Gabrielle and Xena sat down on a big rock near the road.

"Xena…" Gabrielle began to speak.

"Uh, wait a second, I must fix Argos chord, otherwise she maybe runs away and get lost in the wood." The warrior went a few feet away to her horse.

Gabrielle was really desperateand didn't know what she should do now.

‚How can I tell her… how am I allowed to tell her something like that. I don't want to hurt her feelings, but I also can't say nothing or lie to her.'

After some minutes the warrior princess went back to her best friend, stopped in front of her and looked at her hopefully.

"Okay… so… you wanted to tell me something?" the warrior asked.

"Yes… but… first listen to me please and then you can tell me what you think about it. Okay?"

"Start telling me, I won't bite you"

Gabrielle gulped and kept on talking. "I thought about my life and what it had become since I met you… I mean, you know, my life had changed a lot."

'Oh no', Xena thought while Gabrielle was talking. 'Discussions, which start like this are always ending in a disaster. What if she will say me that it's over? That she has enough and wants to get home to her family? I'll definitely die if she tells me something like that.'

"Well… I mean, what am I? Am I just a damned sidekick, travelling around with the most popular warrior princess ever? I mean, if this is true, I am living your life, not mine. But where is my life, Xena? Can you tell me? You don't need me… you didn't need me ever…" Gabrielle felt some tears running down her cheek. She pulled them off with her right hand and sniffed.

Xena felt her heart sinking into her stomach. It hurt a lot, seeing her best friend sad and getting desperate. She thought about it some seconds and then she said in her typically comforting voice. "You already know"

Gabrielle stuttered, "W-what? What do you mean? Why should I ask you that all, if I already knew?" She seemed kind of nervous and began to cough, for a second she sounded like she was going to choke.

"Okay… I'll tell you. I do need you, I really do, Gabrielle. You taught me so much… how to handle with other persons… how to be good and help other people. You are my friend… you're my best friend… you're my life… I love you."

Gabrielle felt tears running down her cheek again, but it weren't tears of sadness, it were tears of joy.

'Oh my god', she thought. 'I was near to reach the lowest and worst point in my life and then Xena talks to me and I feel immediately better.'

Xena consulted Gabrielle and hugged her. Then she fondled her head.

"And you're not only a sidekick. You're a battling Bard… you're my battling Bard if you want to."

"Stupid question" Gabrielle replied the hug and gasped.

"Okay… so you don't want to go to your family? You want to stay with me till… forever?" Xena grinned.

"I am with my family right now… you are my family… I love you too."

They both sat there for another half an hour quietly and then they decided to journey on.

"I was right, wasn't I?" Xena asked and smirked.

"What do you mean?"

"You already knew… you already knew the answers to your questions, but you wanted my endorsement."

Gabrielle didn't say anything… neither that day, nor another day. She wouldn't ever answer with yes or no, that would be her little secret… but they both knew the answer.

Gabrielle knew already.