On Hallowed Ground, Chapter 5 - Xena (part 1)

[calliopes_muse]

This part was too long for LJ so I broke it into two pieces.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, I'm a little late doing this.  This was submitted for Ralst's Epic Proportions challenge.  I thought I'd do a little self-pimping.  This is more or less an original fic that I have been meaning to write for a long time, but I used the basic charactistics of Xena and Gabrielle for our main characters.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2:  I will post this in chapters for those who like it that way, but the link to the full story is below.
THANKS: To my primary beta, Sofia Lindsay, for listening to my insecurities and reading and re-reading this fic. It wouldn’t have been done had she not poked the daylights out of me. That sounded very wrong! Also, thanks to my secondary betas on this fic, Darkbardzero and Sinjenkai. Last but not least, to my partner Michelle for puttng up with my late nights working on this.

SUMMARY: Young and ambitious journalist Riley Jacobsen returns home to Alabama for an undercover story on her town’s former church and opens the door to more than she ever expected.

RATING: Mature, for descriptions of violence, abuse, and f/f sex.

CHALLENGE: Submitted as part of the Epic Proportions challenge.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.

©April 2009

Feedback is crack, folks.  Let me know what you think.

ON HALLOWED GROUND (link to full story)

By Calliope’s Muse

 

CHAPTER 5

 

A humid breeze had kicked up, ruffling the red, white and blue coverings smartly taped down to folding tables across the church lawn. The tangy scent of hamburgers and hot dogs roasting floated on the air. Riley stopped suddenly as two kids ran in front of her, chasing each other with water soaker guns.

Attending the July 4^th celebration at the church was part of the group’s mandatory policies, but Riley would have come even if it hadn’t been required. A familiar laugh in the distance caught her attention as she turned to it.

Down by the river, Sam had a young girl by the hands and they were spinning around in a circle. She could hear the soft Southern lilt of Sam’s sing-song voice, “Ring around the rosy…pocket full of posey…” The little girl broke into a fit of giggles as Sam started spinning faster, until they fell in a heap at each other’s feet.

When Sam looked up, Riley was leaning against an enormous magnolia tree smiling.

“Well, hi. You made it.”

Riley rolled her eyes, “As if you had any doubts. You gave me the gift baggie with the little handwritten invitation that said, ‘Be here or be queer.’”

Sam swatted Riley on the arm, “It didn’t say that!”

Riley laughed, “You’re in an awfully good mood.”

“Yeah, I am,” she looked around at the picnic once again going off without a hitch, “Surprisingly.”

Riley saw a brief flash of sadness cross Sam’s face, “Is there a reason you wouldn’t be?”

The blonde put her hands up, “Alright…stop. You’re messing with my good mood. This is not a time for serious. We have beautiful weather, not a cloud in the sky, amazing food on the grill that is horribly bad for you, and lots of games.” Sam mischievously raised her eyebrow at Riley, “Speaking of which…”

The matching smile on Riley’s face was instantly gone. This didn’t sound good. “Oh no you don’t! You’re not wrangling me into some silly games. I’ve shown up, done my civic duty…I’m outta here.” Riley turned to leave and Sam went after her, laughing.

“No, no, no…you can’t leave.” The shorter woman jumped in front of Riley, holding out both hands to stop her. “I need your help and you promised you’d help. Come on, it’ll be fun…Pllleeeaaasseee.”

Riley put her hands over her eyes, “No, don’t look at me with those eyes! You’re worse than Medusa!”

Sam laughed and took the brunette by the arm to drag her over to wooden box-like cage contraption. Riley looked at it in horror and then around at all the happy faces waiting in anticipation of seeing Riley soaked to the bone.

“I don’t think so.”

“And why not?” Sam put her hands on her hips.

Riley looked down at herself, pointing at the t-shirt she was wearing, “White. Sorry.”

Sam smirked at the taller woman and went to a booth. When she was a few feet from Riley, she flung the item in her hand at Riley, hitting her square in the face.

“Bathroom is right through that door,” she pointed to her right, “Don’t take too long though. You have a line forming.”

Sure enough, Riley looked around at the crowd of people and there was a line of easily twenty or more people waiting to dunk her. She sighed and walked past Sam, “You are so going to owe me for this.”

In a few minutes, Riley found herself propped up on a stiff wooden chair dangling over about five feet of water. She watched as Sam gathered up three softballs, weighing each carefully in her hand.

“Oh, and Riley, just so you know and can’t say this is beginner’s luck, I played community baseball for about five years.” She paused for dramatic effect. “I was the pitcher.”

Before Riley had the chance to realize how totally screwed she was, Sam threw the first ball and hit the red target squarely in the middle. With a shocked yelp, Riley disappeared below the watery surface. A split second later, she came flying out of the freezing water, sputtering water from her gaping mouth.

“You…are…so…going…to…pay.”

“Maybe eventually, but for right now, you’re trapped in a metal and wood box, so I can do whatever I want.”

Sam passed off the ball to a teenage boy standing behind her, “Be gentle. She’s new.”

The blonde stood off to the sidelines watching Riley quickly lose her battle with dignity when a deep voice came up behind her, “I need to talk to you.”

Bobby had debated approaching Sam. His head told him to let it go, let her be, but his heart was starting to scream over it to be heard. He needed to know what he did wrong, why he wasn’t good enough, and not for the first time in his life did he wonder if he should have stayed in college. Maybe then he’d have something to offer a girl like Sam. All he’d ever be now is a small town car mechanic.

“Hey, um…well, I’m kind of busy.”

He put his hands in his back pockets, “It doesn’t look like it. In fact, it looks like you’re having a grand ol’ time.” Sam didn’t miss the hint of jealousy in his voice.

“Bobby, I really don’t want to talk about this here,” she whispered to keep from drawing attention to the people in line.

“Just tell me then, tell me what I did wrong. I’m a nice guy, right? I was good to you, wasn’t I?” Sam took a couple of steps away to keep everyone from hearing what he was saying.

“Yes, but that’s not the point.”

He grabbed her arm a little too roughly, “I didn’t pressure you. I didn’t even try to kiss you the first few times we went out. I don’t get it. Am I not good enough for you?”

Sam gritted her teeth against the ache in her arm and spoke far calmer to him than she felt, “Bobby, you’re making a scene. Let me go.”

“Is it someone else?” He gave her arm a shake with the question.

“Is there a problem here?” Riley stood next to them, towel in hand, dripping from head to toe, and she had never looked more intimidating. 

She had seen the guy come up to Sam, which set off a warning bell to begin with, but when he grabbed Sam’s arm, she jumped out of the dunking booth faster than was really smart. They were so engrossed that neither saw her slip on the ladder and twist her ankle. Now, she stood here trying to look imposing when inside she was fighting back the urge to scream from the pain.

Bobby gave her an odd look, wondering why she was butting into a private conversation, “No, there’s no problem. Not that it’s any of your business. I can talk to my girlfriend if I want to.”

“Ex-girlfriend,” Sam quickly emphasized, compensating for Riley’s confused expression. “We broke up.”

“You broke up and I want to know why.” Sam sighed.

“I told you, Bobby.”

He pulled her closer, “No you didn’t. All you said was that it wasn’t me, it was you. That’s not a good reason.”

“Sounds good enough to me,” Riley interjected, not liking how he was manhandling Sam.

“Look, you seem like a nice enough person, but you should butt out.”

Riley smirked as the adrenaline rushed through her veins, her muscles poised to strike, “I will when you get your hands off of her and treat her like a lady.”

Sam didn’t have a chance to react before Bobby shoved Riley hard into the booth behind her. She winced when her bad ankle couldn’t catch her weight and she slammed back hard into the wooden frame. Immediately, Sam was at her side, helping her up, but the adrenaline pumping through her negated the pain in her leg as she made a jump for Bobby.

“Riley! Stop!” She pleaded with the fiery blue eyes that looked back at her. “Please.” 

Riley’s body visibly relaxed as she let up causing the pain to rush back into her body, making her limp much more pronounced, “Are you okay? What happened? Did he…”

Riley smiled at her concern, shaking her head, “No, just being my usual clumsy self. I slipped getting out.” She motioned to the water-filled box behind her.

Bobby shuffled his feet uncomfortably as he tried to avoid the staring eyes around him. He tried one last time to get Sam to cooperate, “Can we please talk…alone?”

Sam looked at him and shook her head. The boy she had known wasn’t the man standing in front of her. The Bobby she knew never would have hurt another woman. Instead of answering him, she helped Riley move, putting her arm around her shoulder.

“Come on, let’s get some ice on that ankle.”

TBC...