Please note, this is NOT a Christmas story....

Silent Night

by Ella Quince

"No."

"No?" Xena's hand froze just inches from Gabrielle's breast. "What do you mean — 'no'?"

"No means no, Xena. What's not to understand?"

The warrior dropped her hand to the bed, fingers twitching with the frustrated desire to touch the woman lying beside her, to pull away the worn linen shift that clung so seductively to the bard's body. "Well, then why?"

Xena's question was met with an obstinate silence.

"You've never said no before," she pointed out. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just not in the mood." With a sudden frown, Gabrielle back-handed the warrior's leather-clad stomach. "Don't start!"

"Hey! What did I do?"

"I saw that smirk. You don't believe me."

"Gabrielle, you've been 'in the mood' every night for two solid months. You've taken years off my life—"

"Funny, I didn't hear any objections," muttered Gabrielle.

"That was merely an observation," said Xena with broad smile, "not a complaint. Most definitely not a complaint."

"Hmmpph."

"So, here we are in a comfortable inn, in a comfortable bed, for the first time since we started to—"

"Don't use that word, Xena," said Gabrielle hastily. "You know I don't like that word."

"Oh, really?" Xena raised an eyebrow as high as it could go.

"Well," said the bard, blushing furiously, "in the heat of the moment... maybe... but that's different."

"Okay, okay." With exaggerated patience, Xena repeated, "So, here we are in a comfortable inn, in a comfortable bed, for the first time since we started to..." she chewed her lip thoughtfully, then said, "get really, really friendly with each other..."

Gabrielle sighed in relief.

"...and screw like bunnies."

"Not that word either!"

"So what's wrong?" persisted Xena.

The warrior watched as Gabrielle's flushed cheeks darkened to a most becoming shade of scarlet, but even Xena's keen hearing couldn't quite catch what the young woman muttered under her breath. "Gabrielle, I can't hear you."

Gritting her teeth, the bard said, "The problem is that everyone will hear me." She groaned at Xena's look of bewilderment, then explained in a very low voice, "The walls... they're too thin."

"Oh, that." Biting her lip to keep from laughing outloud, the warrior nodded sympathetically. When she could trust herself to speak, she said, "Yeah, that could be a bit... embarassing." She toyed restlessly with the hem of Gabrielle's shift.

"Xena..." warned Gabrielle as the warrior's hand slowly edged under the cloth.

"Going downstairs tomorrow morning..." Xena began to trace idle patterns over bare skin, "with everyone staring at us... everyone knowing we spent the night—"

"No, don't say it!"

"—being very friendly." She leaned closer to nuzzle against the soft nape of the bard's neck. "There's only one solution..."

"What's that?" asked Gabrielle, somewhat breathlessly now.

In a throaty whisper, Xena said, "You're going to have to be very, very quiet."

"Uhh..." The bard swallowed, hard, as lean fingers caressed the inside of her thigh. "I'm not sure I can do that... not if you keep doing... what you're doing."

"Oh, I can provide some incentive." Xena's thumb stroked lightly over a very sensitive area. "Every time you make a sound, even the faintest moan, I'll stop."

"Oh, gods."

"Shhhh," said Xena with a predatory grin. "The game starts now."

It turned into a deliciously long game, too. But the warrior knew her bard very well indeed, and the ending was a foregone conclusion, if somewhat more intense than she had anticipated.

"You're obviously going to need more practice at this," chided Xena as she gathered the young woman into her arms. That word — the one Gabrielle didn't like — was still ringing in Xena's ears and had probably reverberated throughout the entire inn... more than once, just in case anyone missed it the first time.

"I have a better idea, Xena," mumbled Gabrielle, stirring to life. Her lips began to nibble their way down the warrior's chest; her hands tugged at leathers already somewhat askew. "You can show me how to stay very, very quiet."

Uh oh.

Later — much, much later — Gabrielle mused, "I think you cracked the wine jug. It's leaking."

"Very funny," gasped Xena. She was too drained to sit up and see for herself, but considering how raw her throat felt, there just might be some truth to the accusation. "Shoddy Theban pottery," she muttered.

"Whatever," said Gabrielle with a cocky grin. "But now that we've both lost this contest, who goes downstairs first in the morning?"

The warrior princess flushed ever so slightly at the thought of facing any of the other guests at the inn... and even the inhabitants of the village. Unlike the bard, Xena wasn't particularly modest, but she did value her dignity, which now was as shredded as the bedsheets. "Maybe we should just..."

"Check out before dawn?" suggested Gabrielle.

"Sounds like a plan to me."