Xena's Family

Five months later...

Solan was outside with Argo and Elma. He had a vet come take a look at Argo because she's been a bit under the weather lately.

"How is she? My mother loves this horse. I know she's pretty old." Solan asked.

"She is old and I'm afraid her days are numbered, but make sure you give her this medicine everyday. It should ease her pain and slow down the process." The vet said.

"Thank you, sir." Solan said before walking him out. As he left, Layla was walking toward him. "Layla... You're back."

"Yeah. I'm sorry I just left like that.." Layla said.

"Why did you leave like that, didn't even get a goodbye."

"You're so good. I didn't think I deserved you. I decided to leave before I hurt you or I got hurt."

I knew who you were and I accepted you for who you were."

"I know and I missed you. I missed Kalie, After trying to redeem myself all this time, I decided to come back, hopefully you still want me."

"I've missed you too. I do want you, just don't leave again. Give us a chance." They went inside and found Xena in the kitchen. "Mother, look who's back."

"I see. Hello." Xena replied.

"I'm going to get Kalie." Solan said then left the room. Layla had a seat at the table.

"You don't like me very much, do you?" Layla asked

"If I didn't like you, believe me you'd know it. I have no right to judge you. As you know I have a dark past of my own. My concern is the future. As long as you don't hurt Solan, we should be on good terms." Xena said.

"I love Solan." Layla assured.

"Then we shouldn't have a problem." Xena replied.

"Can I ask you something? Why did you teach Solan and Evania to fight almost as well as you used to if you didn't want them to be warriors?"

"They're the children of Xena and Hercules, it'd be suicide for them to go out into the world full of people who hate us, some people will want to fight them just to test them and then there are some who are like I used to be. You attacked Solan yourself, do you really have to ask why we taught them to fight? But anyway... Solan used to be obsessed with the pinch. I didn't teach him how to do it until just a few years ago. He had a big interest in pressure points after that, at this point he knows some things I don't even know after being out in the world on his own." Xena explained.

"Yeah, I've seen some of what he can do. It's fascinating. He fascinates me. He could use his skills for bad but he doesn't. I admit, it also fascinates me that he can beat me. It's rare that I come across someone who can."

"... If you are as great as you say you are and Owen was your assistant, I suppose you had a run in with Ares."

"Yeah... When I met Ares, I was really young and angry. All I wanted was vengeance on anyone who had anything to do with taking my family from me or caused me pain throughout my childhood. He took me under his wing, taught me everything I know. He trained others but I was his favorite. He always compared our skills to someone whose name he would never mention. If anyone could even come close to that, we could get somewhat on his good side. I loved him... we had something. At least I thought we did but I always had a feeling his mind, or his heart was on someone else so I got over it. We remained close though, friends I mean. He trained me into this great warrior so I promised him I'd teach Owen everything I knew... And I didn't mean to give you the entire Layla/Ares history." Layla said causing Xena chuckle.

"I guess we are a little more alike than I thought."

"What do you mean?"

"I think it's best you didn't know but don't be surprised if he shows up here. He's Hercules' brother and he's mortal now. I'm pretty sure he'll be asking for our help sooner than later. There's one way that we differ though from what I can tell... and I'm sure it's what saved you."

"What's that?"

"You never convinced yourself that you didn't need love, you kept looking for it. I tried to convince myself that I didn't need it, think I believed it for a while, a long while but eventually there was Solan, then Hercules, Gabrielle and a couple other people who put their lives on the line for me and believed in me in between that. Slowly but surely they reminded me that I really had nothing without love. If it weren't for them, hell I probably would've figured out a way to take down Julius Caesar and became the Empress of Rome or something." Xena reflected and laughed a little. "Damn, I was good at being bad... but it's more fulfilling to be good. After all, to conquer others is to have power but to conquer yourself is to know the way. Remember that." Xena finished, sharing her wisdom with the young, recently ex-warlord.

Layla nodded and smiled to herself, happy that she finally had a chance to really talk to her. She genuinely admired Xena and hoped that she could be like her one day. Hopefully she'd be sticking around for a long time because she didn't plan to leave Solan, Kalie oe the rest of the family. She had always admired Xena as a warrior before she even met her because of all the stories she had heard but now she truly admired the person. It meant a lot to her that Xena really wasn't holding anything against her because she hoped they could become friends one day, she also knew that Xena's opinion of her meant a lot to Solan. Layla just had one last question for the moment and she felt like she wouldn't be judged for it.

"One more thing, I've changed, really but I've been fighting for so long I kind of get a thrill out of it... You never felt that way?" The question made Xena laugh.

"Oh yeah! I used to. Sometimes I used to wonder was I fighting for the greater good or for the love of fighting. Actually, Gabrielle brought it to my attention."

"How did you change that?"

"Well I wasn't angry anymore, I had no reason to be. I had everything I could ever want; a wonderful husband, two beautiful children, the best friends anyone could ask for, my mother. I was finally happy so when I fought, I was no longer fighting out of anger but for love. Anger was just holding me back, the only thing I had to deal with after that was my ocean of guilt from everything I had done."

"I hope I can get to that point one day."

"It just takes time. Trust me, I didn't become this way over night."

-v-

Evania was walking home with a handsome; six feet tall, beautiful sandy blond hair, green eyed, slender but muscular nineteen year old young man. He had been pursuing her for over a month now and he was good at it. She was attracted to him and he said all the right things but after the trick Owen was playing on her, she was hesitant to fall for the sweet talk again. She sensed he was a bad boy but not out to hurt her. It bothered her a bit, why was she so attracted to bad boys, someone so opposite of her? She couldn't understand it.

"I'm surprised you let me walk you this far. You usually try to get rid of me anytime we get close to your house. Are you finally going to let me meet your parents?" The handsome man named Drake asked.

"I wouldn't be so anxious to meet my parents if I were you." Evania said.

"Why not? I'm a charming guy." Drake said.

"You don't know my parents. They'll shove that charm right down your throat." Evania said, jokingly but really meant it.

"Come on E, I really like you."

"I really like you too Drake but I've been burned before."

"I'm not the fire that burned you, I'm the fire that'll keep you warm."

They were near Joxer and Meg's house when Evania noticed their son Hesperos coming out of the house with a beautiful, petite red head. Mira was quietly playing with her doll. Faith was there with Nissan and came over to Evania and Drake when she noticed them.

"Hey Vani, hey Drake!" Faith exclaimed, bubbly as usual. Faith had gotten past what happened with Hope. She understood that Hope was evil. Gabrielle was still holding on to it though.

"Hey... who's that with Hes?" Evania asked.

"Oh, that's his girlfriend, Tegan. They've been hot and heavy for a while now." Faith replied.

"How come I didn't know about her?" Evania asked.

"You don't ask. Besides, you've had a lot going on recently, ya know." Faith said as the three of them approached the house.

"Hello Nissan, Mira, Hes... Tegan." Evania greeted and they all spoke to her. Drake cleared his throat, wanting to be introduced. "Oh... sorry. This is Drake." Evania had forgotten Drake was even with her because all she could think about was that Hesperos was hardly paying her any attention. All his focus was on Tegan and he didn't seem to think twice about her being with a guy. Every since they were kids, Hesperos pretty much followed her around like a love sick puppy, giving her flowers and making her things. She noticed that he hadn't been around her much for awhile. She was relieved but all of a sudden she felt different. She wasn't sure why but she didn't like it too much.

Evania and Drake continued to her house but she didn't let him stick around to meet Xena and Hercules. He gave her a peck on his lips and then went on his way.

A few days later, Evania sat on a rock with her head in her hand while everyone had a nice picnic. Faith wondered what was on her best friend's mind so she went over to her. All Evania could focus on was Hesperos. Her eyes roamed his growing muscles and rock hard abs with his vest open and admired his curly black hair and Latin features like she never had before.

"What is it, Vani?" Faith asked.

"I don't know... is it me or has Hes gotten hotter?" Evania asked.

"He's my boyfriend's brother so I never looked at him that way but he looks the same to me. His muscles have gotten bigger though. Since when do you check him out? You've always wished that he would leave you alone."

"I know but... I miss him now."

"Don't tell me you have a thing for Hes all of a sudden."

"Would that be so bad?"

"Yes! That's not fair! He's been in love with you for nearly his entire life, now all of a sudden he finally gets a girl who really likes him and now you want him."

"I didn't know I was hiding these feelings from myself. You know I seem to have a thing for bad boys and he wasn't so I think I was blind."

"No. This is about you wanting what you can't have." Faith had lost her usual bubbly attitude and got serious with her best friend. She may be younger and bubbly but she'd always give it to you straight.

"I can have him."

"In what world?"

"This one. Tiki may have had-" Evania started.

"Tegan." Faith corrected her.

"Fine, TEGAN may have had him for a few months but he's been in love with me for years in and years out and maybe I took too long to realize that I love him too but I refuse to let him slip through my fingers just like that. I am going to get my Hesperos back."

"Oh now he's your Hesperos... how do you plan on getting him back, after he's completely gotten over you?"

"Oh we'll see about that. I'll need your help."

"Oh no. I'm not getting involved in this mess."

"Come on, I'm your best friend!"

"Hes is my friend to Vani."

"This will benefit both of us, I promise."

"Fine, what do you need me to do?"

"All you have to do is get him to my house tomorrow night about an hour after all our parents go to the heroes ball. I will handle the rest."

"What is the rest?"

"I'll work my magic. One thing I've learned recently is that seduction works wonders with a man."

"What do you know about seduction? You don't even know much about a good kiss."

"I know enough, besides look at me. It won't take much effort."

"Conceited much?"

"What? Just saying?"

"Don't you have Solan to worry about? What about Layla, she's been staying there too?"

"No, they're all moving in with my grandmother in the morning. Grandmother is getting older and can't get around like she used to, Solan needs his own place and frankly, it's way too crowded with him, Layla and Kalie there."

The next day, after all the adults went to the ball, Evania made a nice little dinner. Then Faith went to get Hesperos and convinced him that Evania needed him. He went into the house and saw the dinner spread on the table.

"Vani!" Hesperos called. About a minute later he saw her silhouette walking toward him slowly. When she stepped into the light, she was wearing a long black skirt with a split on the left side that went all the way up to her hip and a top that showed off her flat stomach. Hesperos was in aw with her beauty and the fact that he had never seen her like this. He was speechless for a few seconds. "Faith said you needed me." She walked closer to him until they were about an inch away from each other and caressed his chest.

"I do need you." Evania said, seductively. Hesperos contemplated what to say. "I need you to have dinner with me."

"Uh..."

"You're not going to make Vani eat dinner all by her lonesome, are you Hessy?" Evania said in a baby voice then took a grape from the fruit bowl and fed it to him. All Hesperos could do was shake his head. Evania smiled.

After dinner, Evania went to sit on Hesperos' lap.

"Did you enjoy the dinner?" Evania asked.

"Delicious... thanks. I should probably go now."

"Wait... don't you miss me Hes? I miss you." Evania crossed her left leg, revealing it entirely.

"Why are doing this to me Vani?"

"What? Tell you the truth?"

"Why now?"

"Because I love you, really love you." Evania kissed him passionately.

"Where did you learn how to kiss like that?"

"Was it ok?" Evania asked, unsure.

"Amazing." They kissed again.

"I want to be your girl."

"...I'm with Tegan." Hesperos remembered.

"Could you live with yourself if you didn't give us a chance?" They kissed passionately and intensely until they suddenly heard the front door open. "Mommy!" Evania exclaimed after seeing Xena.

"What in tartarus is going on in here?" Xena asked.

"Um..." Evania wanted to come up with a lie to stop the awkwardness.

"We'll see you later Hes." Xena said cuing Hesperos to leave. Evania got off his lap and he quickly left.

"What was that about?" Xena asked. Evania scratched her head. "You're too young."

"Mother, I'll be eighteen in two months... and nothing happened, nothing was going to happen. I just wanted to let him know that... I love him and I wanted to remind him that he loved me too so that he'd forget about that red headed bimbo.

"Red headed bimbo... jealous, huh? Look, if you love Hesperos and you want to be together then fine but don't grow up too fast. You have your whole life ahead of you. You're my baby." Xena hugged her youngest child, her only girl thinking that she is like Hercules in so many ways but boy did she pick up a lot of her traits.

"You're baby is almost an adult."

"But my baby is not an adult yet... Now go put some clothes on."

"Mother."

"Or your father will be in here in about point two seconds and you can explain this to him."

"I'm changing, I'm changing!" Evan quickly went to her room to get out of her sexy outfit.

-v-

The next day, Evania came outside and the first face she saw was Hesperos. They both shot each other a loving smile.

"Did your mom completely freak?" Hesperos asked.

"Not really. I think she's afraid I'll turn out like her or something. I can't be her baby forever but we had an extremely long talk." Evania replied.

"Did she tell your dad?"

"I begged her not to. She hasn't yet. I think she hasn't because if she does, his super strength would be the only thing keeping him from having a super heart attack. So what about you and Tegan?"

"I broke up with her... You're not playing with my heart, are you Vani?"

"Not at all."

"What about that Drake guy?"

"Drake who?" She kissed him then they noticed Aphrodite and Ares walking toward the house.

"Hey Vani and Hes!" Aphrodite exclaimed as they walked by.

"Xena!" Ares yelled as they got close to the house.

Xena and Hercules were making out like a couple teenagers. After all these years they're still hot for each other. When they heard Ares they just stopped and looked at each other wondering if they had actually heard him until he called again. They opened up and let Ares and Aphrodite in. They hadn't seen them since they had become mortal.

"Hey Aphodite." Hercules smiled. "What do you want?" Hercules asked Ares in the opposite tone.

"I didn't call you, I called Xena." Ares replied.

"Well excuse me, I thought you were in my house." Hercules said sarcastically.

"What do you want Ares?" Xena asked.

"You said I could ask you if I needed help." Ares replied.

"Yeah, so now you need my help? Isn't it ironic that the one god who never wanted to be asked for help is asking for help from the one person who never asked him for help?" Xena pointed out.

"Come on Xena. This is no time for games. This is life or death thanks to you and your brat." Ares said.

"So you ask me for help then you insult my daughter. You know, maybe I'm no good at this but that's not how you do it and how is it our faults?" Xena asked.

"I wouldn't have this problem if I was still a god!" Ares exclaimed.

"Now that the word is out that Ares is mortal, every warlord he's ever screwed over is ready to kill him." Aphrodite informed.

"Oh." Xena said nonchalantly. "Why would should I help you?"

"What?" Ares snapped. Xena, Hercules and Aphrodite busted out in laughter. "What is so damn funny?"

"I couldn't resist." Xena said. "Of course I'll help you, Ares."

"You're not funny." Ares said.

"Look, you just need to stay low key and live a normal life." Xena said.

"He's been pretending to still be a god until he got caught." Aphrodite said.

"You fool." Xena said to Ares. "You can live in my mother's old tavern in Amphipolis. No one has lived there for years. You just need to fix it up a bit. You can both stay there. There's plenty of room."

"You mean live like a mortal?" Ares asked with disgust.

"News flash Ares, you are mortal." Xena said.

"I think it's time you accepted that because it's permanent." Hercules said.

"Who asked you?" Ares snapped.

"You know what..." Hercules picked Ares up and threw him into the door. "We could just let them kill you... This is our house, watch what you say before I send you on your way. If you don't want to hear the truth from me, perhaps the gray growing in on your sides will remind you."

"I am not going gray!" Ares exclaimed.

"Come on bros, play nice." Aphrodite said.

"We'll take you there tomorrow. Don't bring attention to yourself and you should be fine." Xena said.

The next day they took Ares and Aphrodite to the tavern in Amphipolis. On the way there, Xena and Aphrodite talked. They figured since Ares was mortal now, it'd be a good idea if he and Hercules got along. They are brothers after all and the reason why they became rivals in the first place is pretty much irrelevant at this point, aside from the fact that Ares was still in love with Xena but he would have to get over that regardless. So the two locked them in a room together for hours on end. They figured, they'd either learn how to get along or kill each other and they were betting on the first one. It took them hours to break out but the fact that they had to work together to break out and the fact that they couldn't be anymore annoyed with Xena and Aphrodite actually did cause a break through in their relationship.

-v-

Two months later... It was finally Evania's eighteenth birthday and everyone had come together to celebrate.

"Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me everyone. You all have always been there. What would we all do without each other?" Evania said.

Later, Solan and Evania got some time to walk. They watched their family as they intereacted.

"Have you enjoyed your birthday?" Solan asked.

"Yeah. It's been great." Evania said.

"I remember my first birthday with mom. It was everything I ever asked for. I was so happy and on top of that we had just come back from India. Everything was so exciting... You know what I remember most about India?"

"What?" Evania asked curiously.

"That's when mother told me she was pregnant with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah... I'll admit, I wasn't all that excited at first. I thought you were going to take all of mom's attention after I had really just gotten it but you've been one of the best things to happen to me. You're an amazing little sister and I think you were what officially brought mom and dad together. Them coming together is essentially why we are all here together right now... Birds of a feather I guess... I can't imagine life without all of them. Joxer is the best, I can always depend on him to tell me the truth and have my back. Gabrielle, taught me everything about writing. She basically home schooled me for two years before we finally settled here in Cori. We've got all these great friends out of the deal, you got a boyfriend... And what would we do without grandmother. Then there's mom and dad. Look at them..." Xena and Hercules looked happily in love, almost as if they were still in honeymoon stage.

"I hope I have a marriage like them... hopefully with Hes."

"I want that too. I'll let you in on a little secret. Layla and I are engaged. We didn't announce it because we didn't want to steal your thunder."

"Well thanks but congrats, I'm happy for you. Maybe you will be like mom and daddy. You sort of met the same way. I was so shocked when I overheard that mom and dad met because mother wanted to kill him. What a strange family we have." Evania laughed. "So I guess she's going to officially adopt Kalie too."

"Yeah... You know people will judge of us because our mother is Xena the Warrior Princess but they don't know her. We couldn't have had a better mother, ya know. She's always put our needs first. We've always been so protected from everything and I actually think her past made her a better mother."

"How's that?"

"Who better to teach us about forgiveness, and to put love first, how to survive and protect ourselves?" Solan gazed at his mother.

"Yeah... you're absolutely right."

"...Anyway, I love you Vani." Solan said.

"I love you too, big brother Solan." Evania said.

"I didn't give you your birthday present yet... how would you like to take your first trip to Egypt with Layla, Kalie and I?"

"Are you serious? Yes!" Evania hugged Solan again. "Thank you so much!" Xena and Hercules came over.

"How's my prince and princess doing?" Xena asked.

"Amazing!" Evania exclaimed.

"I was just telling Vani I was taking her with us to visit Egypt... And we were just talking about how much we love and admire you both." They embraced in a family hug.

Evania and Hesperos got married years later and had two boys; Hero and Angel and two girls; Xenatra and Sky.

Solan and Layla got married, raised Kalie together and had two boys; Borias and Hercules.