Lessons
By Xie

Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling you something. – The Princess Bride

Justin’s POV

“You WHAT?” It was Lindsay and Brian in horrified stereo. For the first time I saw them as actual parents.

“I, umm, told him to ask you if he could have a pony?”

Lindsay bent down and put her head on our kitchen table. Brian got up and went to the refrigerator and got a beer, twisted off the top, and drank half of it before coming back over to the table. He didn’t sit down. That was a bad sign.

“Justin. He’s not even six years old yet. He can’t have a pony.” Lindsay’s voice sounded strained.

“Okay.”

“What?” She lifted up her head and looked at me.

“Okay, don’t get him a pony. I never told him he could have a pony, I’m not his parent, you are. It’s fine.”

“Justin.” Lindsay was using the mommy voice. That was always bad. “Let me explain something to you about five year old boys. They don’t understand hypothetical questions. They don’t engage in idle speculation. If you tell them that maybe they could get a pony, then in their mind they’re getting a pony. You can distract them with video games or trips to the zoo, but that night when you’re tucking them in bed and ask if they had a nice day, they’ll say, ‘Yeah. When does my pony come?’ Are you following what I’m telling you here? Gus thinks he’s getting a pony.”

“Is there some reason Gus can’t have a pony?” It was Brian, still standing up. Lindsay and I both turned our heads to him at the same moment.

“Oh god.” And she put her head back down on the table.

Gabrielle’s POV

I grabbed the phone in the barn office before it could roll to voice mail. “Barn.”

“Yes, may I speak to Gabrielle, please?” It was an unfamiliar woman’s voice.

“This is me. Can I help you?” I didn’t normally get calls at the stable.

“Gabrielle, this is Lindsay Peterson, from yoga at the GLC?” I went blank on the name.

“I have blonde hair, I run an art gallery?”

“Oh, yeah, you have the two kids? I remember, I’m sorry, my mind was somewhere else.” Lindsay was always friendly but I didn’t really know her. Turns out she was calling about riding lessons for her little boy, and also to ask if I could help her pick out a pony for him.

“Lindsay, it’s best that he just start out with lessons. It’s too soon for him to have his own horse, or pony.” Parents usually got this one backwards, it drove Xena crazy.

“Yes, I can see that. It’s just, well, Gus’ father promised him a pony, and …” Her voice kind of trailed off, and I finished for her in my head: and you’re too soft to stand up to his father.

“Tell you what, why don’t you come by with Gus and maybe his father if you think that would work, and you can meet Xena. She owns the stable, and if you decide you really want to get a horse for your little boy, there is no one on earth who is better at finding the right horse for someone.” I spoke with perfect confidence. It was true.

She set up a time to come by and I put it out of my mind. This kid didn’t need his own horse yet, but Xena would tell them that. No one could argue with Xena.

Justin’s POV

“Don’t make me go.” The late afternoon sun was coming in the bedroom window, and I had thrown myself on the bed with one arm over my face while Brian changed into jeans. I did turn my head slightly so I could see him naked through a little gap between my arm and my face.

“This was all your idea, you have to go.” Brian was implacable and also full of shit. He didn’t want to go so he was making me suffer. He also looked fucking hot in his jeans.

“Fuck me and I’ll go with you.” He came and stood over me at the side of the bed. I lowered my arm to the mattress.

“You do look kind of sexy all sprawled out there.”

I wriggled a little bit on the bed, one leg stretched out and the other one just slightly bent and lying to the side. “I do?”

“Twat.”

I grinned and cupped my crotch. “Not really.”

Brian knelt on the bed between my legs, grinning back. “If I fuck you, you’ll come with us?”

I nodded.

He leaned over me, one arm on either side of my head, and put his forehead on mine. “Deal.” Then he kissed me, his tongue slipping in between my lips. I opened my mouth under his, and started undoing his pants. He pulled away from me and knelt back, unzipped my jeans, and pulled them down.

When we were both undressed, he lay on top of me, kissing my neck and shoulders, running his hands down my sides. I wound my arms around his neck and held onto him when he gently touched my asshole with a lubed finger and swirled it around the opening. I sighed a little, and he looked at me, and smiled, then kissed me again.

He pressed his finger inside and stroked me, and bent it just enough to brush my prostate and so I could feel the stretch. I relaxed into it and let my legs fall apart on either side of him, watching the afternoon sun starting to come in the bedroom window. He kept stroking inside me, passing his finger over my prostate and kissing my face and neck. I felt like I was floating, my skin warm and dry and lightly touching his, his breath on my face.

His touch on my prostate became more insistent and I arched my back and wrapped my legs around his waist. His finger kept moving in me, and I felt the head of his cock pressing into me alongside it. I moaned but held onto the floating feeling, and opened up to him. His face was buried in my neck and I felt myself break out in a light sweat, felt heat spreading out from him to me, in waves.

His cock slipped in and his finger started to pull back. For just one second his head was at the tightest part of my ass and his knuckle passed through, and it felt like too much, and then it was gone, both of his hands curved behind my shoulders, pulling me up to him. We were kissing and his weight was on his elbows, and I was curved up and wrapped around him, holding on while he pulled out of me and thrust back in, over and over, stroking me and filling me until I thought I was going to break into a thousand pieces when I came.

He was groaning in my ear and his come was pulsing into me, hot and wet, his tongue in my mouth, his hands behind my head, his fingers in my hair.

He lay on top of me, breathing hard, and I let myself fall back and my arms and legs drop off him. He kissed me and moved his mouth down my chest to my stomach, licking the sweat off me, tracing the edges of my muscles and burying his face in my pubes. I bent my knees and he put his arms behind my thighs and lifted me up and started to lick my balls and ass and inside my thighs. He buried his face in me and licked my asshole and I groaned and reached for his hair, tugging him up to my cock.

He licked up from my balls to the base of my cock, then took the head in his mouth, sliding his finger into the come and lube in my ass. He pressed rhythmically against my prostate from the inside while his mouth sucked on my cock, and I lifted up my hips and tightened my hands in his hair. I felt everything start to shimmer, and like I was going to explode, and then I did, not in waves, but in fragments of light and sparks of electricity.

He moved back up my body, and kissed me, and I licked my come off his tongue. He nestled his head into my shoulder and brought his hands up to my head and cradled it, and I held him and felt warm and drowsy and in love. I kissed his hair and closed my eyes.

I was hanging on the edge of sleep when I felt him move, and he whispered in my ear. “We have to get up and go meet them, they’re waiting for us.”

I stretched a little and felt sweaty and sore. “When are we supposed to be there?”

Brian twisted his head around. “In half an hour.”

“How far is it?”

He nuzzled my throat. “Ten minutes in your car, five in mine.”

I laughed. “Go start the shower.”

Gabrielle’s POV

Xena had groaned when I told her about the appointment I’d made.

“It’ll be OK, Xena. You can explain to them. They just don’t know, they need you to enlighten them.”

Xena glared at me from across the back of her horse. “Don’t try to placate me, Gabrielle.”

“It’s why you have me.”

“I don’t ‘have’ you. I just can’t get rid of you.”

“No,” I agreed. “You can’t.”

Xena mounted Argo in one smooth motion. She looked down at me, shook her head, wheeled Argo to the right, and they were gone.

I first heard about Xena when I was in high school, leasing a horse down the road at another barn. She’d just moved here from California, and they said she’d been a horse trainer for the movies. She’d bought the old Hanley place and was going to be boarding and training horses there. One of the trainers from the stable I was at said she was a real bitch but her mare was so well trained she could give her commands just by whistling, and she would follow Xena around like a dog.

After a few days of hearing rumors and gossip about the new trainer in town, I decided to go by her place on my way home. It wasn’t much out of my way.

You couldn’t really see anything from the road, so I rode my bike up the driveway. There were a lot of cars there, mostly pickup trucks and SUVs, I guessed from guys doing the renovations. I got off my bike and started pushing it up the driveway, and just as I crested the hill, I saw her, a tall woman on a palomino mare. She had long dark hair in a braid down her back, bangs cut straight across her forehead, high cheekbones, and blazing blue eyes under sweeping brows. I was sixteen years old and I honestly thought I’d just seen the most beautiful human being ever born.

The woman rode right up to where I stood staring, and glared down at me. “Are you lost?”

I shook my head, still feeling a little breathless. Her denim shirt had three buttons undone and she had a little tan vee where it pulled away when her mare tossed her head. “I’m sorry, I board my horse at the Landry’s over on Kettleman, and people said you were doing a state of the art facility here, and I wanted to take a look. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

A group of men had come down and gotten in their trucks, and we waited while they roared down the driveway, stirring up dust. Her mare just stood there, ignoring the commotion. “She’s amazing.”

The woman snorted. “She’s ignored worse.” She started to turn her mare’s head to leave.

“I’m Gabrielle,” I offered, not wanting her to go. She turned her face back to me, but I could tell she was forcing herself to be civil.

“Xena Galanis.”

“What’s your mare’s name?”

It almost looked like she was going to smile. She didn’t. “Argo.”

“She’s beautiful. And amazingly well-trained. Will you be taking students personally?”

“Maybe.” And then she left. I rode my bike home, and swore I’d go back. And I did.

Justin’s POV

We pulled into the parking area of the stable. We’d taken my Land Rover, because the Corvette was allergic to horses. Lindsay and Gus were standing with a blonde girl in jeans and boots and a green tank top, talking and looking at the horses in the field. Melanie was sitting in the car with Jenny. She got out when we did, though, and we all walked over to the fence.

The blonde girl smiled. “I’m Gabrielle. Xena, she’s the owner, she’ll be right over, she had to finish up with a student.” Her smile got even brighter. “She’s the best, you’ll love her.” Brian raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Hard to misbehave with both me and Lindsay breathing down your neck.

“Oh!” Gabrielle’s face lit up as a tall woman with long, dark hair and blue eyes joined us. She was almost as tall as Brian. “This is Xena. Xena, this is Lindsay, who I told you about, and Gus, and, ummm….”

Xena ignored the introductions and crouched down in front of Gus and smiled at him. “Hey, Gus. Want to meet my horse?”

Like there’s any question what Gus’ answer to that was. He went off with Xena without a backward glance at anyone. Lindsay and Brian started to sputter.

“Yeah.” It was Gabrielle. “Xena can have that effect on people. They’ll just follow her anywhere.”

I was standing next to Mel, who snorted and said to me so quietly no one else could hear, “Yeah, and she should know.”  I quirked an eyebrow at her. “Please. Every time she mentions Xena she gets this ‘oh my god I love you, you’re perfect’ look on her face. I recognize it because you spent the first year I knew you wearing it.”

“I did not.” I was totally more in control of my face than that back then. Mel just looked at me pityingly.

Gus was being led all over the pasture with his hand tucked into Xena’s. She was so tall she had to stoop down to lead him, but she didn’t seem to mind. She never lifted him up, letting him pet the horses’ noses while she rested her hands on his shoulders. After a little while she whistled, and a light colored horse with an even lighter mane and tail detached itself from the other horses and came trotting over.

Now Xena did lift Gus up, and set him on the horse’s bare back. Lindsay almost went over the fence, but Brian’s face was calm. Gabrielle touched Lindsay’s arm and told her firmly not to worry. “That’s Argo, Xena’s mare. She’s great with kids. Just trust her.” I glanced at Melanie just then and she rolled her eyes.

Gus was holding on to the horse’s mane and I could tell he was a little scared but mostly excited. He laughed, and Xena kept her hands on his waist and whistled again, a different whistle. The horse immediately turned to the left and started walking slowly toward us at the fence. She didn’t seem to notice the little boy on her back, or Xena walking at her side.

When they got to the fence, Xena held out her arms for Gus and he slid into them. She set his feet on the fence, and held him from behind until Brian swung him down. Gus’ face was flushed and he was smiling, and he never took his eyes off Xena’s horse.

Xena vaulted over the fence and stood next to Gabrielle. “He’s not afraid. And he listens. If you’d like him to have lessons, I’ll be glad to teach him. After he’s comfortable in general with horses and has learned the basics of riding will be soon enough to think about getting him a horse. He’s not there yet.”

Lindsay seemed glad that there’d be a delay. “Would it be possible for you to stop by and look at the place and see if it’s right for a horse, or if Brian would need to plan on doing work first?”

Gabrielle smiled. “We’d be glad to. Where’s your place?”

Brian gave her the address, and she tilted her head a bit. “The Portmans' old place? The Tudor on the edge of the preserve?”

I was surprised. “That’s the one, how did you know?”

She gave me a friendly look. “I grew up about half a mile from there. I was friends with one of their daughters in grade school.”

Xena interrupted us. “I’ll let Gabrielle set that site visit up, but again, we’re really a long way from talking about a horse for Gus.”

Gus finally tore his eyes away from the horse. “I get to take lessons, though?”

Melanie shifted Jenny to her hip and smoothed Gus’ hair. “Sounds that way, Gus. Let’s go back to your dad’s and Justin’s and we’ll all talk about it.”

Gabrielle shot a look at me and then Brian and back again, but she didn’t say anything.

When we got back to the house, I went into the kitchen to get something to eat. Lindsay was standing at the counter, eating an apple.

“I hope these weren’t strictly for decorative purposes.”

I laughed. “I’ll let Brian know you had one, so he can reconsider the composition.”

Lindsay smiled. “Speaking of composition, Brian says your new work is amazing. Feel like showing me?”

I grabbed an apple for myself, and took her into my studio. Lindsay walked around for a little while, then stood in front of the fiberglass pieces, shaking her head. “These are spectacular, Justin. These are the ones Brian wants to buy?”

I nodded. “Kalli says I shouldn’t let him, but…”

She laughed. “I’m sure that did a lot of good.”

I just shrugged. “I told him he could have first refusal on anything I paint.”

Lindsay moved to my worktable and looked at the incomplete oil painting there. “Justin, it’s really time you got an agent. I know Armand’s been a great promoter for you, but he’s a gallery owner and he has to put his gallery first. You need an agent.”

I nodded. Brian had been telling me the same thing, and so had Kalli when she was here for the party, even though she worked for Armand. And I was thinking about it. My contract with Armand was just for this next show.

“Do you know someone I should talk to?”

Lindsay considered it. “Let me think about this a little.”

Gus stuck his head in the door of the studio. “Daddy told me to tell you I’m hungry.”

Lindsay and I burst out laughing and went out to find something more substantial than an apple for all of us.

Gabrielle’s POV

I woke up that night and Xena wasn’t there.

I wasn’t worried. Xena often left me in the middle of the night, to go down to see the horses or just to sit on the fence, watching them, when the night was warm.

I slipped into my jeans and a shirt, pulled on my boots, and went downstairs. The moon was out, and when I got past the driveway I could see her sitting on the fence, Argo standing next to her. I swear she talked to that horse.

She didn’t turn when I walked up. “Hello, Gabrielle.”

I didn’t answer, just leaned on the fence and reached up and patted Argo’s neck. Then I turned around, my back to the field, and laid my arm across Xena’s thighs, my hand curving around her hip. Sometimes Xena just wanted to be alone, and sometimes I let her. Tonight I thought she needed company, so I was glad when she didn’t tense up when I touched her. Reading Xena could be like reading a horse, or a wild animal.

She seemed glad I was there, though, and put her hand on the back of my neck and smiled down at me. We stood there for a while, and then she sighed and swung her legs around and slid down off the fence. She pulled me in tight, and I tipped my face up.

Xena kissed me softly, and I responded by kissing her harder, opening my mouth against hers. A second later I felt her lips open, and her tongue was touching mine. Her arms wrapped around my neck and I pulled her shirt out of the back of her jeans and ran my hands up underneath it, feeling the muscles under her skin. I slid my hand around and closed it gently on her breast, her nipple hard against my palm.

Xena’s hand was under my shirt, and she slipped it flat against my stomach and down inside my jeans. She curled her fingers against me in the tight space between my skin and the rough denim, and I arched into her touch when she slid inside to where I was wet and slippery. I brought my arms up around her neck and just stood there rocking against her hand, feeling her fingers moving inside me.

I buried my head in her shoulder and hung on, her hand pressing so hard up against me that it almost lifted me off my feet. I moaned against her neck and kissed her warm skin, and let wave after wave of heat flood over me, starting deep inside where her fingers were pressing on me, and running down my body like hot water.

She was holding and kissing me tenderly, on my hair and then my mouth when I lifted my face to hers, still holding onto her neck. My heart finally stopped hammering and I let my hands slip to her shoulders, and she touched her forehead to mine, and smiled softly into my eyes.

I knelt in front of her, opening her jeans and pulling them down a little. Xena was leaning against the fence, her hands braced on either side of her, and I spread her lips with my fingers and pressed my face into her, breathing her scent and her warmth into me.

I let the fingers of one hand slide back, and used my other hand to pull her jeans down further so she could spread her thighs a little more. I pressed two fingers into her as deep as they would go, the side of my hand lying against her wet skin. I licked at her clitoris, my tongue as soft as I could make it, my fingers moving inside her.

I flattened out my tongue and massaged her with it, and one of her hands came off the fence and gripped my hair for a second before she rested it on the back of my neck. I felt her vagina clenching and releasing on my fingers, and I curled them so they were pressing upward. She groaned.

I pointed my tongue and flicked her clitoris with it, and pressed hard and up with my fingers and hand at the same time, and she shuddered and I felt her coming, her vagina softening and opening around my hand and the skin under my tongue getting smooth and firm.

She was trying to get her breath, and I stood up, and she kissed me, nuzzling my face and tasting herself on me, and I held onto her, feeling a little bit shaky. I stood there with Xena’s arms around me, leaning into her, listening to the night sounds all around us.

Justin’s POV

Daphne and I were in my studio, the music blasting and the sun pouring in the window at the end of the room. The four paintings I’d done before the party were hanging on the wall, and I was working on the second oil painting I’d started since then. I was happy to have a brush in my hand again, happy to be making big strokes that didn’t hurt my hand but still let that flow come through me and onto the canvas. I was tired of drawing and tired of my computer and tired of fucking around with little lines and bits of wire, and ready for something raw and flat and hard.

Daph was at my computer, going through all the music files Alfe had sent me and loading them onto her iPod.  I was standing with a brush in my hand, staring at the painting, when I heard a voice at the studio door. “Hi, excuse me? Justin?”

It took me a minute to figure out who it was.

“Gabrielle?”

She walked into the room, wearing jeans and boots and a red tank top, and smiled over at Daphne, who had turned the music down. “I’m really sorry, I’m meeting Xena here and I rang your bell, but I could hear the music and figured you couldn’t hear it. No one else is here yet, I guess? I’m really sorry to have bothered you. I’ll just go wait somewhere else. Wherever you say. If you could just….” She looked at me expectantly, the flood of words running out.

Daphne laughed, and I shoved a hand through my hair. “I don’t know, let me call Brian and see where he is.”

Gabrielle gave me a smile and started wandering around the studio, looking at the paintings on the walls, while I waited for Brian to answer his cell. Daphne bounced up out of the desk chair and went over and stood next to her.

Brian answered on the third ring. “Hey.”

“Hey. Ummm, Gabrielle is here.”

“Yeah, I left you four messages. Was your phone off?”

I looked at the phone. “It was on vibrate.” Fuck.

“And I’m guessing you couldn’t feel it vibrating from….” He paused.

“The charger?”

Brian laughed. “Is that a question?”

“So, what’s the message?”

“We’re going to be late. And I guess Gabrielle’s cell phone must be on vibrate too, because someone was going to call her.”

“How late?”

“I’m in the car. Half an hour.”

I sighed. “Later.”

“Later.”

I cleaned up my brushes and paints, and the three of us hung out by the pool drinking beer until Brian got home. After he changed and had grabbed a beer, Lindsay and Melanie got there with the kids.

JR was cranky and Melanie took her down to the swings, but Gus was too keyed up about Xena’s visit to settle down. “Gabrielle, did you have a pony when you were a little kid?”

She smiled at him. “No, I didn’t have my own horse until I was in high school. But I learned to ride on my cousin’s horse.”

Gus was quiet for a minute. “How old were you when you learned?”

“I was around your age. But I wasn’t as tall as you, you’re very tall for a five year old.”

He beamed at her. “I’m almost six. And I’m the tallest in my class.”

Brian took a swallow of his beer, but I could see he was trying not to smile. He was so easy.

“You’re great with him. Do you teach a lot of children?” It was Lindsay.

Gabrielle nodded. “I teach a beginner’s class, and also work at a camp, doing trail riding with the kids. I teach horse safety, too. It’s unusual for Xena to do private lessons with kids, usually she has me put them in one of my classes. I think she really likes Gus.”

Gabrielle smiled at Gus when she said it, and he looked happy and embarrassed at the same time. Then he went back to the questions. “How old is Argo?”

“She’s nine, four years older than you.”

He thought for a minute. “I’m almost six.”

She nodded. “You’re right. She’s almost four years older than you, but not quite.”

I heard a car turn into the driveway, and I put my beer down and went to the front door, Brian following behind me.

Xena walked into the foyer. Her hair was in a braid, and she looked tired. “Sorry to be late, I had to wait for the vet and she was running behind. And I was up half the night with a sick horse.”

She turned down a beer, and I stayed with Daphne while everyone else went off to look at the old stable and pasture down by the swings. A little while later Mel came up with Jenny, who had decided she wanted to go swimming and was threatening to get cranky again. I offered to take her in, and was playing with her in the shallow end of the pool.

“Do you ever think you want a kid?” Daphne was dangling her feet in the water.

I swished JR back and forth, smiling at her while she laughed and splashed with her hands.

“I used to think maybe someday, but now I don’t think so.”

Melanie gave a snort. “Living with Gus and Jenny Rebecca cured you?”

I laughed. “Something like that.”

Gabrielle’s POV

When we were looking around, Xena was her usual cool and composed self, pointing out the problems with the old stables and reiterating that Gus was a long way from owning a horse. “Most kids really shouldn’t have a horse until they’re in high school at least.”

Brian and Lindsay glanced at each other, but they accepted it. The majority of parents eventually did, because for most people, horses were a lot better to fantasize about than take care of.

Gus looked unhappy, and I dropped a hand onto his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Gus. You’ll love having lessons, and Xena’s going to let you ride Argo.” I smiled at him.

He glanced up at Xena. “Gabrielle said Argo is almost four years older than me.”

Xena looked down at him, and her smile looked a little strained. She gave me an odd look, but just said, “That’s right. She’s nine.”

I thought Xena would want to leave right away, but she accepted Brian’s offer of a drink. He brought us into the living room, which had been dark and formal the last time I’d seen it, when the Portmans still owned it. He had all the draperies wide open, the wood was gleaming, and the carpets and furniture were light and fresh.

“It’s beautiful, it’s totally changed.”

“My decorator thanks you.” Brian handed Xena a scotch and me another beer, and sat down across from us. Lindsay had gone out to the kitchen with Gus. His little sister was sitting in Lindsay's partner's lap. I remembered her from their first visit to the stable.

Melanie looked curiously at me. “So, you grew up around here?”

I nodded. “I was friends with one of the girls who lived here, I used to come here all the time when I was in grade school.”

“Are you from around here, too, Xena?”

She shook her head. “I’m from California, actually. But my grandparents lived near here, I used to spend Christmas here and visit a lot during the summer. And California money goes a lot further in Pennsylvania.”

Gus came into the room just then, saying Lindsay wanted something from the car. The little girl was being quiet but hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

“I’ll hold her.” It was Xena, surprising me.

"Thanks, her name is Jenny."

Melanie put Jenny into her arms and went out with Gus. The toddler bounced happily, her hands in Xena’s much larger hands, smiling into Xena’s blue eyes. Xena made faces at her, and the little girl squealed and kicked her feet. She lost her balance and fell with a plop into Xena’s lap, but just laughed. I grabbed her foot and tugged at it, and she smiled at me radiantly.

Xena blew into Jenny’s face, and she laughed some more.

“My son used to love that.”

I froze. Xena never brought up her son. Never. I didn’t even look at her, just kept playing with Jenny’s foot and looking at the little girl’s happy face.

“How old is your son now?” It was Brian, from the bar, where he was pouring himself another drink.

“He died when he was five.” Xena didn’t look at Brian, just kept playing with the little girl in her lap. I didn’t move.

Brian didn’t say anything, and I finally looked at him. He had a peculiar look on his face, and took a swallow from his glass.

Xena snorted. “You’re the first person who’s ever heard that and not uttered the words, ‘I’m sorry’.”

“Yeah, well, sorry’s bullshit.”

Xena gave him a sharp look, but just then Justin and Lindsay came back in, Melanie right behind. Xena set Jenny down on the floor and she raced over to Melanie, who smiled down at her little girl.

Justin’s POV

I had showered after playing in the pool with JR, and when I went into the living room, Brian was standing at the bar with a strained look on his face. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he didn’t say anything, just handed me a beer. But when I sat down in one of the chairs, he came and sat on the arm, and put his hand on the back of my neck. I shifted so my shoulder was touching his thigh.

JR was sitting on Melanie’s lap and looked like she was almost asleep. I relaxed a little more against Brian while people talked, wondering why he was so tense.

“Gabrielle grew up around here, Justin, she’s been in this house before.” It was Mel.

“I know, she told us when we met.”

Gabrielle was sitting next to Xena, her right hand on Xena’s thigh. “How long have you and Brian lived here?”

I was starting to wonder if Gabrielle was missing her calling in not being a talk show host. Or an interrogator for the CIA. But Brian answered her. “We bought it last year, but we just moved in full time in December.” And his hand tightened on the back of my neck for a second.

Mel asked how long she and Xena had lived at their place, and Gabrielle started recounting a long story about the family who owned our house before us. I glanced up at Brian, and he leaned down and kissed my hair. I smiled at him, and he smiled back, and I saw Melanie rolling her eyes at me from behind Brian. I blushed, and when I turned back to face everyone, Gabrielle was watching us. But she just smiled.

She and Xena had to go, and so did Daphne, who had finally finished loading all my music onto her iPod. Brian and I walked out to the car with them. I shook out my hand and flexed it while we were walking down the driveway to where Xena’s truck was parked.

Daphne glanced at me. “How’s your hand?”

“It’s good, better now that I’m done with Rage.”

“Rage?” It was Gabrielle. I hadn’t realized she was close enough to hear us.

“It’s a comic Justin’s the artist for.”

“A comic? You mean, like Superman?”

Daphne laughed. “Yeah, a sort of x-rated gay crusader version of Superman, based on Brian.”

“You’re kidding.”

I shook my head. “No, really. It’s called Rage and I’m the artist for it, my friend Michael and I have been doing it since I was 19.”

“You’ve known Brian since you were 19?”

“Since he was 17, actually.” Daphne elbowed me in the ribs and giggled.

Gabrielle laughed. “I’ve known Xena since I was 16.”

I stopped and looked at her. “Really? Wow."

“Yeah, it wasn’t as, ummm, LINEAR as it sounds.”

Daphne burst out laughing. “Oh believe me, neither were Justin and Brian.”

We stopped at Daphne’s car, and Gabrielle got an innocent, curious look on her face. I’d only known her for a few days and I was beginning to dread it. “So, what’s wrong with your hand?”

“I have neurological damage and sometimes when I draw or use it too much, I have problems with it. I had a head injury.”

She tilted her head to the side. “You didn’t fall off a horse, did you?”

She’d been joking, but I looked away for a second, and Daphne didn’t laugh. Gabrielle looked from me to her and back again. “Did I say something wrong?”

“I got hit in the head with a bat.” I honestly didn’t mean to say it that way. I had no idea why it popped out.

She was staring at me. “I’m sorry, you what?”

I shrugged. “I got bashed in the head with a baseball bat after my prom by someone who didn't like me dancing with Brian.”

She was biting her lower lip, and her brow was wrinkled. “Here? You grew up around here, right? Near Pittsburgh?”

Daphne nodded.

“I remember that, from when I was a senior in high school. You’d gone to the prom with your boyfriend and some football jock went after you. We had a school assembly after it happened.”

Daphne and I just looked at each other.

Later that night, I was lying in bed watching Brian organize his shirts according to subtle tonal variations of shades of black. It was very soothing. “Gabrielle’s the same age as Daphne and me, she told me her high school did a special assembly after Hobbes bashed me.”

Brian’s hands froze for a second, and then he pulled out a dark grey shirt and moved it to the end of the color spectrum. “Jesus.”

I nodded. “No shit. More than St. James fucking did.”

Brian stopped what he was doing and came and knelt on the bed next to me. “How the fuck did the subject come up?”

“I have no idea, she’s like, ruthless with the questions. She just smiles and looks so innocent and friendly.”

“People like that are very dangerous. Ask me. I should know.” He bent down and kissed me.

“I was never like that.”

He gave me a pained look.

“Well, if I was, it didn’t work too well on you.”

“You just had a different agenda, but the same m.o.”

I smiled and stretched my arms up over my head. “Speaking of agendas….”

Brian ran his hand down my chest, and pushed the duvet down, and kissed me. I put my arms around his neck and let his tongue in.

Gabrielle’s POV

I was sitting on the stall railing while Xena checked on Nelo, the gelding who’d been sick the night before. He seemed fine now.

“You’re going to spend the night down here again, aren’t you?”

She shrugged. “Probably.”

“Xena?”

“Gabrielle?” She kept stroking Nelo’s neck.

“Why did you tell Brian about Stephen?”

She froze for a second, but didn’t look at me. “I don’t really know. I guess it was because the little girl reminded me of him.”

“And Gus?”

She didn’t answer and I almost decided she wasn’t going to. “I guess he does too, a little.”

“I was wondering why you were going to teach him yourself.”

She shrugged again. The shrug was a big part of Xena’s arsenal of communication, and I’d gotten good at reading it over the years. This one meant, “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” So I changed the subject.

“Xena, do you remember a few years ago, when I was a senior in high school, a kid got bashed after going to his prom with his boyfriend?”

She looked up at me, her arm resting on Nelo’s neck. “Vaguely. Didn’t his boyfriend stop the attack, something like that?”

“Yeah, and the guy who did it was some football jock, and he got off with community service.”

She nodded. “Why?”

“That was Justin who got bashed. And Brian was the boyfriend.”

She lifted her eyebrow. “I can’t see Brian at a prom.”

I thought about it for a minute. “No, I wonder how that happened?”

She looked at Nelo, and stroked his nose. “Some persistent blond teenager must have worn him down.”

I smiled. “You and Brian could form a support group.”

She gave me a look, one side of her mouth twisted up and one eyebrow raised. “How long have you known me, Gabrielle?”

“Sorry. I forgot you don’t do support. Maybe you and Brian could get drunk together and commiserate.” I swung my legs back and forward, my hands on either side of me on the railing. “Xena?”

She sighed. “Gabrielle?”

I jumped down and stood on the other side of Nelo. “He’s fine. Why don’t you come to bed?”

“I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”

I smiled. “Then don’t sleep. Just come to bed. You can sneak back down here after I’m asleep.”

“Like I always do?”

I nodded, and ducked under Nelo’s neck, and stood between him and her. “Like you always do.” I wound my arms around her neck, and kissed her. Her mouth was firm and warm, but after a minute it softened. I let my tongue slip inside, questioningly, and she rested her cheek on my hair.

“Okay. Just until you fall asleep.”

I woke up in the middle of the night. Moonlight was coming in the window, and Xena’s side of the bed was empty.
____________________________________________________________________________
Brian and Justin's story resumed in Risks.

Xena and Gabrielle's story will continue in Lessons, Chapter 2. Will Brian and Justin be in subsequent chapters of Lessons? Probably, because Gus will. But they won't feature prominently and it won't replace anything happening in their own ongoing story. So if you don't like this fic, or crossovers in general, you can ignore future chapters of this story and even pretend it doesn't exist. :)