Make sure to read the A/N at the end of the chapter, I talk about important things, including a poll! :)

Loving A Gladiator

One Shots

Chapter I – Bent, Not Broken

Pain. Sadness. Loneliness. After three months, she still felt them. Still it felt like she was missing a piece of her heart. No matter how much she tried to spend time with her friends or how much she tried to laugh with them, it was no use. Nothing could make her feel better. And the nausea she had felt recently certainly did not help.

"Cassandra?"

Cassandra was shaken back to reality by Naevia who was standing next to her in the main room of the villa. Cassandra quickly put on a smile. Or at least, she tried to.

"Naevia?" She smiled. "What is it?"

"I have been calling you many times now." Naevia explained. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Cassandra shook her head. The look on Naevia's face told her that she didn't believe it, causing Cassandra to sigh. "It still feels like I'm alone."

Naevia looked at Cassandra with compassion. "I know. It may feel like that, but you're not alone, Cassandra. You have me. And you have Crixus."

"I know I have people who care about me, but it's not the same thing." Cassandra spoke louder than she meant to. It had become slightly tiring how everyone told her they understood, but truly, they didn't. "If you loved someone as much as I love him, you would know that when you're forced to separate from each other, it feels like you're being torn in two or like your very soul is taken away and all that is left is an empty shell of the person you used to be."

"You're not an empty shell, Cassandra." Naevia assured. "It may feel like it, but I know you. You're the same person you've always been. Only...-"

"Broken?" Cassandra offered.

"Not broken. Just... Bent?" Naevia spoke with a small smile. "Like a sword that has seen too much fighting."

"The sword should be completely dull and barely holding together after the life I've lived." Cassandra joked morbidly with a small smile. Naevia smiled as well.

"See?" Naevia spoke, as she put her hand on Cassandra's shoulder. "You can still smile. Even if it was a joke about the horrors of life."

"One that has such pain in their life as I do must find joy anywhere they can. Only..." Cassandra sighed as she looked at the sky where the sun glared at the ludus grounds. "I have a feeling that what has happened thus far is nothing compared to the hardships I will face in the future."

"Perhaps, but you will get through them all. With all the bad things in life, there has to be some good as well. You'll see." Naevia assured. Before neither of them could speak more, the domina appeared next to them.

"Why are you two just standing here when you were supposed to be cleaning the villa?" Lucretia demanded, causing Naevia to look down at her feet. Cassandra stayed unmoving.

"Apologies, domina. We will continue immediately." The younger slave girl squeaked as she quickly ran back to her duties. Lucretia and Cassandra looked at her until they turned to look at each other.

"And you Cassandra?" Lucretia inquired with a voice not as harsh as when she spoke to Naevia. She and Cassandra had become quite close during the previous weeks. Well, as close as a slave and her domina could become.

"I had to take a moment to myself. I've been feeling quite horrible during the last few days." Cassandra confessed as she started to feel queasy again. "I have barely been able to keep food down."

"Well it cannot be the food, or more people would be feeling sick." Lucretia wondered as her eyebrows lowered in confusion. After a moment however, a worried look appeared on her face. "The last few weeks have been quite devastating for everyone, you most of all. Could it be from the stress?"

"Most likely." Cassandra muttered as she took hold of a column next to her when her head began spinning.

"You are quite pale, perhaps you should go sit or lie down." Cassandra heard Lucretia advice, but her words sounded like the woman was on the other side of the room. Cassandra pushed herself off the column and started to take a few small steps.

"No, I'm fine. I can work. I'll just...-" Cassandra muttered when suddenly on her next step, she fell down on the floor. As the world around her started to disappear, she could see Lucretia and Naevia kneeling worryingly next to her. Then, blackness.

"Cassandra?" A female voice spoke, slowly waking Cassandra. After a moment, Cassandra opened her eyes, blinking a few times from the light coming through the windows. Eventually her eyes became accustomed to the light, and she looked around. She noticed that she was lying on a bed with Naevia kneeling next to her head and Lucretia standing worryingly beside the bed with a medicus next to her.

"How are you feeling?" Naevia asked gently. It had been her who had called Cassandra' name before.

"My head hurts..." Cassandra complained. She went to sit up, when the medicus stepped closer.

"You should keep resting." The medicus spoke. "If you try to get up, you might have another fainting spell."

"I fainted?" Cassandra wondered as she looked at all three of the people with her. Lucretia walked to the bed and sat next to Cassandra's legs.

"Yes, don't you remember? We were talking in the main room." Lucretia explained with a small smile. "I had just told you that you should lie down because of how pale you looked."

"It must have something to do with how nauseous I've been feeling recently." Cassandra whispered, not quite feeling strong enough to speak properly yet.

"How long have you been feeling ill?" The medicus asked and the confused Cassandra looked at him.

"A month or so." Cassandra explained. "Why?"

"Have you felt anything else but the nauseousness?" The medicus inquired, further confusing Cassandra.

"Now that I think about it, I have been feeling tenderness and sometimes pain in my chest area." The gaul admitted until a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. "And they've...-"

"Grown slightly larger?" The medicus answered, causing the blush on Cassandra's face to grow slightly as she looked at him.

"Yes, how...?" Cassandra whispered. She saw the medicus and Lucretia look at each other, and they both had a knowing look in their eyes. "Do you know what is wrong with me?"

The medicus gave a nod to Lucretia, who returned it until she turned to look at Cassandra with a small smile on her face.

"Cassandra..." The domina spoke, and the way she spoke Cassandra's name would have worried the young slave if it hadn't been for the growing smile on the woman's face. "Did your mother ever explain to you how a woman knew she was with child?"

Cassandra looked at Lucretia in confusion until that confusion slowly turned into disbelief. "Surely I am not...-"

"Your symptoms confirm it." The medicus spoke firmly, and Cassandra looked at her in utter disbelief until she felt two hands wrap around one of hers. She looked down at it, and sat Lucretia holding in with a large smile on her face.

"Cassandra..." The woman beamed. "You're with child."

Cassandra tried to speak, but nothing came out besides a small whimper as she looked down at her flat stomach. She slowly lifted her free hand shakily and gently felt at her middle. A small bump. She could barely feel it, but it was there. As her mind slowly fully understood what was happening, Cassandra felt her eyes moisten and after a blink, she felt a tear fall down her cheek.

"I'm..." She whimpered. "Having a child...?"

As she felt a hand smooth down her hair, Cassandra looked up at Naevia who was also close to shedding a tear. "You're having a baby, Cassandra." Naevia smiled as a small tear found its way down her cheek. "I told you you're not alone like you believe."

"I..." Cassandra started to speak, but once again she couldn't let out a single word. It felt like her chest was going to burst. Not from the excruciating pain her heart had felt until now, but from the overwhelming joy she thought she was incapable of feeling anymore. A child. She could barely believe it. A living being was growing inside her. A child. A child that he gave her. Perhaps this house still had some joy to give the people who live in it.

A/N:

FINALLY IT'S HERE! I finally managed to complete the first chapter of the one shot compilation story, and I have to tell you guys, I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm sorry that it took this long, but I wanted to make this first chapter perfect, and I think I managed to do that. At least in my opinion.

This chapter took so long once again because of my anxiety and slight depression so I haven't had enough motivation to write. But, I have tried to plan other stories with this one. I have dozens of fanfictions I've been planning but almost none of them have even the first chapter written because I like to take my time in figuring out the characters and the plot points. However, especially with a tv-show, it's pretty difficult to write a completely new character into the existing plot. I have so many stories in the works because if I try to focus on one story for a long time, I start to lose interest or my brain just gets tired. So changing stories helps with that. I mean, I managed to complete this chapter because though I've spend most of my time in the world of ancient Rome, I've been having a vacation in the dark and intense world of the Batman: Arkham games. But let's not talk about the caped crusader. Let's talk about Cassandra. She finally found out that she's having a baby, yay! Looks like Gannicus didn't leave her as alone as she thought ;D But her being pregnant now causes a dilemma for me. Now, if any of you have read the old LAG story I put here that takes place during Vengeance, you'd know that Cassandra has a girl. However, since completing part I, I've been thinking about different scenarios for that. Should she have a girl? A boy? Maybe both? I'm having difficulties in deciding, so I ask your help. I'll put a poll in my profile page about this, and I hope you'll all vote because it'll be SO MUCH help if you do! And if you have any comments about your vote, just send me a PM! :D