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Together Again--All Iolaus Day on the IML June 23, 1999
by Gwen Olivier 
golivier@juno.com

	Hercules couldn't keep from smiling to himself as he sat watching Iolaus 
sleeping across the now burnt out camp fire.  It was really great having his 
best friend back by his side.  Iolaus lifted up his head and frowned at 
Hercules.
	"What?" demanded Iolaus.
	"Huh?" replied Hercules.
	"Why are you staring at me?"
	Hercules shrugged, "I was just thinking how good it is having you back 
with me."
	Iolaus grinned.  "It's great to be back.  What are we going to do today?"
	Hercules shook his head, "I can't believe you asked that."
	"Huh?"
	"Don't you remember what today is?"  
	"Wednesday."
	"AID on the IML."
	"Today?  Uh-huh, it's not till the...OH NO, Hercules, how could I forget?  
Why didn't you wake me up?"  Iolaus jumped to his feet and looked down at 
himself.  "I can't go like this.  I have to freshen up."
	"Well, get busy, when you're ready, I have a surprise for you."
	Iolaus looked at Hercules suspiciously.  "What kind of a surprise?"
	"You'll see," laughed Hercules.
	"Oh, come on, Herc, you know I hate surprises."
	"You'll like this one."
	Iolaus was anything but convinced.  "Oh, sure."  He started toward the 
nearby stream.  "Like I don't have enough surprises waiting for me on AID, now 
my best friend has to get in on it, too."
	Hercules smiled at Iolaus' departing back.  A moment later there was a 
noise from the trees behind him and Iolaus2 appeared.  "Hi, Hercules, did I get 
here on time?"
	Hercules jumped to his feet and extended his hand to Iolaus2.  "Your 
timing was perfect."
	"It sure is weird walking on land again, but I wouldn't miss this for the 
world.  I can't believe your friend is really back."
	"It's a wonderful thing."
	"How's married life?"
	Iolaus blushed, "It's been really great so far.  Nautica's the best."
	Hercules smiled, "Yes, she is.  Glad to hear you're enjoying your new 
life."
	Iolaus2 smile wistfully, "I really am."  He blushed deeper and cleared his 
throat.  "Uh, are you sure he won't mine me going along with him?"
	"I'm positive he'll be delighted."
	"Are you going to come with us?"
	"No way."
	"But a lot of the IML like you, too."
	"And I like them, but I'm not crazy enough to show up on AID, maybe some 
other time."
	There was a crashing through the bushes, and they heard Iolaus muttering.  
"All right, Hercules, I'm ready for my surpri..."  Iolaus emerged and stopped 
short when he spotted Iolaus.
	Hercules laughed, "Iolaus, meet Iolaus?"
	Iolaus extended his hand to Iolaus2 who accepted it.  "Don't get me 
wrong," said Iolaus, "but I thought you were a merman."
	Iolaus smiled, "I am...er...was...uh, Aphrodite gave me legs for the day, 
so I could visit the IML for AID.  But when Hercules told me you were back for 
real, I thought maybe you might not want me along..."
	"Why wouldn't I want you along?  There's never enough of me to go around 
on these days."
	"Really?  I mean, I did sort of promise some of them that I would be back 
if you think it's all right."
	"Of course, it's all right.  You want to come, too, Hercules?"
	"No, thanks, you two have fun and try to stay out of trouble."
	"But, Hercules, it's AID," said the two blonds in unison.
	"This is what I'm saying," said Hercules.
	"Well, don't wait up for us.  We'll catch up with you later."
	"Bye," said Hercules.
	"Bye," answered the two men as they started off.  "I hope somebody has a 
pot of coffee on," said Iolaus2.  My days and nights are kind of mixed up under 
the sea."
	"Yeah, and some cookies, tell me about the sea..."
	Hercules simply shook his head with a bemused look on him face.  "There 
they go again.  I hope the IML is ready for them."  

	Hercules had just finished his second cup of tea when someone started 
pounding frantically on his door.  Hercules walked to the door and opened it.  
He was surprised to see Nautica standing there.
	"Hercules," she said breathlessly, "where is my husband?"  She strained 
her head forward trying to get a view of the room.  Hercules stepped back to let 
her in.  She looked around eagerly.
	"They haven't returned yet," said Hercules.
	"But it's so late."
	"They still have another hour, and they rarely get back on time.  What's 
wrong?  Why are you so upset?"
	Nautica was wringing her hands and pacing the floor nervously.  "Well, 
Aphrodite came by early--you know she promised to stop by to change Iolaus back.  
Anyway, she came early so we could spend some time together, and she's been 
telling me all about AID.  And now I'm worried about Iolaus.  If I had known 
what goes on, I never would have let him go."
	Hercules smiled at her.  "Nautica, they are with people who love them.  I 
don't think you have anything to worry about."
	"Are you certain?  I mean Aphrodite seemed to think they had some pretty 
wild stuff going on over there."
	"Yeah, sometimes they do get a bit unruly, but they've never caused any 
permanent damage."  The look on Nautica's face stopped Hercules short.  "Okay, 
let's go see if we can track them down."  He put his arm around Nautica and led 
her out the door.  He sighed deeply to himself, this was not something he was 
looking forward to doing.

	An hour later, they had tracked one of them down to Klio's house where she 
had entertained them with stories about Iolaus.  But she swore that she had only 
seen one Iolaus; she had no idea where Nautica's husband was.  Another half hour 
and they were approaching Adrienne's house certain she would be able to tell 
them what was what, but before they could get there someone ran up demanding 
Hercules come quickly.  Hercules looked at Nautica.
	"You go ahead, I'll go talk to Adrienne," said Nautica.
	"Okay, I'll meet you there."  Hercules left Nautica and started walking 
with the man who had run up to him.  "What's wrong?"
	"It's your friend Iolaus."
	Hercules felt a cold hand grab his heart and squeeze.  "What about him?"
	"He's in jail."
	"Jail?"
	"Yeah.  The magistrate asked me to find you."
	"Thanks."  Hercules glanced back in the direction Nautica had gone and 
decided to check it out for himself before he alarmed her anymore.

	Nautica headed for Adrienne's home, but walking through a park, she 
noticed a familiar golden form sitting on a bench with his lips locked with 
those of a gorgeous brunette.  Livid, Nautica looked around and noticed a nearby 
fountain.  She walked to the trash can found what she wanted; then went to the 
fountain and finally headed for the couple.  Carrying an empty chicken bucket 
filled with water from the fountain she walked up behind the unsuspecting couple 
and dumped the bucket of water on Iolaus' head.  Sputtering the couple broke 
apart.
	"Hey, what'd you do that for?" asked the woman.
	"He's my husband!" said Nautica.
	"No, I'm not," gasped Iolaus.
	"How dare you lie...?"  She squinted her eyes and looked at him more 
closely.  "Iolaus?"
	"Let me guess--you must be Nautica."
	"You are my husband."
	"No, I'm...uh, I just look like him."
	"Iolaus?"
	"Pleased to meet you."  Iolaus offered her his hand.  She accepted it 
gingerly.
	"I'm so sorry, I thought..."
	Iolaus laughed, "It's okay.  Your husband loves you very much; I know he 
wouldn't do anything unseemly."
	"Oh, I'm so embarrassed."
	"Uh, excuse me," said the woman Iolaus had been kissing.  "I guess I'd 
better be going.  I'll see you next AID, Iolaus."
	"I'm looking forward to it," answered Iolaus.  The woman left, and Iolaus 
turned back to Nautica.  "Come on, let's go find your husband."
	"I told Hercules I'd meet him at Adrienne's home," said Nautica.
	"Hercules, you dragged him to the IML on AID?"
	"Well, yeah, he's not in danger is he."
	Iolaus roared with laughter.  "Not hardly.  Today was kind of calm anyway.  
Everyone was so glad to have me back they were very well behaved."
	"Do you know where Iolaus is?"
	"Well, let's see, there was Caroline's, Hebe's, Cait's, Ranait's, 
Lhyric's, Sweeneybird's, CCAmazon's, Ruth's, Margui's, White Raven's, Ziggy's, 
Athena's, Bev's, Janet's, Ceryndip's, Bwell's, Owlharp's, Andrea's and 
Wildkat's."
	"You both went to all those houses together?"
	"No, those were the houses I went to alone.  I'm trying to remember the 
last house we went to together.  It was a while back.  Come on, let's go to 
Adrienne's maybe Herc found something."
	
	As Hercules entered the jailhouse, the Magistrate hurried to greet him.  
"Hercules, thank goodness you're here."
	"Why is Iolaus in jail?" asked Hercules.
	"For his own protection," said the Magistrate.  "There was a group of 
women chasing him down the street.  He was wearing nothing but a bathrobe and 
screaming that he wasn't Iolaus and he loved his wife."  The Magistrate paused.  
"I didn't know he was married."
	"It's a long story," said Hercules.  "Can I see him?"
	"Sure, here's the key.  He's free to go; I just thought he needed someone 
to look out for him."
	"I hope you didn't tell him that," said Hercules.

	Hercules paused and studied the forlorn man sitting alone in the cell.  
After a moment, he approached the cell and opened the door.  Iolaus looked up at 
him.  He immediately broke into a wide grin.  "Hercules."
	"Hello, Iolaus.  Are you okay?"
	"Yeah, just embarrassed."  He glanced down at his robe-clad body.  "You 
see I accidentally spilled a whole bowl of chocolate pudding in my lap, and 
someone lent me this robe and kindly took my clothes to the cleaners, but they 
forgot to tell me that they were planning a gathering of IMLers for AID, and 
when they walked in and spotted me, they thought I was the other one, and then I 
panicked and ran.  And, well, here I am."
	"Well, Nautica's very worried about you.  She's waiting at Adrienne's 
home.  You want to stop and pick up your clothes on the way?"
	"Nah, I'm just going to go home.  I don't need clothes there."
	"I hope this hasn't put you off on AID too much."
	"I don't know.  Maybe I should just stay under the sea."
	"Well, what about the rest of the day?"
	"Oh, it was wonderful, everyone was nice to me as usual.  They read me 
poems and sang me songs and told me stories.  It was great.  I guess I'll wait 
and decide what to do next time.  Right now, I just want to get back to Nautica.  
I really missed being away from her."
	"Then let's go." 

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