"Xena, I can't help it. I told you. Ever since I found out it was forbidden, all I wanna do is dance."

"Just go to sleep, Gabrielle. We should be finished up here in a few days and then you can dance all you want."

"Come on, Xena. Sing for me. You know I love your voice."

"No."

"Come on. I only ever get to hear that beautiful voice of yours over a funeral pyre. Sing something I can dance to."

"I don't know any dancing songs."

"Make something up."

Xena stared at her companion.

"What? Not one of your many skills?" Gabrielle asked sweetly.

That did it.

"Fast or slow?" Xena said, finally taking the bait.

"Hmmm, slow, so you can sing to that music they're playing. And you have to dance with me."

"Gabrielle..."

"That way if anyone sees, you can just say you were teaching me a new fighting technique."

"While I was singing?"

"Sure. You know, to help with the rhythm of the moves."

Xena raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything more, as she stood up from their bedrolls. She walked to stand in front of Gabrielle and put her hands on the bard's hips. Gabrielle tentatively raised her arms and placed her hands on the warrior's shoulders.

Xena started their hips swaying back and forth to the sensual beat of the music. She stared into Gabrielle's sparkling eyes and sighed in resignation. When she sang, it was from the heart. That was why she did it so rarely. It was too risky to let her emotions come to the surface like that.

Her ears listened for the tempo of the music and waited for the right time to jump in.

"I'm a candle in the wind."

Xena swayed their bodies around in a wavelike motion. Gabrielle smiled at the physical interpretation of the lyric.

"My future flickers 'fore my eyes."

Xena was staring intently at her and Gabrielle got the distinct feeling there was something more to that line, as the flames of nearby torches flickered over their bodies.

"I'm too restless to be satisfied with silence."

Gabrielle grinned at her. She really did love Xena's voice and the jibe about her being restless was Xena's wry sense of humor showing through.

"So I'll push further through the night."

Xena continued to move their bodies around the space in front of their bedrolls.

"Say you wanna put me out and then I'm lonely. No, I've heard those lies before. 'Cause the fire inside, it just keeps burning. Just won't stand it anymore."

Gabrielle felt the hands on her hips grip a little tighter and saw something she very rarely saw enter Xena's eyes; fear.

"You came along. You pulled me up, when I was down."

Gabrielle smiled shyly, but her expression instantly changed to shock at the next words Xena sang to her.

"The way you made me feel just took me by surprise. You took my hand. You stole my heart. You fed the fire. And when you moved with me, you gave me back my life." Xena closed her eyes. "Let the spirit move me." She just let go, letting the music take her and refusing to see the anger or pity she thought she might find in Gabrielle's eyes. "Let the spirit move me. Let your spirit move me. Let your spirit move me. Let the spirit move me. Let the spirit move me."

Xena opened her eyes and the look on Gabrielle's face stopped Xena cold. She couldn't find breath to finish the last two lines that would finish off the meter of the impromptu song.

"I stole your heart?" Gabrielle whispered. She'd been struck dumb after that line and only when Xena opened her eyes again was she able to find her voice and ask the only question that mattered to her.

Xena could only nod mutely.

Gabrielle's eyes teared up and she smiled that crinkly smile of hers. Her hands moved of their own volition to the sides of Xena's neck and then around to the back, then forward again to cup Xena's cheeks. Her hands kept moving, seeming to need constant reassurance that there was skin underneath their fingertips, until her left hand settled on grasping the side of Xena's neck at her ear and her right hand rested on Xena's chest. She pulled down with her left hand and brought Xena's lips to her own.

Xena moaned at the contact and Gabrielle decided to press the advantage. She opened her mouth and let her tongue lick over the warrior's lips, requesting permission to enter. Permission was granted and Gabrielle felt Xena's hands move around to her lower back and pull her in tighter, as she tasted the inside of Xena's mouth for the first time. It was wet and slippery and slightly spicy from the dinner they'd both consumed earlier. It was wonderful.

She eased her hold on the warrior's neck and they broke apart. Gabrielle stared up into Xena's eyes and smiled, but it was anything but humorous. It was serious and full of desire.

"I've been waiting to do that with you for a very long time," Gabrielle said, her voice low.

She gently pulled on Xena's neck again and Xena willingly bowed her head to the bard's lips.