Aphrodite returned triumphantly to where she left Gabrielle, Joxer and Eve, feeling more comfortable in her surroundings.

"I'm back in business, baby!" she excitedly shouted as she entered the room.

She found Joxer rocking the Warrior Princess's daughter as she slumped on his shoulder napping. Gabrielle sat in a corner, staring at them with an odd look on her face. Aphrodite's eyes immediately turned to the small gems strewn on the ground. Her face crunched in embarrassment.

"Ew, uh" she hesitated, "is she, um, okay?"

Joxer nodded sadly. "I think we've all had enough excitement for one day. Let's just get Xena."

Mother and daughter were joyously reunited at the lake where the group agreed to meet and camp. Xena asked Gabrielle what happened to Eve, recapping the story of the sword thrust into Athena and the lack of any effect. Gabrielle hesitated. Joxer reluctantly spoke of the diamond Eve swallowed, mentioning only casually how he helped her cough it up. He cringed, feeling certain that Xena would punch him for being so negligent in Eve's care. He was pleasantly surprised however, when he received a warm hug. Gabrielle only smiled sadly, feeling more to blame for the incident. She began unpacking for the night.

Ares moped through the camp and sat on a fairly private rock by the water, peeved that his plan to retrieve his godhood failed. He reached into the satchel on his belt,but stopped as his sister sat down beside him.

"Well, seems everything is pretty hunky-dory," she said with a proud grin.

Ares spat, "What are you talking about? I'm not a god and I still mean nothing to..."

Aphrodite's shining eyes and a quick nudge indicated that the person of whom he spoke was behind him. He refrained from saying the Warrior Princess' name. He turned toward her, still sulking.

Xena sat on his other side, with Eve in her arms. "Things didn't go your way today, huh."

"Should have never agreed to this stupid plan," he grumbled as he picked up a stone and threw it over the lake, making it skip twice. Eve watched in fascination and cooed in delight. Her little chubby hands clasped at a stone within her grasp. She motioned her arm to throw it, but it landed in front of her.

Ares smirked. He threw another rock, this time making it skip three times. Her eyes widened and she squirmed to leave her mother's arms. She plopped herself in Ares' lap.

"The key to making a rock skip, Eve," he patiently explained, "is to find a smooth, flat stone-one like this." He picked up one that matched his description. "It's all in the flick of the wrist." He concentrated and threw another one, making it skip four times. Eve gasped and giggled, pointing to the widening circles in the pond. Ares threw a few more, but after awhile, the girl seemed more concerned with the face of the thrower than the face of the water. She perched herself into a standing position, grabbing his chest hairs to gain support. Ares winced in pain, later howling as she stepped on a rather sensitive area of his anatomy and then took a firm hold of his face. She opened her mouth and moved toward his nose. Thinking quickly, he tore the girl's hands from his face and handed her back to her mother. Eve began to cry, surprised at the abruptness of the move and feeling rejected.

"Sorry kid, but the God of War's nose is not a toy," the former God of War scolded. Eve squirmed in her mother's arms and whimpered. "Yeah, yeah, boo hoo, Life sucks. Get use to it."

Xena gave Ares an angry look while Eve gave him a forlorn one. He gave in under both.

"Sorry," he mumbled as his sister giggled beside him. He swatted her. Eve crawled out of Xena's arms, surprising her mother, and back into Ares lap. She snuggled against him, looked deeply into his eyes, and clearly stated, "Da da."

Ares tensed. Did he hear her right?

"What did you say?" he asked. She had her fingers in her mouth. He tried to remove them, but she held them there steadfastly. "Da da?" he reiterated inquisitively.

Eve smiled and removed her fingers from her mouth. " Da da, da da, da da, da da." She placed the drool-covered digits on his face, but Ares didn't mind. He was more intent on her words than her actions.

His face lit with joy as he turned to Xena, missing the dark mistrust looming over her own. "Did you hear what she called me?"

Xena's eyes narrowed. "Don't let it go to your head or anything." But Ares noticed how one corner of her mouth turned upward.

"I'm sure the idea disgusts you."

"More than you'll ever know."

Ares was far too delighted to retort. He carried Eve back to camp as Xena followed from behind, watching warily. Aphrodite smiled as she watched the two walk away.

"Ah, he's catching on," she whispered to herself. Then she disappeared.

After Xena breastfed her daughter (and much to Ares chagrin, she did it in such a way that he couldn't see anything), Joxer presented Eve with some fruits and vegetables that he had mashed into a liquid consistency.

"Oh, Eve, I have a treat for you!" Joxer cooed.

Ares grabbed the plate and spoon from him. "I'll give her that."

Joxer objected, but Ares cut him off by grabbing his collar. "Are you the one she's calling 'da da'?"

Eve chimed as she recognized the word. "Da da, da da, da da."

Joxer swallowed hard. "No." Ares pushed him away and served Eve the food. Gabrielle, Joxer and Xena watched with varying degrees of concern and amusement.

"Here comes Apollo's chariot," Ares exclaimed, swooping the spoon through the sky. She giggled and opened her mouth, chomping down on the spoon. "That's a good little girl," he commended. "Devour the bastard. He deserves it."

Gabrielle smacked Ares' arm. Realizing he swore, he mumbled an apology.

After dinner, he trotted Eve around the campsite, flaying her in his arms as she giggled at the movement. Within a few minutes, however, he discovered why this was not a good after-dinner game.

When he finished cleaning himself up, he returned to find Xena singing a lullaby as Eve was close to sleep in her arms. It was a lullaby about second chances. Gabrielle and Joxer were huddled against each other and sleeping at one end of the campsite, a wide smile on the latter's face as he held the woman he loved in his arms. When Xena finished the last note, she stared quietly into the fire, as if she had something on her mind.

It was then that Ares realized where he fit within the plan. He held out his finger and brushed it against Eve's right hand. She grabbed onto it in her sleep as Xena turned and smiled at him. He heard Eve's words in his head. He realized that he didn't need to father his own child. He could be the father to the one Xena already had. And that alone might win him Xena's affections. From the way Xena was looking at him, it seemed to be working so far.

Ares settled next to his lady love and slowly brought his face closer to hers. He nodded over to Joxer and Gabrielle as they slept huddled close to each other.

"When in Rome..."

A stiff uppercut to the jaw was his reply.

Ares grumbled and shuffled to the other side of the fire. He lay on the ground and thought about his strategy. He knew winning Xena over wouldn't occur immediately. Heck, he'd been trying for five years and her estimation of him was still quite low.

He opened his satchel and felt its contents. When Sisyphus had stolen his sword, Ares swore he'd never be so careless again. He retrieved ambrosia from a Helios temple and a fruit from the Tree of Life, keeping both hidden in his favorite temple abode in case of an emergency. Sacrificing his godhood and immortality to save Eve and Gabrielle was easy enough to do when he knew he could attain his prior status by tapping into his reserves, and still receive Xena's respect, admiration and hopefully love in the process. It was a win-win situation for him. He was on his way to the temple when Aphrodite zapped him to Olympus, which was just as well since he had trouble finding his way to the temple. He cursed the constant need to navigate when once a thought of the place he wanted to be was sufficient to get him there. A former God of War losing his way in the woods? Unheard of.

Ares found the perfect excuse for Aphrodite to zap him to the temple without looking suspicious or having to endure her pestering questions. He remembered that after he had entombed Xena and Gabrielle in ice, he returned to his temple to discover that Hephaestus had been waiting for him for a few hours to celebrate the end of the prophecy, since his wife was not taking Xena, Gabrielle and Eve's deaths well. He used this information to his advantage for Aphrodite, knowing that his former self wouldn't return anytime soon because of the entombing process. From here, he retrieved the fruit and the ambrosia.

He was ready now to eat them. It seemed pointless to stick around Xena and endure mortality when she couldn't care less about him. He could still feel the sharp pain in his jaw from her punch. He seemed to have Eve's approval, but maybe it didn't even matter what Eve thought of him; her mother would probably sway her into thinking he was evil soon enough. He rubbed his chin and moved his jaw from side to side. He certainly didn't deserve this treatment.

He removed the fruit from his satchel and pressed it to his lips, just as Eve started whining. He looked toward her and noticed that her mother had fallen asleep. He took the little girl in his arms and she settled down immediately, a little trail of droll leaving her chin. Ares put the fruit and ambrosia back in his satchel and lightly wiped her chin with his sleeve. Maybe immortality and godhood could wait another day, he thought to himself.

He fell asleep with the little girl in his arms.

Please take a moment to write to Jennifer at jennifer.brouillard@jwu.edu and let her know how you liked the story!

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER:
Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, Eve, Aphrodite, Ares, and all other characters who have appeared in either series, together with the names, titles and backstories are the sole copyright property of StudiosUSA and Renaissance Pictures. No infringement of copyrights or trademarks is intended in the writing of this fan fiction. This story is copyright © 2000 by Jennifer K. Brouillard and is her sole property along with the story idea. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.