One Fine Day

Chapter One

"Rise and shine, sleepy head!"

The soft sound of a female voice seems to come from far far away. It feels like a welcoming breeze on a spring day. It makes her smile involuntarily in her sleep, but her eyes still refuse to open. She's not ready to do that just yet. She can feel the warmth of the sun whose rays are filtering through the forest branches. A nightingale is singing somewhere nearby. It's not annoying enough to wake her up though.

Someone huffs.

This sounds familiar.

"Are you for real?", the female voice says. She seems impatient, but Gabrielle won't give up on her beauty sleep. She knows she has to open her eyes soon, but Xena will have to do better than that.

At this point the peaceful mist that clouded her sleepy mind has already dissipated. Her senses are registering almost everything going on around her, but she doesn't dare move a single muscle.

Why do they always have to wake up at sunrise?

Can't they have a day off just for once?

It's not like the world is going to end, if Xena - the incredible Warrior Princess - and her battling bard Gabrielle choose to sleep till the sun is high in the sky, is it?

Xena's voice raises. She's doing it on purpose. There's a playful smile on her face. She feels so silly sometimes for acting like a teenage girl when it comes to her relationship with Gabrielle. For a long time, she had thought she was destined to live a lonely life until this blondie showed up. And now? Now she can't think about a life without her, even if that means having to find out every day new ways to wake her up in the morning cause she's such an heavy sleeper.

She kneels next to Gabrielle. She knows she's just pretending to sleep, but it's all part of their little morning routine. She wakes up first, takes a look around to make sure no danger might be hiding in the forest and then goes back to Gabrielle. She lets her sleep as much as possible, but when her stomach starts groaning in hunger, she needs to wake her up. Gabrielle is better than her when it comes to cooking. It's a silent deal they have: Gabrielle does the cooking while Xena beats the villains. They exchange roles every now and then, but always fall back comfortably onto their daily habits.

"What can I offer you today to convince you to open your eyes, Gabrielle?!", she asks softly, her voice just a whisper near the blondie's ear.

Xena's breath so close to the soft skin of Gabrielle's neck makes her shiver. She smiles and much to her chagrin, it doesn't go unnoticed.

"Ah, ah...gotcha!", Xena says laughing.

Gabrielle pretends to be asleep a few seconds longer. Maybe if she stays still long enough, big bad Xena will go away.

Of course, she doesn't. She wasn't born yesterday and know Gabby very well by now. So, she stands up and this time - everyday is different - pretends to walk away. When the sound of her footsteps is gone, Gabrielle finally forces one of her eyes open. No one in sight. She opens the other one. It takes her a couple of seconds to adjust to the change from darkness to light. When she does, she turns over her back to stretch a bit. In that exact moment, two long, muscular legs appear in her view.

She rolls her eyes.

She should have known. Xena gets her every single time.

"Thank Gods you're awake. For a second I thought you were dead." Xena jokes.

"Ah ah ah...you're not funny, you know? Especially not in the morning.", answers Gabrielle.

The brunette gives her a soft slap on her leg. Gabrielle sticks out her tongue in response.