"What were you two talking about?" Xena asked. Gabrielle shrugged and looked away.

"Nothing."

"You seem pretty upset, Gabrielle. Whatever it is, it isn't nothing." Xena said, worried about her friend.

"It's nothing I want to talk about."

"All right, but if you decide you do want to talk about it, I'm always here." Xena gently reminded her.

Gabrielle smiled at her friend, wondering what in the world Xena would say once she learned just what Gabrielle's problem was.

"Strife."

"Hm?"

"I'll thank you not to influence Joxer anymore. Especially without my permission."

Strife rolled over to see his aunt tapping her foot, with a look of extreme annoyance on her face. He blinked as innocently as possible.

"I dunno what yer talkin' about." He replied.

"Oh, so 'bitch in heat' doesn't mean anything to you?" She asked. Strife cringed. She had seen the whole thing.

"I couldn't help it." He muttered.

"You want in or not?" Aphrodite asked him. Strife held up his hands in defeat.

"Point taken - no more influencing Joxer."

"Or anyone else, unless I say so." Aphrodite demanded. Strife winced.

"Fine." He ground out. "I'll be glad when this baby's born."

"Why?" Aphrodite said, sitting next to him and rubbing his swollen belly.

"She's real sweet, I can feel it. But it fucks with who I am, ya know? And sometimes I'll do somethin' just...I mean..."

"Just to hold on to who you are." Aphrodite whispered. Strife nodded.

"I feel like I'm losing me." He admitted.

"You're not. You're experiencing her view of the world, that's all. She's not trying to subvert your personality..."

"I know that." Strife sniffed. "But I'm not used tah that. It don't feel natural."

"Seeing the world through someone else's eyes? Or feeling sweet?"

"Feeling sweet. It's like bein' drenched in chocolate goo." He said, wincing. Aphrodite smiled. Strife had a legendary aversion to chocolate.

"Think of it this way: It's the way you would have been if...Oh. I didn't mean it that way, I mean..." Aphrodite closed her mouth, at a loss for words.

"Yah mean if my mother had been anyone but my mother." Strife sighed. Aphrodite looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I wonder if this is what it was like when she was pregnant with me?" He wondered aloud.

"It was. You were never meant to be the god of Strife. But by the time we got you to Ares, it was too late. Everything about you had changed." She explained.

"I don't want that to happen this time." Strife whispered. "But I don't know what to do."

"Don't fight it. Instead of blocking her feelings, or freaking when they get through, enjoy them. Let them flow through you. Really take a look at the world from her perspective. You don't want her thinking you don't love her, right? Or that her feelings are unimportant to you, do you?"

Strife looked at Aphrodite in horror. It was exactly what his mother had done. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had known, he just hadn't been able to pinpoint what it was. Now it was suddenly so clear.

"So it's okay ta feel sorry fer Gabrielle cuz' Ares ain't stickin' it to her?" He asked. Aphrodite laughed.

"It's absolutely okay, honey! My plan wouldn't be working if SOMEBODY didn't feel sorry for her."

"She likes you." Strife whispered. He couldn't help shuddering at the thought that he had committed the same crime his mother had. The despair he had been hiding broke through, leaving him sobbing into Aphrodite's arms.

"I don't want tah be like her!" He wailed. "I can't help it! I shouldn't have been the one tah have her..."

"That's nonsense!" Aphrodite snapped. "You just proved that you're not like your mother. You knew something was wrong, and you did something about it. All you have to do now is let your daughter be herself. If you can live with Cupid and his 'mushy' love letters, or me and my perfume, or Ares and his, um, his..."

Strife started giggling. There was nothing remotely flowery or mushy about his uncle. Something suddenly made sense, though.

"Oh!" Strife exclaimed, wriggling free of Aphrodites' arms. "Now I get it! That's why ya picked Joxer!"

"It's about time, stud muffin!"

"Ares. Mushy. Don't fit."

"That's because sex is his only realy emotional outlet besides throwing fire bombs."

Strife thought about it for a moment, and realized that hugs or no hugs, during the brief time that he and his uncle had had a relationship, Ares had made him feel like the single most important person in the world. He smiled and nodded in understanding. If it hadn't been for Ares, Strife never would have been able to accept Cupid's affection. Startled, he looked Aphrodite in the eye.

"He set us up!" He yelled. Aphrodite giggled.

"He had to do something. He loves you as if you were his own son. And we were all sick and tired of watching Cupid flirt with you with absolutely no results. It was really starting to get him down."

Strife blushed.

"Don't remind me. I still feel really stupid about that."

"Don't. There was no way you could have known that he was for real. With everything that's happened to you, Ares was just the medicine you needed."

"Okay, so wait...I was a sympathy fuck?" He asked in horror.

"Not from the way I hear it. He was almost sorry to see you go."

"Yer not just sayin' that?" He asked.

"No way, dude! He really hated giving you up. But he would do anything for Cupid. And anything for you. He couldn't give you what you needed. And you're not gonna actually sit there and tell me you're not happy with Cupid, are you?" She asked, brow furrowed in disbelief.

"Nah." Strife admitted.

"Good. Now that we got that settled, let's move on to more important things. Now that Gabrielle no longer smells like poop, she needs to talk to Joxer again."

"Gotcha. But one more thing: Ya tell anybody I cried, and I won't be held responsible for what happens to yer favorite temple."

"That's my boy!" Aphrodite giggled.