It was another day in the greatest city of the universe: Rome. Or at least that's what a Roman would say if you asked him which city in the universe was the greatest. If you asked a Gaul he or she would say that Lutetia was the greatest city in the universe. But no matter which city was the greatest, there was no denying that the city we're now in is Rome.

Asterix and Obelix were just doing a random visit to Rome. Nothing special planned, nothing special going on. But little did they know that this random visit was going to cause something special.

It all started close to lunchtime...

"Hey Asterix I'm getting hungry." Obelix spoke up.

"You're almost always hungry Obelix." Asterix smiled. "But it is close to lunchtime so we will be stopping for a bite soon. Have to find a good restaurant first."

"Oh goody!" Obelix rubbed his hands together with joy.

Dogmatix barked in agreement.

Just as they neared Julius Caesar's palace, still looking for a place to eat, they saw a pretty young woman with brown hair struggling with groceries. Asterix rushed over and Obelix and Dogmatix followed.

"Excuse me miss, do you need help?" Asterix asked politely.

"Oh no...it's okay I can handle it." The woman said, sounding flustered.

"But it's no trouble-" Asterix then noticed that she was heading for the palace. "Oh, you work at the palace?"

"Yeah." The woman said awkwardly. "I'm a slave."

"Ah." Asterix understood; often slaves weren't allowed to mingle with the peasants. "Well don't worry, we can help you without causing trouble."

"Are you nuts?" The woman looked shocked. "What about the guards?"

"Don't worry, Obelix can take care of them." Asterix gestured towards his muscular friend. "I'm Asterix by the way."

"I'm...Gabriella." The woman shrugged, realizing that Asterix wasn't going to give up. "Okay, you can help."

Asterix took a couple of the heavy bags with ease, much to her surprise, and the four of them went towards the palace. The guards looked at the group warily, until one guard noticed Obelix.

"Hey, isn't that-?" He said to his comrade.

"Uh-oh." The other guard now recognized Obelix.

They zipped away in opposite directions. Gabriella was stunned, but didn't ask until they reached the kitchens.

"Why did the guards run away when we approached them?" She asked.

"The village Obelix and I come from is the only one not conquered by Caesar." Asterix explained. "This is due to a secret power the druid gives us, which allows those who take it to beat up guards and others with ease. Obelix fell into the source of the power when he was a baby and is now permanently powerful."

"Oh, I've heard of that village." Gabriella smiled. "Well, I'd love to talk more but I have to help the cooks make lunch for Caesar."

"It's okay, we were on our way to lunch as well." Obelix smiled. "It was nice meeting you."

"Same here." Gabriella smiled.

Asterix, Obelix, and Dogmatix left. Asterix was stunned.

"Obelix, you did notice that Gabriella is very pretty right?" He asked.

"Well she was very nice looking, why?" Obelix shrugged, confused.

"Because every attractive woman you come across turns you into a lovestruck goon." Asterix pointed out.

"They do not!" Obelix retorted defensively.

At that moment a group of attractive women walked past the duo and dog. Obelix gazed at them with a goofy smile.

"I rest my case." Asterix smirked.

That snapped Obelix out of it.

"Okay so I get easily attracted to pretty faces, so what's the problem?" Obelix frowned.

"The problem is that Gabriella is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen and you just treated her like another friend!" Asterix said frustratedly.

Obelix and Dogmatix stared at him.

"Asterix, are you listening to yourself?" Obelix asked.

"What do you mean?" Asterix asked, confused.

"You called Gabriella the most beautiful woman ever. What about Panacea?"

Asterix fell silent, stunned.

"Wait just a-" Asterix now looked shocked. "No way."

"Don't tell me you've fallen in love with Gabriella and didn't realize it." Obelix was way beyond surprised.

"I-I guess I did." Asterix was still stunned.

The three friends all fell silent at this. Obelix didn't know what to say and Asterix was lost in his thoughts. As for Dogmatix, well, all he could do was bark anyway. Finally he did, snapping Obelix and Asterix out of their silence. Dogmatix licked his lips.

"Oh yeah, lunch." Obelix remembered.

"Right." Asterix didn't have much else to say.

So, they had lunch and headed back to the village. Asterix was still lost in thought about Gabriella, and the more he thought about her the more he realized that he really did love her. However, he couldn't figure out why he had fallen in love with her. He didn't know that much about her, and he wasn't the type to fall in love with every pretty face like Obelix.