her mind was scrambling for a new plan. "You’re saying I’m not good enough for you?" Her touches started to turn hard. Iolaus grabbed her hands and pushed them away from his body. Muscles bunched where fingers had managed to dig in a little under the skin. A shove sent her sitting on the bed as Iolaus backed up a step, as if her insanity was catching. She rocked back to her feet, taking a step so that her teeth were within snapping range of Iolaus' nose. "You think I can’t compare to your little prancing shield brother downstairs? You think I can’t have anyone I want? Is that it? You think I was so desperate for it I just jumped on the first good-looking think I saw like you did? Let me show you how damn good I can be." She started to walk for the door. Iolaus pulled her away from the door with one hand while reaching for the bedclothes with the other. He managed to wrap it around her midriff and wrestle her to the ground. As he sat carefully on her back, making sure some of his weight was on his feet, he twisted and lashed the sheet together at the ends to cocoon the bard. He stooped over to lift Gabrielle and set her on the bed. She was shouting obscenities that would have made most battle-hardened centaurs blush. Iolaus sighed as he rested in a chair. He looked out the window. Eight hours was going to be a long time.

Continued at Betrayed By Every Side