Do It One More Time

* * * * *

Autolycus followed Joxer and Gabrielle--from a
discreet distance, of course--from the small stage, to
a tavern, and finally to a stable off one of the
quieter streets in town. He felt somewhat
uncomfortable about all of this sneaking around...and
though he knew it was foolish, he couldn't help but
feel a touch of jealousy at Joxer sharing Gabrielle's
company instead of his own. Knowing how the young man
had been quite enamored with the bard for so long
wasn't helping, either.

Get a grip, Autolycus. It's not like anything's gonna
happen! And after what's gone down already, you sure
don't deserve to be casting any stones, accusing Joxer
of fooling around. When neither Joxer nor Gabby left
the stables after a fair amount of time, he guessed
they must have called it a night. With a yawn he
realized he should probably do tame,ame, though he
didn't imagine himself getting much real rest until
this whole matter was settled with Joxer and Jett.

In which case, he had other things he should take care
of tonight. One of the top on his list was trying to
find any signs of Jett being in town...and where was
Xena? So far Gabrielle seemed to be travelling solo
for once, which could definitely complicate things.

Whatever the case, he doubted hanging around here for
the rest of the night was going to do him any good.
Disappearing into the still crowded streets, the King
of Thieves set out to start putting his own plans into
action.

* * * * *

The stables were not much of a resting place, but a
roof over their heads and some soft hay under their
bedrolls was certainly much better than nothing. As
Joxer had suspected, finding a room in any of the inns
in town was impossible at the moment--Gabrielle
t
tried earlier in the night without any success. But
she'd also gone looking for a place Xena could house
Argo when the warrior woman finally arrived and had
found this place. The owner had no problem with people
staying there with the horses if they didn't mind the
company; it was just more dinars in his pocket as far
as as cas concerned.

Joxer was restless all night. He was tired, to be
sure, but too worried over his problems to rest
properly...and too accustomed to sleeping with
Autolycus nearby to do so easily on his own. When he
did manage to fall asleep, his dreams proved even more
disturbing than his waking thoughts. He was relieved
when the first light of dawn began to shine through
the cracks in the door and the windows, and roosters
outside began to announce the arrival of a new day,
even if he was still tired.

Gabrielle was clearly not as pleased by the prospect
of waking up. She tossed and turned about on her
nearby bedroll for some time, sighing loudly as she
forced herself to finally wake up completely. Sitting
up with a yawn, she declared, "I really hate
mornings."

Joxer had never been particularly fond of them
either...until Autolycus had come along, at least.
There was little he enjoyed more than the wonderful
sensation of waking up with those strong arms around
him, or nestling close against that warm, ctabctable
body. And then there was the enjoyable task of coaxing
the thief awake with soft kisses and teasing
caresses...quite often it took a good hour or two
before they actually managed to get out of bed in the
morning.

Joxer was drawn away from that line of thought as
Gabrielle stood and, after stretching out her arms and
legs, she walked over to her pack and rnedrned with a
small bag of food. "Hungry?" she asked, offering the
bag to her companion.

"Thanks." Joxer took a thick slice of nut-bread and
some fruit, and then passed the bag back to the bard.

They sat and worked on their breakfast in silence for
a few minutes before Gabrielle asked, "Did you sleep
all right?"

", gu, guess so," he lied, figuring it was easier than
trying to explain why he hadn't.

"You sure? Seemed like you were having some bad dreams
last night."

"Really? I...don't remember."

"Yep. Definitely sounded like bad dreams to me. You
were mumbling stuff in your sleep and tossing all
around...I almost woke you a couple of times to check
if you were okay."

"Sorry I kept you awake."

"No, you didn't. I was pretty restless myself. Too
excited about the festival, I suppose." Gabrielle fell
quiet, then a short while later continued, "I thought
I heard you calling out--of all things--Autolycus'
name a few times."

Joxer choked on his nut-bread at her remark. Trying to
cover up his reaction, he stammered, "Aut--Autolycus?
Uh...who's that?"

"You know Autolycus--the King of Thieves? Tall,
dark, handsome, and totally full of himself?"

"Oh...oh, that Autolycus! Ha ha ha," he forced
himself to laugh. "Gee, I wonder why I would mention
his name in my sleep."

"I don't know, you'd have to tell me." Eyebrow raised,
she queried, "It wouldn't have something to do with
that long story you wouldn't tell me last night, would
it?"

He shrugged and evasively answered, "Maybe...Maybe
not."

"I think it does," she stated. "I mean, come on, I'mookiooking at the way you're dressed right now and it's
screaming at me 'color scheme by Autolycus'. What's
been going on since the last time I saw you? Have you
been working with h" He" Her eyebrow arched higher as
she suggested in a conspiratorial tone, "More than
working?"

Her persistence was not only making Joxer uncomfortable,
it was starting to irritate him. And with that
irritation came remembered other reasons why he was
more than a little irritated at her. He sat back and
coolly asked, "What does it matter to you?"

"It matters because I can see something's got you
really upset, and maybe I can help." She reached out
and touched his arm softly. "We're friends, Joxer, you
can talk to me about it."

"Friends..." he repeated, considering this for a
while. "Like, the way me and Xena are friends? And you
and Xena?"

She gave him a slightly puzzled , th, then agreed,
"Well, yeah, we'rl frl friends."

"Uh huh." He nodded, thinking this over before asking,
"Gabrielle, if we're all such good friends, how come
you or Xena never told me that you two were more
than just friends?"

She stared at him with obvious surprise, but quickly
recovered her calm--though she dropped her hand away
from his arm as she asked in a level tone, "What do
you mean?"

"You know what I mean. You're ive, ve, aren't you? Why
didn't you tell me? Why didn't Xena tell me, when I
know she knew I...that I had feelings about you. I
don't know if you knew, and that doesn't really matter
to me now...but if Xena was really my friend why
didn't she tell me anything?"

Finding Gabrielle at a complete loss for words was
certainly a rare turn of events. When she didn't
answer him, Joxer continued, "Maybe I was a fool not
to see it. I mean, as soon as I found out, I couldn't
believe I hadn't seen what was going on right in
front of me. I just don't understand...why couldn't
you both have trusted me with the truth?"

"Xena was going to say something...she wanted to,
but...it's my fault," Gabrielle admitted, looking more
than a little embarrassed--and definitely
uncomfortable about suddenly being the one put on the
spot. She seemed to find it hard to meet his eyes as
she struggled to explain, "I...I was wrong; I
didn't believe her when she told me your feelings
were...serious... And then, I guess I just didn't
want to hurt you, by telling you the truth."

"It hurt a lot worse finding out from someone else."
Joxer's words were bitter with the memory of how he
had felt that night, when Autolycus had told him.

"How did you find out?" she asked softly.

"From Autolycus. Something about switching or sharing
bodies with Xena once."

"Oh. Yeah," Gabrielle recalled, then fell silent
again. After a time, she asked, "I, um, don't suppose
telling you how sorry I am about the way things worked
out would help any?"

Joxer sighed. First Autolycus, now Gabrielle...
everyone's sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I wish saying
"I'm sorry" really did somehow make everything all
right. But it doesn't. Maybe in tibut but right
now...

"Gabrielle, I really...I was in love with you...at
least I thought I was, back then. And finding out the
truth, after all that time..." He trailed off,
suddenly wishing he hadn't brought this up at all. It
wasn't making him feel any better, not the way he'd
thought this confrontation might. All it was doing was
stirring up old pain on his part, and making Gabrielle
upset, and he couldn't even muster any satisfaction
from her guilt as he'd imagined he would. "Never mind,
let's forget I even brought it up. It's all old news
anyway," he said, trying to move on.

He turned his attention back to finishing his
breakfast, even though he had no appetite left for the
food. Neither one of them said anything, or seemed to
have any idea what to say to each other, for an
uncomfortably long time. Gabrielle finally tried to
change the subject and asked cautiously, "So...um, do
you want to talk about what's up with you and
Autolycus? If you want to...and I mean, if there's
something to talk about."

Joxer picked at the last of his food as he debated
what to say, if anything. What do I have to lose? he
decided. "We've been...well...I caught up with him not
long after you and Xena took off, a few months ago.
I'm not sure I could even explain what happened after
that, or why, except that it's been...really great,"
he admitted. "At least, it was, until recently.
Some things happened and...I'm not sure what to do.
I needed some time to think."

"What sort of things?"

He didn't want to get into the specifics, so he
answered, "Basically things that made me question how
much I trust him. On one hand I feel bad for even
doubting him at all, but..."

"...but he's Autolycus," Gabrielle finished. "Not
someone I'd normally trust farther than I could throw
him."

Joxer smirked. "That pretty much sums it up."

Gabrielle was quiet for a while, then remarked, "You
and Autolycus, huh."

"Yep."

"That's...that's..."

"Weird? To say the least?" he supplied with a small
smile.

She caught his smile and it seemed to break some of
the tension, as she smiled back and answered, "Yeah,
kind of. You know I'm going to have to hear the
whole story behind this now."

"Maybe later, okay?"

"Sure. Whenever." After a pause, she had to ask
one more question: "Do you love him?"

He hesitated only a second before answering, "Yeah, I
love him."

"Does he love you?"

That was the question, wasn't it? "He says he does.
I didn't doubt him until now." ...And I wish I could
make that doubt go away.

"If he does, I'm sure things will work out. You should
try to just relax and enjoy the festival for a few
days, you know? It might help clear your mind, put
everything into perspective," she suggested.

"I'd relax, but there's still Jett to worry about," he
reminded her.

"You really think he's going to come after us? Why,
for Zeus' sake?"

"It's the way he is, Gabrielle. I'm sure it's some
sort of honor thing to him. He'd never screwed up an
assassination before--and then having to go to jail
because of it? He probably thinks he needs to take
Xena out to show that he's still in business, that
he's still a good man for the job. And I'm afraid he
might use you as bait to get to her."

"That's all so crazy."

"Yeah, but we're talking about Jett. And crazy, that's
just the way he is."

* * * * *

With breakfast finished and the sounds of the festival
beginning to drift through the air, Joxer and
Gabrielle took off to check out the scene. Although it
was early and no performances were scheduled to start
for a few more hours, the streets were beginning to
fill up, particularly around the large marketplace.
Vendors called to everyone to check out their
merchandise, which included everything from foodstuffs
to clothing to musical instruments to...

"Get your Official Festival of the Arts Memorabilia,
right here and only here! Don't miss this chance to
take home part of the excitement!"

"Memorabilia?" Joxer asked Gabrielle with a frown.
"What's that?"

Gabrielle grimaced and shook her head in dismay.
"Obviously Salmoneus' latest dinar-making scheme."

The stocky man with a full beard and short, thinning
hair continued to shout, "That's right! Memories to
last a lifetime--and in sizes and shapes to suit
anyone's budget!"

"Why would I want a cheap, ugly mug, just because it
has '10th Festival of the Arts' carved into it?" Joxer
asked, picking up the offending item to look at it
more closely.

"Why, you ask? Why, so that every day when you get
your morning cup of goat's milk, or your evening taste
of ale, you can remember the glorious time you had
here in Egio!" the salesman explained eagerly. "Oh!
Hi, Gabrielle...perhaps I could interest you in a
commemorative scroll or two?"

She eyed the offered items, and crinkling her nose in
what Joxer had to admit was still quite the most
adorable way, she declared, "This is some of the worst
quality parchment I've ever seen. It feels ready to
fall apart in my hands!"

"Hey, don't knock the merchandise! Okay, maybe it's
not good enough for the Sacred Archives in Athens, but
for most of the people around here this week? Consider
it beginner's parchment--and besides," he grinned,
"with every five scrolls you purchase, I'll throw in a
free copy of Socrates' lost scroll, 'Philosophy for
Dummies'. What do you think?"

"I think you truly frighten me sometimes, Salmoneus,"
Gabrielle answered, handing back the scrolls and
starting to walk over to the next vendor.

"What about you, my good man? Any interest in a
commemorative plaque? Backstage passes to tonight's
sold out performance by the Ladies of Lesbos Exotic
Dance Troupe?" Sal waggled his eyebrows as he waved
the tickets in the air.

"Uh...no thanks," Joxer answered, stepping away
quickly after Gabrielle. "Boy, the things some people
will do to make a dinar off these festivals anymore,"
he complained.

"I know, but if that's what it takes to draw all these
great performers together, I guess it's not so bad.
Besides, it's all rather exciting, don't you think?
People coming here from across over the country, all
of them interested in supporting and experiencing the
arts..."

"I guess," Joxer agreed reluctantly. Truthfully, the
swarms of people were more anxiety-inducing
than exciting to him. How could he hope to find Jett
in crowds like these?

I just have to stick close to Gabrielle, he
resolved. It bothered him that Xena wasn't here and
that he hadn't warned her about Jett yet, but
Gabrielle refused to leave town to go track down the
warrior. And Joxer was not about to leave Gabrielle
alone where Jett could get to her.

* * * * *