Author's Note: Warning, this chapter is NOT beta'ed. I apologize in advance if it isn't as good as the others.

Chapter 3:

"Surgitis!"

Xander groaned and automatically reached out to hit his alarm. There being no alarm to hit, his hand smacked painfully against the deck. Cursing softly, he opened his eyes, squinting in the bright sunlight that shone in.

After a brief moment of panic, the Californian remembered what had happened to Spike and kissed his lover's sun-warmed cheek.

"Blondie, hey. Time to get up," Xander said, nipping Spike's earlobe playfully.

Spike mumbled something sleepily and, reaching up, tangled his hand in Xander's long hair. Blue eyes opened and met brown, electricity seeming to spark between them. Xander leaned over and brushed his lips against Spike's.

Their lips had just met when Decens' apprentice came over, yelling in Latin and waving his arms around. Xander briefly noted that the entire scene would've been quite funny, had he not been so nervous.

"What's he saying?" he whispered, voice barely audible over Lucius' yelling and the other slaves getting up.

"He wants us to get up. We're startin' out early today," Spike whispered back. "Wonder where 'is boss is. I don't like this little ponce." The Brit shot Lucius a cold glare before rising to his feet.

"You don't like anybody."

Decens walked down from the top of the deck, hands raised for silence. The young slave who had translated for him the night before was also present. Decens barked out an order and the guards began chaining the slaves up in a line, two to a row.

"This morning, we leave for Rome. We will only stop at midday to eat. Water will be passed around every hour," Cato translated.

Xander felt the heavy iron manacles clamp once more around his wrists as he was chained next to Spike, and then chained to the pair of slaves in front of them. Cato announced that they would leave in twenty minutes, and bread and water was passed around.

Spike was unusually quiet and sipped at his water. Xander wolfed down his bread and drained his water bowl in a matter of minutes. Glancing over at Spike, he noticed that the ex-vampire hadn't touched his bread.

"Will, you have to eat. You'll never make the trip if you don't."

"Don't feel like it. M'not hungry." Xander was handed the bread. "You can 'ave it, luv."

Xander sighed and split the bread in half. "At least eat this. You're human now; you need to keep up your strength." Spike stared at the food for a moment before reluctantly taking it.

"How'd you sleep?"

"How do you think I slept? Soddin' nightmares all night. Memories, memories of people I've killed. Their cries of pain; the look on their faces. I can remember every one of 'em." Spike finished his bread and shut his eyes, guilt and grief clearly visible on his face.

"What? What're you- oh. Your soul," Xander realized.

Spike gave him a bitter smile. "Sort of comes with the human package, mate."

Xander tried to wrap the smaller man in his arms-not an easy task with your wrists bound-and settled for putting his hands over Spike's. Decens looked over at them and smiled faintly before issuing orders to his men.

Flanked by guards on both sides, the slaves started out for Rome.

~*~*~*~

At noon, Decens called a halt. The slaves sighed in relief and sat on the ground, taking water and bread from the guards.

"Nice day, eh Captain?" Lucius commented as he sat on a rock next to Decens. "Slaves even seem to like it, especially that little blonde one."

The older Roman looked up from his lunch and smiled at what he saw. The short Englishman, Spike, had his face turned up to the sky and was talking animatedly to Alexander, who just watched with a loving smile on his face.

"You're right," he said. "It's like he hasn't seen the sun in years, he's so happy."

Lucius nodded. "It's probably because we bandaged his wrists too. I can't believe how strong he is." Both men watched as Alexander said something and Spike, obviously in response to the comment, raised a scarred eyebrow and promptly tackled the larger man. The other slaves glared at them and scooted as far away as their chains would allow.

"Quite the couple, aren't they?" Decens laughed. Definitely not ordinary slaves, these two.

Although he was smaller than Alexander, Spike had managed to pin his lover to the ground and was sitting on his chest. Alexander had mock struggled for a moment, then gave up and laid his head against the grass, laughing.

Lucius drained his water. "How much longer?"
"Hm?"

"Until we reach Rome."

"About another hour, I'd say." Decens replied, squinting slightly in the bright sunlight. He was anxious to get to Rome; his wife and two sons were there, waiting for him to come home. He would spend maybe two months at home, working as a banker before setting out again. The slave-dealer couldn't wait to get home.

~*~*~*~

"This is so cool!"

Spike glanced over at his young lover and smiled at his enthusiasm. Xander didn't even seem to care that they were about to become slaves; he just treated the whole thing like a big vacation.

The ex-vampire sighed and turned his face skyward, letting the sun shine down on him. He had forgotten what it was like. Well, except for that short time when he had the Gem of Amara, but that didn't count. He had been too focused on killing the Slayer to spend much time enjoying the sunlight.

He looked around, attempting to see how much Rome would change by the 1900s. Drusilla had insisted that they spend time in Italy, so Spike was familiar with his surroundings.

As he looked around, he noticed Decens' weasely apprentice, Lucius, shooting glances in his direction. Lucius' gaze flicked to Xander, then settled back on Spike, who glared coldly at the Roman. He was uneasy around the little bugger, and didn't like the looks Xander kept receiving.

Fortunately, the Brit understood Latin, so he recognized some of the words that Lucius whispered to his boss. He heard the word "Anglicus," so he knew that they were talking about either himself or Xander.

Suddenly, Decens called a halt. Spike looked around, noting that the forum would not change much in nearly two-thousand years. He growled softly at the guard who shoved him and Xander onto a large stage. Several wealthy looking Romans stood at the foot of the stage, talking quietly among themselves. One stood off to the side, dark brown eyes intently studying Xander.

Spike's eyes narrowed and he pulled against the chains, deliberately flaunting his supernatural strength. He had no idea why he still had his vampiric strength and healing ability, but he intended to use them to his advantage.

"What's going on?" Xander whispered, his unease evident in his soft voice.

Spike slipped his hand into his mate's larger one, intertwining their fingers. "The auction has begun."

tbc...

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay with this chapter. Work's been a bitch lately. Still in search of a beta reader. My email is Wufei05@cs.com. Please email if you can beta this or know someone who can. Thanks again. -Dragonmaster.