©2002 by WILDBEARIES

This story is based on characters created in the film, "Gladiator" and in no way intended to infringe upon those characters or the story of that film. References to real people are strictly the product of the writer's imagination and meant to entertain the reader.
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"She did what?" Maximus shouted at the house steward. "You will stop this nonsense at once, put my things back and send the Domina to me in my office." He glanced down at himself. "Wait. Never mind that, instead bring me clean clothing and a basin with warm water."

He had limped back indoors, determined to speak with his wife, set about making amends, apologize yet again for his lapse, and had been greeted by half a dozen puzzled house workers packing his belongings - clothing, books, mementos - preparing to move them to a downstairs guest chamber. Well, I put an end to that little maneuver, he thought as he threw the torn, dirty tunic to a servant. He took up the wash cloth and sponged gingerly at the scratches on his face. Jupiter, a lion in full attack mode might not do so much damage, he thought.

He cleaned the gouges as best he could and made a mental note to ask Gemma for some salve to put on them later that would take the sting out. He doubted Ana would give him the proper medicament in the temper she was in, more likely something that would add to the discomfort - or turn his face blue. He sighed. Finished washing off the dirt and bloodstains, he donned the clean clothes, righted his hair and set off to find his wife.

She was in the nursery with the baby, as he had expected. When he opened the door and stepped inside, every woman in there froze and turned almost as one entity to regard him with the bland expression on her face that told him he had been the subject of their now-interrupted conversation. He regarded them with equally impersonal hauteur and dismissed them from the room, leaving only himself, Ana and little Aurelius, who was fussing.

"Is he all right?" he asked, coming forward to see his son.

Ana shifted the baby against her, making him fuss louder, "Do you really care?"

He moved a chair close and sat in it, regarding her dispassionately although his stomach was churning. "How can you ask? You know I love all my children - all our children - very very much. So I ask you again, Ana, is the baby all right?"

She stared at him for a moment, realizing she was being unfair in that regard, and nodded, "Yes, he's merely restless. I think he is reacting to my upset."

"Will you let me hold him?" he asked her. He could, he supposed, get up and snatch the baby from her, but that would serve no purpose. She held the baby out to him and he took him. He put one big hand under the baby's head, the other supporting his back, and held him close to his heart. The little red face was shortly quite a bit less red, and the indignant tears slowed to occasional hiccups as Maximus rocked his little son and murmured to him now and then. "There," he said, smiling into the blue eyes that looked up at him with an infant's typical unfocussed gaze, "we adults never remember how we upset our poor little children, son, I beg you to forgive me." When Aurelius kicked his feet and cooed, Maximus' smile widened. He looked up to find Ana watching them, an unreadable expression on her face. "What?"

She shook her head, then changed her mind and answered, "You charm infants, horses and other women, Maximus - do not think to charm me so easily." She realized she sounded petulant, but there it was, it was how she felt. Her glance sharpened when she realized he had changed clothes and washed. By now, his things should be moved - unless. . .

"There will be no more nonsense about having my things put in a guest room," Maximus said firmly but softly, reading her changing expressions correctly. "If you do not wish to sleep in my bed, that is your choice, but you may move your things to another room, the master suite is mine. The power in this household is mine - should I choose to take it all, which I haven't before now."

"You want me to move to another bedroom?" she asked, trying to keep her tone even so as not to upset the baby again. He was, at that moment, sound asleep in Maximus lap.

"I do not. I want you to let me make amends for what I did, to allow me to apologize and try somehow to earn your trust again. It's what I would do if the situation were reversed."

She snorted once, smiling in disbelief. "You would not, you would kill the man and beat me half to death if I did that to you."

He studied her face. "Ana - I do not make a practice of beating women, especially one I love beyond reason. Not to say that a spanking now and then is at all the same thing."

"If you try it, I will scream the roof down."

"I don't want screaming," he told her patiently, touching the baby's black curls with a finger and smiling down at him. "I want adult conversation, adult reasoning - I want a marriage, Ana, not a confrontation."

"Then why . . .? Oh, why do I even bother asking? Why did you do it?" She had promised herself that she wouldn't lower herself to ask, but wounded pride drove her to it. That and curiosity as to why, after almost two decades, he should stray.

"I really don't know why beyond a momentary lapse, Ana. I wasn't thinking straight or I'd never have done it. The temptation was put in front of me - several times - and I resisted it until that last instance, when I didn't. I am, after all, just a man, Ana. I'm not a stone statue or a wood carving of a god or hero - I'm just me, and I'm regrettably fallible." He lifted the baby up and kissed the little forehead, then handed him to his mother. "Careful, don't wake him now."

Ana took him and carried him to his cradle, placing him in it carefully. Aurelius slumbered on, and she kissed his plump little cheek before returning to the chair opposite Maximus. "So you're saying I'm holding you to too high of a standard? That I shouldn't expect godlike forbearance from you?"

"I didn't say that, I said that I'm fallible. I'm not made of wood or stone, and I had not been with you for some weeks - I was vulnerable and she knew it. I should have fended her off more firmly, but for some reason I didn't." He rested his chin on his hand for a moment, but the scratches stung so he returned his hand to his lap. "I ask you to try to understand that, Ana."

"You broke my heart," she said flatly. "I'm not sure I can understand, much less forgive."

"I forgive you," he said.

"For what?! I didn't do anything." She wished they were elsewhere and she didn't have to keep her voice down. He probably had arranged it just this way, she thought, so she couldn't shout at him. She grudgingly admitted that was a good tactic on his part.

"You threatened to geld me, for one thing, and you ripped my face open for another," he said quietly. He shifted in the chair, "And you also, with great deliberation, tried to kick my testicles up into my throat. I forgive you for that, too."

"I'd do it again, given the chance," she said nastily.

His lips quirked in a half-smile before he tamped down on it and just nodded, "I know you would, that's why I'm keeping an eye on you." He slid off the chair, though, and knelt at her feet. Capturing her small hands in his large ones, he asked once again, "Will you forgive me, Ana? Will you forgive me my human frailty and allow me to make it up to you?"

Tears streaked down her face as she shook her head in the negative. "N-no," she managed and freed her hands from his. "I cannot - not today."

Maximus sighed. "Well, I half expected that." He got to his feet with some grimacing because of various sore places that protested. "Do you wish me to move your things to the guest chamber?"

She stared at her hands where they lay folded in her lap and finally shook her head, "No. I like our bed. I do not wish to give it up for a smaller, less comfortable one."

"Good," he said, "because I like you in our bed with me, and I do not wish to give that up for the cold confines of another bed, another room."

She looked up to where he stood looking down at her. "I blacked your eye."

"I can feel it," he said, touching the puffy area on his right orbit. "It seems I'm married to a warrior. I had forgotten."

"Don't think to charm me now, Maximus, I'm just barely able to speak to you in a civilized manner." Ana leaned over the cradle, adjusted the baby's blanket and walked to the door. "I will be that - civilized - but I don't know about anything else."

She left, closing the door quietly. Maximus followed her a moment later.

He sent a note to Lucilla stating that things had come up and the dinner invitation was regrettably withdrawn. He didn't say anything else as he didn't want to sit and write ten scrolls' worth of imprecations and hot words to her. He, quite frankly, wanted her gone - back to Rome might be far enough.

That night, tired from an afternoon spent working alongside the stone masons to finish the new stables before winter truly set in, he bathed, careful of stiffening sore muscles and bruises, and donned his light flannel shirt. The nights were cold, and the braziers were lit, casting their friendly warmth into the room. Still, he felt the cold and the shirt would help dispel it. He climbed into bed after blowing out all the lamps save one. Gods, what a day. He hated turmoil. He used to deal with it much more easily, he thought, yawning. He was far down the road to sleep when Ana came in from feeding the baby.

He watched her for a moment as she moved about the room, changing into her bed gown, washing her face and running the ivory comb through her hair before braiding it loosely, but he was too sleepy to keep awake long. When she blew out the other lamp and got in, he was only dimly aware of her comforting warmth on the other side of the bed. Without even thinking, he slid his hand across, seeking hers, as he always did. They always linked hands and kissed goodnight, and he forgot that wouldn't happen on this night.

Ana felt the slight movement and knew what it was. She could not kiss him, but as she drifted toward sleep herself, she found that her hand moved into his clasp on its own. She was too tired to change positions and move, so she left it.

Maximus smiled in his sleep, but his dreams were restless and unhappy.

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Copyright 2002 by wildbearies
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