"So do you have everything now?" Gannicus asked Sibyl.

"Yep, I'm all packed and ready to go," she replied with a smile while closing her suitcase.

"Okay then. I'll drop you off at the bus stop and then go help Saxa with the swing set."

Sibyl was quiet for a moment, pursing her lips in thought. "I still think it's weird. I mean, why didn't she tell you she was pregnant?"

"I don't know. It's Saxa. No one knows why she does anything."

"But it could be someone else's child. Because like you said, it's Saxa, and we all know her track record..."

"It's mine, Sibyl," Gannicus cut her off gently. "We've already been through this."

The girl just shrugged and threw her arms around Gannicus' neck. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'm going to miss you so much."

"It's only two weeks."

"I know, but I'm still going to miss you. Two weeks is a long time."

It's only two weeks.

"You'll have so much fun that you won't even think about me. This is what you want to do, so enjoy it."

"I know, but I'll still think about you every second of the day."

Gannicus decided he wasn't really up for a cheesy goodbye like this so he just kissed his girlfriend, took her suitcase in his hand and went outside to his car.

"Hey," Gannicus greeted when he entered Saxa's house through the back door.

"Hey," she greeted back, a smile on her face.

Gannicus hugged his now best friend and former lover and then looked at the large pile of wood in her living room.

"Why is this still inside? And where is Belesa?" he asked.

"Well, those two might be connected somehow," Saxa said with a sigh before turning around and going to the kitchen. "We were going to move the pile outside yesterday evening, but then we had a fight and well..." she explained, suddenly turning back around to face Gannicus. "She left me."

"What?"

"She couldn't handle this, me having a baby, your baby. And the swing set just made it all the more real for her and she just left," Saxa said, shrugging as if it was no big deal her girlfriend of seven months had just left her. It was the longest she had ever been with anyone and she really thought it was going to be okay. Saxa knew she had her ups and downs but she was finally ready.

"I'm so sorry, Sax," Gannicus said, moving towards her to touch her arm comfortingly but she pushed him away.

"Don't. I'm fine. Let's just move everything outside first."

Saxa almost ran out of the kitchen, a sign that indicated just how furious she really was.

"How's Sibyl by the way?" he heard Saxa yell from the living room. Changing the topic, classic.

"She's good," he replied with a nod, following her to help her carry all the beams outside. "We're good."

Saxa turned around to smile at him. "That's great. You know, she could've come too. I don't hate her."

"Sure you don't," Gannicus replied with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't! I just don't like her but she's going to be a part of this too so I better get used to her."

They moved the beams from the house to the yard in silence for a while before Saxa spoke up again. "You know, I'm proud of you, Gann."

Gannicus dropped the beams on the grass before looking at her incredulously.

"What for?" he asked.

"Well, you've been dating her for seven months now and you still haven't ruined little thing."

Gannicus laughed at Saxa's old nickname for his girlfriend. "Yeah, that's probably a first."

"What? You think you ruined me with your ways?" she said, her arms crossed over her chest with that typical Saxa attitude. "Well, you didn't. I was already ruined."

"You're not ruined, Saxa."

"I know that, I meant that your ways were my ways too. So maybe Belesa bailed at the right time, before I infected her with our ways."

She said it with a laugh but Gannicus knew she was hurt. In time he had learned to read Saxa like an open book, something he wasn't able to when they were together.

"Let's just build this thing," he said, motioning towards the beams. "Do you have the bolts and screws?"

Saxa nodded. "Yeah, they're inside, on the kitchen table."

"Good."

"I already dug the holes to fill them with concrete so the swing set doesn't blow away during a storm."

Gannicus nodded appreciatively. "Okay, so I'll hold up the beams at the right angle, and you can fill the holes when –"

But Saxa was already on the ladder, waiting for Gannicus to hand her one of the beams.

"Yeah, this is not going to happen. Get off," he said, shaking his head at her.

"Oh just because I'm a girl?"

"No, because you're pregnant."

"I'm only pregnant, I can still stand up and work and do stuff. Now hand me the beam."

Gannicus sighed heavily while rolling his eyes. "You're impossible."

"Thank you."

Gannicus lifted one side of the beam and told her to hold it while he put the other side in the hole.

"Okay and now hold it a little higher, a little more, that's it," he said, watching how she tried to hold the beam at the right angle.

"Wait, wait, wait," Saxa suddenly yelled when Gannicus was about to pour concrete into the hole. "How long does that take to dry?"

"Uhm… I don't know. An hour?"

"Don't look at me like that, I don't know either!"

Gannicus looked at her, then the hole and then took a step back. "We're doing this all wrong."

"Yeah," Saxa agreed, letting the beam drop onto the ground.

"Maybe we should attach the beams to each other first, and then…"

"Oh my god, Gannicus, you're a man. You're supposed to know this stuff!"

"Well, I'm sorry, princess! I've never had to build a swing set before!"

"This is classic you. Now help me down this ladder, I can't – ow!"

Gannicus' head snapped up at her scream. "Sax?"

"I'm fine, it's just the baby. It's kicking like craz – OW!"

"Saxa!" Gannicus yelled when he saw her lose her balance on the ladder. Just before she hit the ground he managed to break her fall by sliding under her and catching her.

"Saxa?"

"And again I find myself in your arms," she said jokingly.

Gannicus sighed. "This is not the time for jokes, Saxa. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, rolling out of his arms and pushing herself to a standing position.

"Are you hurt?"

"Again, I'm fine. But maybe we should take a break. You know, to discuss how we're going to build this thing without breaking any limbs. You want a beer?"

Gannicus closed his eyes and smiled "Yes. Beer. Yes."

"So what do you think it'll be?" Saxa asked Gannicus when they were both seated on the porch with a drink (no beer for her, unfortunately).

He seemed to think about it for a long time before saying he didn't really care what the baby's gender was.

"Yeah, I know you don't care but what do you think?"

"What do you think?" he echoed.

"A boy," they said in unison.

Saxa smiled. "It would make sense for it to be a boy."

"Why is that?" Gannicus asked, taking a gulp from his beer and obviously enjoying it.

"Because it's ours. I don't know, it makes sense for our kid to be a boy. That's all."

Gannicus nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"I can't believe I almost decided not to keep it," Saxa said softly.

Gannicus looked at her, but not with the judgmental look Saxa had expected. "So that's why you didn't tell me for such a long time."

She nodded. "This wasn't me. This isn't us. We're not those people who have babies. For god's sake, we're not Crixus and Naevia!"

"But you still decided to keep it, and tell me."

Saxa nodded again. "How could I not."

They sat in a comfortable silence for a long time, both thinking about how much their lives have changed since they met for the first time when Saxa's army squad had to join forces with Spartacus' for a certain mission. They had lost many, including Gannicus' best friend Oenomaus. It was only after the failed mission Saxa and Gannicus really got together, if you can call it that. Gannicus was mourning the death of his best friend, and Saxa mourning Mira's death. Mira was the first one Saxa could actually call her friend, and she was devastated when Spartacus told her Mira had been shot several times. She had never had to deal with the death of someone close to her, so she had sought comfort in one who was in the same boat as she was.

"I lied before," Gannicus suddenly said, pulling Saxa back from her thoughts.

"About what?"

"About Sibyl," he said, sighing and taking another gulp from his beer. "We're not good. If you saw us, you'd never know something was going on, but it's... I don't know. It's always so..."

"Serious?" Saxa offered.

"Yes. Always so serious."

"I thought she 'saved you'?" Saxa said, a hint of accusation in her voice. She couldn't help it, somewhere in the back of her mind she still hated Gannicus for cheating on her, even though she got over it and accepted him as her friend.

Gannicus wiped his hand over his face. "I thought so too. Apparently I didn't really need saving. I was fine. Maybe not fine but at least I had fun."

Saxa laughed at the definition of their 'relationship', fun, but then turned serious again.

"Where is she now? Sibyl?"

"She's away for two weeks, leading some church camp."

"Yeah, I never got that. Such an innocent and pious and saintly girl and then she picks you to be her significant other. Way to go, Sibyl," Saxa said, laughing at her best friend's face.

"Stop it, or you can build that swing set by yourself," Gannicus threatened playfully.

"Yeah right, as if you'll let me. I just had a near death experience, you could never handle the guilt if that happened again without you being there to catch me."

"And what makes you so sure about that?"

"Because you always need something or someone to protect."

"And how would you know?"

"Hey, it's not because we were just sleeping with each other and drinking and having fun that I don't know you. I do know you, Gann."

Gannicus looked at her for a long time, his face unreadable. "When did you become an adult?"

"Oh ha ha, very funny. Especially coming from you."

"Are you calling me a child?"

"Maybe."

Saxa suddenly felt as if the conversation was about to become more serious if they kept this up and she didn't want that, even if she actually did.

She hopped off her seat and stretched her back. "Well, the swing set isn't going to build itself."

"Hey, Saxa?" Gannicus said, not getting up.

"What?"

"Do you have anything planned for next week? Thursday?"

Saxa looked at Gannicus with a soft and sympathetic smile around her lips. She knew what this was about. Next Thursday Oenomaus and Mira will have been dead for exactly one year.

"I was going to visit her grave," Saxa replied, not wanting to beat around the bush.

"I thought so," Gannicus said. "Can I join you?"

"Sure, we can visit Oenomaus' grave too. That's what you're trying to say, right?"

"Yes."

They both nodded and got to work again, glad that at least someone understands the pain that still lingered in their hearts. Saxa knew that's why Gannicus asked her, and not Sibyl. Sibyl believed in a higher power, she believed the dead were far better off right now in Heaven and she wasn't selfish like Gannicus and Saxa were. They missed their friends and wanted them back to ease their pain. Sibyl would never think like that. That's why Sibyl was a much better person than Saxa or Gannicus will ever be, despite the fact that Saxa still thought she was a man-stealing bitch.

On the second anniversary of Oenomaus' and Mira's deaths, Gannicus and Saxa were walking down the street, both holding on tight to their little girl who was walking proudly in between them.

"Sibyl called," Saxa said to her best friend, former lover and current boyfriend Gannicus. "She's finally met the dalai lama."

"She must've been happy," Gannicus said, smiling.

"Oh she was. You should've heard her, she went on and on about it. I had to use Livia here as an excuse to hang up the phone."

Gannicus laughed and pulled Livia up into his arms. "Did you hear that? Your mommy used you as an excuse."

"Yeah yeah, alright. Don't make her hate me," Saxa said laughingly, linking her arm through Gannicus' for the rest of the way home.

The swing set was finally built after many fights and accidents, and it was still standing there in their garden, where it would stay.