My Best Girl's Consummation

Content Warning : This work contains references to and descriptions of sexual activities between a male and a female. It is entirely consentual and is within the context of a loving relationship, but if either your inclinations or those of the law makers in your area runs contrariwise to reading something of this nature, best skip this.

Spoiler Warning : This piece is set immediately after the Hercules episode "My Best Girl's Wedding," and involves and references characters and situations from that episode, as well as the episode "Love on the Rocks." A few tidbits from "Stranger & Stranger" are also mentioned in passing, but don't really spoil anything important from the episode.

Author's Note : I just can't seem to resist the challenge of writing some of these stories, which are based on the more... unusual situations created by TPTB from Hercules and Xena. And, after all, Iolaus & Nautica can't spend all their time gazing longingly at each other... Mea Culpa. Yet again.

Workplace Warning : Among the responses to "Juicy Fruits," (shameless plug) was a request to include this disclaimer in future stories : don't read this while at work. Since I've already disclaimed this as being sexually explicit, I thought this warning was just a little redundant, but still... Don't. <EG>

Xenite Disclaimer : Iolaus' bachelor lifestyle suffered a severe blow in the production of this work - and he loved every minute of it.

"Goodbye, Hercules! Thanks for everything, Aphrodite!" Iolaus called, pausing to wave one final time before ducking beneath the surface of the water, hand in hand with the love of his life.

As he submerged fully, he felt the wave of change washing over him, his pants and boots dissolving in a sparkling haze of pink light as his legs fused and melded together to form his new shape, one better suited to his new aquatic home. Now, he and Nautica could truly be together.

Even though he was in effect abandoning a second world - and more importantly the new friend that he had made in the person of the Sovereign's good counterpart Hercules, Iolaus did so with a glad heart. Nothing had ever seemed so right in his life as his decision to follow Nautica, and his heart sang in his chest as he glowed with the strength of his love and the warm sense of contentment it inspired.

Rolling over in the waves in a motion that seemed entirely natural, he lifted his head out of the water, blowing the salty spray from his lips as he returned to the surface. On the distant shore, he could see Hercules and Aphrodite still standing a silent vigil, watching him as he left the land-bound world behind.

Beside him, her tail gleaming wetly as it flexed powerfully, momentarily breaking the surface of the water, Nautica lifted her torso from the sea's grip, turning to face the swiftly receding shore. After joining him in waving farewell, she graced Iolaus with a dazzling smile, then extended her hand in silent offer.

Iolaus, stunned as always by her incredible beauty, felt his heart pound heavily against his chest. She loved him! echoed joyously in his mind. Shyly brushing his fingertips against hers, he returned her smile, then followed as she dove, leading him into the crystal depths of his new home, her world : the seas.

Swimming behind the mermaid, Iolaus, still trying to acclimate himself to his new circumstance, found his thoughts beginning to wander. Although his new body, freshly transformed by Aphrodite, was still a little strange to him, it wasn't as alien as he'd expected : the acrobat's muscles that he'd developed while serving the Sovereign as court jester served him in good stead, even if they were now covered by scales. Smiling in satisfaction, he hurried after Nautica, tail lashing as he swam - if not smoothly, at least powerfully.

Even now, so soon after the transformation, he could feel himself adjusting even more to his new state, becoming acclimated faster than he'd ever thought possible. It even seemed entirely natural to swim as he did, using the power of his lower body to propel him forward.

After a little while, it didn't even seem to matter that he was underwater; his new body was perfectly suited for its aquatic lifestyle. Indeed, he was able to simply respond as he had in his old body, and his senses and reactions melded with the new sensations to make him feel perfectly comfortable and relaxed. All in all, Aphrodite had done an exceptional job in creating this new Iolaus from the body of the original Iolaus.

"Life is wonderful," Iolaus breathed near-silently to himself, and for a dedicated pessimist like Iolaus-the-former-jester to so much as think that made it into a virtual paean. "Thank you, Aphrodite," he offered up a silent prayer to his benefactress, contentment washing sweetly through him.

Nautica turned and smiled at Iolaus, then spun about with an agile flick of her tail. Darting beneath him, she swam on her back separated from him by a mere handsbreadth, her eyes alive with joy as she drank in the streamlined beauty of his new body. He was so handsome... She made a mental note to remember to thank Aphrodite properly after she returned home - the goddess had done so much for her...

Iolaus did some admiring of his own. She was swift and graceful, sleek and lovely, and her agility put the most skilled of dolphins to shame as she swam. No matter how beautiful Nautica had been when he'd fallen in love with her, on land she had always seemed a trifle... Tentative. Uncertain. His jester's sense of humor momentarily offered, "like a fish out of water," before it was beaten back into submission by his love for her. All comedy aside, here she was home, and the rightness of his decision to join her resonated in his heart and soul, both warming him and filling him with satisfaction.

He'd enjoyed swimming, before; it was one of the reasons he'd thought he could make the adjustment to live with her in the ocean. Yet now that he'd been changed, the feeling of it was simply indescribable.

Iolaus moved through the water almost like it wasn't there, though it also buoyed him comfortingly; the water cradled him in its warm, welcoming grip. He felt like he was floating in nothingness as he swam, yet was able to control himself perfectly. It was almost like flying.

Or at least how he envisioned flying should be. The closest he'd come to actually flying was being tossed about by the Sovereign. True, it let him soar through the air for a goodly distance, but without any control over his course. And the landings were a killer.

At least his sense of humor hadn't been affected by the change, Iolaus mused silently, though whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen.

Triton's daughter slowed, then came to a halt, and Iolaus followed suit, waving his arms through the water to help him position himself properly beside her. Their fins and tails fluttered softly in the gentle current, but they remained steady.

"Oh, Iolaus. We owe so much to Aphrodite," Nautica exclaimed, twining herself around him with a fluid grace. She seemed almost boneless as she curled about his body, brushing against his skin in an explosion of tactile delight.

"I know," the former jester replied, stretching out his arms to gather her into his embrace. "And... I love you."

Nautica's eyes glowed with the power of her answering love. Her delicate, pearly teeth began to softly nip at his collarbone, and she purred in excitement as a warm glow began to emanate from her center.

"Oh!" the mermaid suddenly exclaimed, abruptly stopping her advances (much to Iolaus' disappointment) as she ran tentative fingers over the planes of her stomach. She buried her head in the crook of his neck and nibbled at the throbbing of his pulse, her lips bringing shivering goosebumps to life with each gentle bite.

"I owe her more than I thought..." she purred against his skin, the vibration thrilling down his spine.

"Oh?" Iolaus marveled, understandably distracted by what her mouth and hands were doing to him. He gladly begin to indulge in some exploration of his own, delighting in the warmth of her body.

"I'm ready," Nautica told him, bluntly - if a trifle breathlessly.

"Ready?" Iolaus asked blankly as he struggled to throw off the seductive haze she'd drawn over his mind. "Oh! You mean ready..." he realized, drawing her closer to him.

"Have you," the mermaid began tentatively, her trepidation at the question clear in her face and voice, "ever...?" she trailed uncertainly off, unable to bring herself to complete the sentence.

"Yes," he reluctantly admitted, unable to lie to the woman he loved despite his sorrow at the answer. He tried to explain himself, but the words sounded hollow to his ears. "I never thought I could find anyone like you, someone so wonderful and special, to share my life with, so I..." he trailed off, utterly ashamed of himself for his failure to remain pure for her. As illogical as the feeling was, he couldn't help but castigate himself for the horrible transgression.

"No! It's okay," his true love soothed him. "Truthfully, I'm kind of glad for that. Because... I've never... I mean, I've got lots of sisters and cousins who've told me all about it, but I've never... never... actually..."

"Well," Iolaus ventured, beginning to rub the small of her back in gentle support and reassurance, "If you think about it, this new body of mine has 'never' either, so... I guess we can learn together."

"I'd really like that," she beamed, leaning into his soft caress. "I love you, Iolaus," Nautica purred happily, face alight with joy. She and her true love were going to be together, Hercules had saved her father, and she'd never have to face that... that... foul man again. Everything was just perfect!

"And I love you," Iolaus happily responded, his expression just as love-struck as hers.

Nautica lightly kissed him on the lips, then squirmed out of his arms. "Come with me," she invited, though the intensity of the request all but made it an order. "We need to get to the kelp beds."

"Okay," he acquiesced, "Anything you like." She was, if not an expert, at least familiar with the concept of sex as it applied to these half-human, half-fish bodies - which was more than could be said of the new merman. Iolaus was perfectly content to let her take the lead to show him what to do.

The feelings of arousal that had overtaken him as she rubbed her scaly lower body against his were very familiar, yet his changed anatomy gave him pause. He could clearly see how streamlined his lower body was, and even if his mind told him he was aroused, the lack of a certain familiar appendage was a little troubling. How could they, without... he wondered.

Still, despite his uncertainty, he smiled at his love and followed her, knifing through the water with the speed (if not the economy of movement) of a porpoise. Nautica would know what to do; she'd better, he thought momentarily, because he certainly didn't - though he was more than willing to learn.

Thanks to the speed of their swimming, the pair soon reached the tangled expanse of seaweed that Nautica had been looking for. Together they came to a gradual, floating halt, surrounded by the waving fronds of the underwater plants.

Nautica smiled, lowering her eyes demurely and shyly, yet with more than a hint of flirtatiousness, making her expression an irresistible mix of adorable and seductive. Without saying a word, she slowly reached behind her back and disconnected the clasp holding her scant top together before easing it over first one shoulder, then the other. Modestly covering the swell of her breasts with one arm, she hid her nipples behind the cover of the limb as she carefully untangled her arms from the top's folds.

When she had fully divested herself of her sole article of clothing, the mermaid teasingly extended it towards her mate in one outstretched hand. Then, when Iolaus' eyes were riveted to her, she let both arms drop, revealing herself fully to him.

Her nipples crinkled and flushed a darker hue under the heat of his gaze, swelling with arousal. She blushed delicately, both nervous and excited by his open regard as color visibly rose from her chest to suffuse her cheeks with a rosy glow.

"So beautiful," Iolaus whispered, more to himself than to her, as he was struck once again by her beauty. His love for her was boundless, as deep and eternal as the seas, and though he knew that he would still find her beautiful were she in her human shape, her natural mermaid form, or even any other body, he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the beauty that was in every part of her, both body and soul.

Nautica smiled in true pleasure, pleased by his reaction to her unveiling. She opened her arms to him, framing her bared breasts with their length while emphasizing their size with a subtle arch to her back, then invited, "Come to me, my love."

Iolaus flowed into her embrace, enfolding her in the warm circle of his arms. Near breathless with love and desire, he claimed her lips with his own, consuming her breath and offering his own in exchange as his tongue coyly infiltrated her mouth to tease and caress the inner reaches.

Groaning into his kiss with delight, Nautica nipped gently at his invading tongue before stroking her own along its length. Wrapping her arms around his torso, she drew him close, rubbing the firm swell of her breasts against his hairless chest as their tongues dueled joyously and playfully.

Iolaus was in Elysia.

He had never felt anything as completely perfect as was the slick warmth of Nautica in his arms as they floated suspended amongst the waving fronds of seaweed. He felt like he was floating in midair, enveloped in love and passion, utterly free of worries and cares. It was sheer bliss.

Reluctantly drawing away from his chosen mate's mouth, Iolaus kissed her gently behind a delicate ear. "I love you," he whispered into that same ear, lading all the weight of his love into the soft confession. His tongue momentarily flickered out to trace the perfect curve of her ear before drawing the rounded lobe between his lips with a tantalizing slurp.

The mermaid shuddered, her virginal body delighting in the surging passions that were being sent racing through her with each skilled touch and caress. She shuddered as a small explosion of warmth erupted in her core, and Nautica gloried as she was guided to ever greater heights of passion in the arms of her more experienced lover.

Her glory was swiftly transformed into outright exaltation as he once more proclaimed his love for her. Great Poseidon's beard, but Iolaus is wonderful! resounded in her thoughts as his hand dropped to caress the small of her back, tracing and lightly teasing the point of union between her human torso and her fish-like lower body.

Remembering something that a much more experienced cousin had once told her about (Lilaea - the Naiad of the Cephissus), Nautica held Iolaus motionless with her arms, gripping his biceps to prevent further amorous exploration. She waited until his eyes sought hers, and then with a wicked smile, flipped her tail, running the soft edge of her fins gently across his own.

Iolaus' eyes rolled back in their sockets and he twitched, the instinctive tightening of his muscles crushing her deliciously against him as he fought to maintain control while overwhelming feelings exploded through him, generated by the previously unknown erogenous zone. "Gah..." was all he managed to say.

Nautica was not distressed; the expression on his face was far more eloquent in expressing his love for and satisfaction with her than mere words ever could. And then he returned the favor, stroking her fins with his - and conscious thought utterly vanished as she felt a volcano of pleasure erupting in her center.

When higher brain function was restored, she could only think, "No wonder Iolaus reacted like that..." Panting, she rode out the pleasurable aftershocks that roiled over her like the tide, washing away lingering nervousness and uncertainty. That was incredible, she mused, still caught in the swell of her burgeoning passions.

Chuckling, Iolaus gently traced the curve of her shoulder with his fingers as they teasingly brushed their fins together, trying to keep from overwhelming each other fas they did. This was different from anything he'd ever experienced before; strange and a little awkward, maybe, but also incredibly exciting - though that was likely more because he truly loved the woman he was with than because of anything unique about his new body. Though come to think of it, it had been a gift from Aphrodite...

When the haze of passion their loveplay had generated had begun to clear from Nautica's mind - enough for her to think, anyway - she paused to gather herself for the climax of their union. Was Iolaus ready? she wondered to herself. Glancing down, she followed the curve of his aqua scaled hip to the small pair of stabilizing fins that graced the sides of his tail near the position where a human's thighs resided. The fins were quivering slightly, standing stiffly at full extension while they fanned the warm water, and appeared to be slightly blanched.

He was ready - and she was definitely ready, she thought with a gasp, flushing as one of Iolaus' hands cupped her breast, teasing the nipple with his thumb.

It was definitely time to mate.

While it was usually the male's job to trigger their mutual release, (as her mother had hesitantly explained during an uncomfortable "flying fish and the eels" discussion they'd had once she reached maturity) she didn't mind leading her love to the finish. She was eager, in fact. Frankly, she was so excited, she didn't think she'd be able to wait for the new merman to figure out the proper technique.

Sliding down Iolaus' body a few inches, she gripped him tightly around the torso with one arm, holding him in the proper position as she clenched her abdominal muscles in preparation. She aligned herself carefully, holding her pouting and slightly gaping vent near his waist.

With a gentle grunt, she pressed against her abdomen in just the right spot with an elbow, causing her to begin expelling her eggs, even as she gently stroked the opening of the almost invisible vent near the base of his abdomen, triggering his own release.

Iolaus' eyes widened as she touched him - and he felt an odd cramping coming from his stomach. Under her gentle guidance, a series of muscles buried in the depths of his torso began to rhythmically clench and release. A sensation of relief that, to his new, inexperienced body felt vaguely comparable to the relief of urinating in his old body, glowed from the spot his love was tickling with her fingers. His insides began to pulsate pleasurably, forcing out... something from within his body.

Nautica undulated against him, biting her lower lip to help keep herself focused on her task as she kept herself properly aligned with her mate. She gyrated gently, holding him steady as she expelled her eggs into the slowly expanding cloud of his semen, letting the water that enfolded them both bring the fruit of their union together, enabling conception to occur.

At length, the mermaid moaned her contentment as the last of her eggs came free from her body with a final, lingering contraction that sent ripples rolling through the muscles of her stomach. The milky-white globule of eggs floated freely between them for a moment; it hung poised in the water as sperm raced to fertilize it, then slowly weaved a gentle path down through the cloud of Iolaus' seed in search of a nesting place amidst the gently waving ocean flora.

"You were wonderful," Nautica cooed, slumping gratefully against Iolaus' comforting warmth as her body relaxed, taut muscles finally releasing as she began to recover from her reproductive eruption.

"I was?" Iolaus wondered aloud. Now that was definitely strange, he mused silently. His body felt oddly relaxed - like he had orgasmed - but he hadn't really felt anything other than that strange, cramping pressure of release. Was that it?

So that was how merfolk reproduced, Iolaus thought to himself. Huh. No wonder Poseidon is so grumpy all the time. It definitely lacked a certain something...

"Oh, yes," the mermaid cooed. She briefly dove to the ocean floor to reclaim her top, then gently tugged on Iolaus' hand until he obediently followed her out of the slowly diffusing cloud of their commingled eggs and sperm, up and away from their sheltered bower.

When they were clear of the slightly murky patch of water, Nautica kissed him thoroughly, then sank down his body, trailing her still-swollen nipples across his torso as she went.

Iolaus was uncertain, but willing, and obediently held himself as motionless as he could while Nautica floated down his length.

Gripping his twitching tail to hold herself steady, Nautica rested her cheek against his scaled waist. Before Iolaus realized her intent, she gently began lapping at his slit, cleaning the traces of sperm that still lingered from the lips of it with her tongue.

"Whoa!" Iolaus gasped, thrashing briefly as he instinctively reached out for her. Sweet Aphrodite, but that felt good!

She easily evaded his touch and unconcernedly continued grooming him, licking her lips as she consumed the last of his seed.

A faint ripple of muscular contractions shuddered through his stomach as her tongue brushed gently against his entrance. With a faint sigh of contentment from Iolaus, another thin trickle of his milky ejaculate erupted against her lips, making her giggle as she unconcernedly drank it down.

"Now stop that," she gently admonished her lover, momentarily darting her tongue into his slit to gather the fresh remnants of his pleasure. "How can I get you clean if you're going to keep doing that?"

Pulling her away from himself with a gentle tug after she deposited a last lingering, slurping lick, he happily pulled her up into his embrace. "How can I stop if you're going to do that?" he retorted. His new body may be different, he thought, but there are definitely compensations.

Nautica blushed then kissed him, giving him a taste of his slightly acrid seed as her tongue toyed with his. "You're sweet, but you really should try to hold back. It's not considered polite to go around spreading your sperm all over the place, Iolaus. I mean, what do you think would happen if another couple is trying to mate when you swam by?" She teasingly swatted his rump before caressing it, soothing the gentle sting. "I'm the only girl you should be trying to have children with," she breathed into his ear.

Iolaus blinked, startled by the very idea. He hadn't really thought about that possible aspect of it. Of course, virtually everything about this way of having sex was new to him, but he had to admit that her warning did make sense. He'd all but forgotten he was underwater, but considering the way his sperm was obviously spreading through the water... He paused to watch the cloud surrounding the spot where they'd consummated their love as it diffused. While the odds of running into another mating couple were probably low here, near the shore, elsewhere it might be problematic.

"I just can't wait to see our babies," Nautica continued, unaware of her mate's wandering thoughts.

"Babies?" Iolaus gulped. Glancing down once more at the mass of sperm and eggs that was slowly sinking into the cover of the kelp beds, he suddenly wondered exactly how many eggs they'd just fertilized. She'd seemed to "lay" a great many, even if he wasn't really paying that much attention... "Ahh... exactly how many babies are we talking about?" he hesitantly broached the question.

Nautica shrugged and swam a gentle loop around him, still glowing in satisfaction from their encounter. "Maybe a dozen if we're lucky. Usually only a few of the eggs will actually be fertilized and live long enough to thrive, but we won't really know for almost a year how well we did. However, since Aphrodite was involved... Let's just say that I'm very hopeful."

She pulled her reclaimed top back on, a thoughtful look growing on her face as she did. "Maybe I should send word on to Artemis, too," she added under her breath. It was childbirth of a sort, after all, and she was the patron...

"A dozen?" the former jester stammered, his voice cracking slightly as he tried to adjust to this latest revelation. He had certainly looked forward to being a father, but - Twelve? All at once?

His surprised confusion finally registered on the blissfully dreaming mermaid, pulling her away from her happy fantasies of maternity. "You mean you didn't know...? Next year we'll return and see how many of my eggs survived to grow, and then we'll gather up our young to raise. I know it's probably a little different than you're used to, but its also the way daddy and Poseidon have managed to have so many daughters. It does work."

Still somewhat flustered, Iolaus finally managed, "Ok, I guess. It just took me a bit by surprise, that's all. Um, couldn't we just gather up the kids now?" he asked hopefully.

"How?" Nautica asked reasonably, looking over her shoulder at the slowly-diffusing cloud floating over the bed of seaweed.

"I see your point," Iolaus murmured. He couldn't even really see the individual eggs, let alone collect them.

Nautica smiled her understanding, but was too excited to dwell long on his befuddlement. "Come on," the mermaid enthused. "I can't wait to tell daddy the good news!" She swam deeper into the ocean, heading for Triton's grotto.

Watching her go, the former jester remained motionless for a minute as his thoughts raced.

Iolaus hadn't really considered all the changes that his decision to live with his true love would entail; but now, as he slowly began to swim away from the murky mix of his seed and Nautica's eggs, the sheer difference of his new life really struck home. The sex was definitely... different. The climax was nowhere near as good, but that thing she did with her tail...

He made a mental note to find out what exactly it was called; after all, saying, "You give good fin," sounded flippant (no pun intended, he told himself as he idly flipped his tail) at best, and insulting at worst; he would have enough trouble keeping his often strange sense of humor under control without adding comments like that to the situation.

Shrugging in easy acceptance of his lot, the former jester tightened the muscles of his abdomen and kicked with his lower body, swimming off in pursuit of his lover.

He was with the woman he loved and who loved him, and for that matter, was going to be a father - twelve times over. Life really was pretty darn good, he thought happily, echoing his earlier thought.

The Sovereign was gone, evil queen Nebula was literally worlds away, and he was about to start his life afresh with Nautica. Frankly, the biggest problem that he could see looming was the need to pick out a score or so names for his possible offspring... but even that could wait. He had his whole life ahead of him, and for the first time in many years, he understood that fact to be a good thing.

Flicking his tail, Iolaus pulled up alongside his love. He returned her smile and gladly took her hand in his. Life really was wonderful, he mused.