Come on,
Iolaus! Hercules chanted at the pool. Don’t you dare
wuss out on that!

Iolaus smiled
at Gabrielle and stood up. “Yeah, you’re probably
right." The mood was completely broken. "Okay, I gotta go
to bed. Lot of stuff to do in the morning. Good
night.”

You
chicken! Xena vented.

Gabrielle
watched him go with a partially surprised and partially saddened
face. “Good night, Iolaus,” she answered.

Xena left in a
huff. She was getting very frustrated that this was taking so long.
Hercules sighed and looked back at the bard sitting alone.
Iolaus, please don’t mess this up.

“storytext”> 

“Oh for
Zeus’s sake, will they hurry up?” Aphrodite
huffed.

“Cool it,
Mom. They’re working their way up to it,” Cupid
observed.

"Working
their way – he totally blew it!"she vented.

"He's
right," Hercules observed. "They're just being very
careful, they know what all this could mean. Although," he
added as he thought it over, "it is kind of unusual for Iolaus
to be taking this long with a girl. Something's definately
different."

"Well
yeah, Unc. He's with his soulmate." Hercules looked at
Cupid surprisedly. He hadn't expected the Love God to be so
explicit. But he appreciated his nephew's comment. Xena had
since taken a break from watching the sidekicks. The pink overkill
had finally gotten the Warrior Princess on overload and
she’dbeen hanging out with Hepheastus in the forge more and
more often. But Hercules, his sister and nephew continued to keep a
constant vigil over the young couple.

"I think
Xena and I should be getting back there."

"Bro, you
might want to think about that."

"How much
longer do you think we can stay away before they figure out
there's no mission?" Hercules was just getting tired of
sitting around the pink palace and having nothing to do. Even if he
couldn't interfere with Gabrielle and Iolaus, he wanted to be
nearby.

"I
don't think they've noticed," Aphrodite
said.

"I
don't think they care," Cupid laughed.

"Maybe
not, but I still think we should get back down there. Even if
it's just for a day or two."

"What do
you think we can do?" Xena asked,as she came back to the
pool.

"I
don't know. But – Xena, I want to be there."

“storytext”>"Hercules… You know the terms. Isn't this
why we came here to begin with?" As sick as she was with
Aphrodite's eternal pinks, Xena wouldn't make a move that
would jeopordize this deal for the world.

"I think
Iolaus is waiting for me to come back. I won't say anything.
I'll show up, stay silent, and split." Split? Did I
just say split? He'd been spending way too much time with
his baby sister. It was definately time to go.