Well, this is it folks, the end of the line for this one! There's a bit of a time jump so we can see how everyone fared after the events of the last chapter.
70 BCE, (eight years later), House Dixus Latifundia
"Pater! Marcus says there is a man at the gate who says he knows you!" the little girl called breathlessly, tracking muddy earth in on her sandals through the front door.
"Sophia Meria Dixus—look what you have done to my floors!" Andrea rushed forward to scold the child.
"Auntie—Marcus says I have to get Pater or Uncle Aaronus or Erikos—one of them to come see the man!" Sophia said desperately.
"Your brother should've come himself then." Andrea returned tartly. "You run around with those boys and on that pony like you are one of them—it is not lady-like."
"Where's Mater? She'll understand." Sophia grumped.
"What will your Mater understand?" Darolus asked, coming into the foyer of the villa after hearing his daughter calling his name.
"Pater!" Sophia cried, flinging herself into his arms.
"What is it, baby girl?" Darolus said, hugging her close for a quick squeeze before letting go enough so he could look into her face.
"I'm not a baby, I'm five years old!" the little girl pouted.
"Ah yes, you are ancient, little one." Darolus said gravely, just the side of his mouth curling into a grin.
"Tell Aunt Andrea I don't have to be a lady. I can ride my pony and play with Marcus and Callicus if I want." she squirmed indignantly until her father put her back down and then she stood with her little fists planted on her hips, looking so much like her mother in high dudgeon that it made Darol chuckle.
"You and Carola let her run wild, Darolus." Andrea said, frowning at him. "She's rather be at the stables with that pony than with Enid at her lessons."
"Like mother like daughter." Darolus smiled. He winked at Andrea, remembering how long it had taken her to stop calling him and Carola Dominus and Domina after she had decided to stay and take over the running of the household.
The former slave had been like a sister to Carola and now was one in all but birth. Her son Callicus, named for Carola's father, called them aunt and uncle. He had been born nine months after that terrible night at Ezekias' villa. She had no way of knowing who his father was, but when asked, said that he had been her gift from the gods after having been barren for so many years.
Carola and Darolus' first child, Marcus, had been born three months later, and ten months after that had come Sophia.
His train of thought was interrupted by two men barreling through the open door looking anxious.
"Darol? We saw Sophia yelling and running for the villa—what's wrong?" Aaronus asked.
"Uncles! There's a man at the gate!" Sophia said to Aaronus and Erikos.
The two of them managed the groves of olives and lemons on the latifundia. After Regulus had gifted Carola with the services of her two Custos as a wedding present and Aaronus had come to work for them, the two men had become friends. When they became lovers, Erikos confessed he'd never wanted to be a private soldier for hire, but had been forced into it by the poverty of his farming family. Darolus had asked him what he really wanted to do and it was a return to the soil and growing things. Tobin had taken over supervising the Custos, hiring more men so Erikos could be released from service.
"What kind of man?" Erikos asked, looking concerned, "Was he alone?"
"I don't know. Marcus sent me to get someone—anyone—to talk to the man while he and Callicus waited with the Custos." Sophia explained.
"Tobin is there with the boys. He won't let anything happen to them." Andrea said with assurance.
Aaronus and Darolus exchanged a smile at the question.
Everyone knew that the big man had a soft spot for young Callicus and his mother and watched out for them, but this was the first real sign that she acknowledged it as well.
"Yes." Sophia nodded, "But he agreed with Marcus to send me."
"Then I suppose we should go." Darolus said, patting his daughter on her back. "Go see that your mother and her guest aren't upset by all the uproar... Andrea? Would you go with her, please?"
"Of course—let's get those feet cleaned off young lady." Andrea ordered briskly as the men started to head out the door.
"But I want to see the man at the gate!" Sophia protested, "And I'm not a young lady!"
"Sophia Meria." Darolus said over his shoulder in his voice of command, which immediately subdued the little girl's tirade. Pouting, she submitted to Andrea's ministrations, letting her sandals be removed and her feet washed before she ran upstairs to her parent's chambers to see her mother.
"Carola? Are you awake?" Andrea asked quietly as she knocked on the door.
"I am—let them in, please." Carola said and there was the sound of footsteps coming to the door.
"Mater!" Sophia began in a loud whiny voice, but she was snagged by the back of her tunic by Enid, (formerly known as Minerva), who had opened the door. She had been sent to Carola as a gift from her Aunt Deanna when her first child had been born and had acted as nursemaid to all of the Dixus children ever since, staying even after she had been granted her freedom.
"Slow down, little bird, your mother is busy." Enid said sternly.
Carola sat on the bed, her back against the headboard, an infant at her breast. At the girl's shrill intrusion another baby began to fuss from the basket beside her.
"All they do is eat!" Sophia grumped, "And make messes in their clouts that smell worse than the privy!"
"You have a high opinion of your little brothers." Andrea said dryly.
"More boys." Sophia sighed, speaking in a still aggrieved but quieter voice as she came over to the bed and leaned down to look at the babies. "I prayed for a sister, but there are just more boys!"
"Perhaps if you acted more like a girl the gods would heed your request." Andrea said tartly.
Sophia turned and stuck out her tongue.
"Sophia Meria," her mother admonished—"Make apology to your aunt."
"Apologies, auntie." Sophia said grudgingly.
"How are you feeling today, dear girl?" Andrea asked Carola.
"I think I stopped being a girl after Marcus was born, Andrea." Carola smiled.
"I think it was the first time you took my advice about what to do with your beautiful gladiator." A knowing voice said from the other side of the room.
"And very good advice it was indeed." Carola grinned at her visitor as the woman rose and came closer to the bed.
Sophia ran to her, arms outstretched in welcome.
"Greetings, Andrea—and my little Sophia, you have sprouted like corn after the spring rains!" Tara said happily, giving the girl a hug.
"If Pater really was a gladiator like uncle Aaronus, why did they never fight in arena?" Sophia asked the room at large, hoping someone would tell the story again.
"Because your Uncle Merlonius saved them from that fate." Carola said. "And he gave us this wonderful place where we could all live our lives in safety and happiness."
The baby in the basket began to cry.
"Lucius hungers but Samiel has taken all I have." Carola looked over at Tara, distressed.
"Do not worry, that is why my Domina sent me." Tara said with assurance.
"I do not wish you to take away from your son to feed mine." Carola protested, looking over at the little curly haired boy watching them all from his playpen in the corner of the room with wide dark solemn eyes, hanging onto the bars to stand.
"You know Cato is almost weaned." Tara said calmly, "I have more than enough for both." she gestured for the basket and Enid stepped to the bed to lift out the infant and hand him to Tara, who sat in the chair beside the bed and bared her breast for him to suckle.
Her son Cato had been a result of a visit to House Monroviatus by Ezekias two years ago. He had come to try and woo Doctore Micha away and had requested instruction from Tara in advanced techniques for pleasuring a woman, since Micha had told him no one had ever given her more pleasure than the Domina's body slave.
The Lanista refused to formally accept child as his, fearing such a tie would make him unacceptable as a potential bridegroom to noble women. Ironically the whole incident made Micha realize that he wasn't the man she thought he was and through her support of Tara during her difficult pregnancy, the two women became a couple.
At two months old, Carola and Darolus' twins had begun to outstrip her ability to feed them on her milk alone. She hadn't fully recovered from the ordeal of carrying them and was slow to regain her strength and had lost instead of gained weight despite how much Andrea and the cooks tried to fatten her up. Growing concerned, they summoned the midwife back and she recommended a wet nurse to supplement the feedings. It had been Darolus' idea to contact Tara via Deanna and she had just arrived this morning.
"He's a handsome boy, Tara." Andrea said warmly, walking over to the play pen and kneeling down to make friends with the toddler.
"As is his father." Tara said without rancor. Despite his refusal to formally acknowledge the tie, Ezekias sent coin and gifts for Cato regularly and she bore him no ill will. She'd never expected to have a child and a love all her own and was as contented as she could be considering her status.
"At least you know he is a good man for the most part." Andrea said, smiling sadly as Cato lifted his arm to be held. "I know nothing of Callicus' paternal line."
Genealogy was all important in Roman families.
"Does he look like any of the—" Enid began, but Carola silenced her with a sharp glance at Sophia who was curled against her side watching her brother butt his head against his mother's breast with a baby grunt.
"I don't remember any faces..." Andrea said softly, cradling Cato against her hip.
Tara closed her eyes against the memory of that night and shuddered. She had been through worse when she was in the service of the priestess and knew she would endure, using her skills to temper the tendency of some men to violence, but this time she had to endure the sight of her friends being cruelly used, which had been so much worse...
"Cal wants Tobin to be his Pater." Sophia piped up, "He told me and Marcus after we had our sword training yesterday with the Custos."
"Sophia." Carola chided, trying not to smile as Andrea turned back around to correct the girl's grammar and again question the wisdom of allowing her to have sword training with the boys, but instead blushed guiltily at the knowing looks her friends gave her.
"Well, he did," Sophia insisted. "Everyone should have two parents. Cato has two maters, Marcus and I have Pater and Mater—maybe the uncles will make a baby too and it'll have two paters!" she concluded enthusiastically.
"I don't suppose any of you would volunteer to explain to my daughter why her uncles won't be making a baby together?" Carola sighed.
"Don't be silly, Mater—when two boys or two girls mate they only make love, not babies." Sophia said matter-of-factly and leaned in to rub her hand gently over her brother's back. "Is Sammy done? Can I make him urp now?"
Carola frowned at the other women, silently asking if they'd been the ones to give that explanation to Sophia, but they shook their heads in denial. Then she plumped up several pillows to keep her daughter still and lay Samiel over Sophia's lap so she could coax a gas bubble out of him.
"Who explained to you about making babies, sweetling?" Carola asked nonchalantly.
"Pater. I saw the uncles looking sad after the babies came and Uncle Aaronus kissed Uncle Erikos and said he would understand if he found a wife like Darolus had so he could have children—then they both cried and I was worried and asked Pater what was wrong."
Carola found she was glad for the thousandth time that she had married such a caring and understanding man.
"Then Marcus said it was just like with the horses: you need a stallion parts and mare parts together to make a baby, but you can have pleasures with any of them." Sophia added while carefully rubbing and patting her baby brother's back.
"Growing up on latifundia is most definitely educational." Tara grinned.
"Would that she gave her lessons such good attention." Enid said dryly.
When the horn sounded announcing an arrival, Andrea shook her head and put Cato back in his pen.
"I completely forgot—Darolus sent us up here to tell you that there is a visitor—he and the men went to the gate to see if they should be admitted."
"Well, it sounds like whoever it is, they have been granted entry." Tara said.
"We weren't expecting anyone, were we?" Carola asked Andrea.
"Only Tara and her Custos escort." Andrea replied. "If I may have your leave, I will go seek news."
Carola nodded, frowning a little, and Andrea departed.
"Worried?" Tara asked, her brow wrinkling in concern as she shifted the baby to her other breast.
"Unannounced guests rarely bring good news." Carola sighed, then looked down and ruffled her fingers through Sophia's strawberry blonde hair.
The loud burp that emanated from Samiel made Sophia give a small cry of triumph and look up at her mother, who smiled back.
"What does he look like, boys?" Darolus asked his six year old son and his seven year old friend.
"A barbarian!" Callicus said with conviction, "He has shaggy long hair and a long beard and his clothes are strange!"
"How strange?" Darolus looked over at the Custos guards in charge of manning the gates.
"His sandals are Parthian, but he wears leggings, like a Celt..." Tobin said and then his voice went low as he leaned in close to Darolus' ear. "And his sword is Roman steel and he wears a centurion's breast plate under his cloak. I'm sure of it."
"And what did you note about him, Marcus that had you send your sister to fetch me?" Darolus asked after nodded at Tobin's observations.
"His eyes, Pater." Marcus said, very seriously. "They look just like ours."
Sophia had Carola's lighter blue, but Marcus' matched Darolus' deeper unusual cerulean shade.
"And his horse is much too fine for a barbarian." Marcus added. "Its hide shines copper red in the sun." The boy was a horseman through and through—he'd been riding since he was old enough to stay on his pony's back.
Darolus' heart rate sped up and he climbed to the top of the ramparts to get his own look at the visitor.
"This looks to be a well run and prosperous latifundia, though having urchins guarding the walls may not be best practice." the lone man below yelled up when he saw Darolus.
"My son is capable with a bow, as are all of my people." Darolus returned.
"Your son?" the man grinned broadly, "That is a wise practice. I commend you. There are always thieves and brigands about who want to take what you have."
"That is a fine stallion. He reminds me of one I once knew." Darolus called down. "Do you wish to sell him?"
"I had heard you had established a fine stud here—can he no longer throw get?" the man sounded incredulous.
"Ajax is like his master—he has sired many colts and even a filly." Darolus replied. "I need no other stud here, but if you are down on your luck, I would be willing to broker sale of yours."
"Many colts and a filly? From same dam?" the man looked impressed, nodding his head up and down, "You have been busy these last few years."
"As have you, from look of your clothes, traveler." Darolus looked him up and down, "Parthia? Far flung Celtic lands?"
"I had a spot of trouble with a former employer and felt need to visit the provinces for awhile. I am happy to return to my homeland now."
"I see." Darolus tilted his head thoughtfully. "Though dirt and stench of barbarians seems to have rubbed off on you—I can smell you from here." he grimaced, waving his hand in front of his nose.
That brought chuckles from the boys and men listening.
"Are you done taking mingo out of me, brother?" the man asked, "I'm fucking starving."
Darolus signaled to the herald to announce a guest's arrival and for the gate to be opened and then ran down the stairs two at a time.
"Who is it, Marcus?" Callicus asked frowning at Darolus' joyful look and haste.
"I think it's my other uncle—Merlonius—though I've never met him." Marcus replied. "He left before I was born, but my parents speak of him often."
The boys watched as the stranger rode through the gates, dismounting and handing his horse off to Tobin. Then he stood still, waiting for Darolus to approach. They clasped arms in a formal soldier's greeting, but then with shaking hands, Darolus pulled his brother in for a tight embrace, which Merlonius returned.
"Welcome home, brother."
"Are you sure you're all right with having our babies sleep in next room?" Darolus asked fretfully for the third time as he watched Carola make her preparations to come to their bed upon which he was already stretched out.
"That is beauty of a wet nurse, my darling." Carola assured him again, "Tara and Enid will be there if they need anything before midnight feeding I will provide, which means we finally have time to ourselves."
"We did not have one when Marcus and Sophia were babes." he said, sounding upset.
"This time there are two of them, dearest. They never fuss at same time, so neither of us was getting enough sleep and I could not feed them as they needed so they were always hungry... It's better this way, truly."
"I worry that they will not bond with me as Marcus and Sophia did." Darolus admitted, "I am in fields or training ring all day and only have evening and night to spend with them."
"They already turn their faces to sound of your voice—they recognize its timbre even before mine. Have no fear your sons will not recognize their bond with you."
"I have so little time with them." he sighed. "With all our children... Running the House demands me from sun up to sundown."
"Now that Merlonius has returned perhaps he can take on some of the burden." Carola said. "You will have more time."
She hadn't been as surprised to see him as some of the others had been. She knew how important his brother and the family land were to him and had always believed if Merlonius was alive he would find his way back to them.
"There is still a price on his head." Darolus huffed out a frustrated breath.
"So soon after all of the business with Spartacus, I doubt the Senate cares about the death of one sadistic Legate anymore." Carola said. "They are too busy chasing hints of any new slave rebellions. We won't advertise his return, but neither shall we hide it."
"How did you get to be so wise?" Darolus asked, smiling over at her.
"I have always been so—I chose you, didn't I?" she asked as she stood and turned towards him, her slender body outlined under the sheer wrapper she wore. Her hair had been taken down from its elaborate up-do style and brushed so the long russet curls brushed the tops of her plump breasts and smooth shoulders.
"How long has it been since birth of our youngest sons, my love?" Darolus asked, sitting up and throwing his long legs over the side of the bed.
"Eight long weeks." she told him, giving him a sloe-eyed look, "Since we lay in our bed as any more than bedfellows."
"And you are well recovered from your ordeal?" he asked, almost a bit shyly.
"Are you asking if twice as many babies take twice as long from which to recover?" she smiled at him, her eyes twinkling as she came to him, placing her hands on his bare tanned corded thighs.
Darol let his legs fall open and his hands moved to span her waist as she moved between them.
"Do they?" he asked, shuddering slightly when her hands continued to slide up his thighs until they reached her goal, and then groaning when one closed around his straining thick shaft and the other cradled his balls.
"Your cock already knows what it wishes the answer to be." she teased.
He almost came right then. He had allowed himself nothing, not even his own touch for the last months of her confinement and recovery, feeling it was unfair for him to have pleasures while Carola could not.
"My love..." he moaned, eyes, drifting shut, his fingers tangling in the thin cloth of her gown as he gripped her more tightly.
"Pillow." she said distinctly as she continued to jack him slowly, her hand hot and tight on him.
"Wha-?" he was barely able to talk, the beginnings of the tingle at the base of his spine already rising.
"For my knees." she said, smiling at him.
Instead he lay back, bringing her with him, kissing her neck.
"You put your mouth on me there and I'm done." he growled.
"It's only an hour after sunset—we have until midnight." she reminded him. "I have known you to rise more than once in a night... or day..."
He raised an eyebrow at her, his breath quickening as she continued her stroke.
"I want to taste you on my tongue." she whispered, nipping his earlobe and then moving to lick a line down the column of his throat.
Darolus lay back and let her have her way with him. By the time she took him in so deep that her lips kissed the base of his cock and she swallowed around him deep in her throat, her fingers digging into his muscular ass, he was gone, coming so hard he thought he blacked out for a few seconds.
"You just... you just keep getting better at that." he choked out after he finally came back to himself.
"I am pleased you think so." Carola said pertly, resting her chin on his abs and looking up at him. She'd had plenty of practice, determined to perfect her technique over the years.
"Com'ere. Need your kisses." Darolus took a deep breath and fisted his hands in her curls and she rose up to meet his lips, her body draped over his. He could taste his essence on her tongue as she plunged it deep inside his mouth, moaning with need.
Darol rolled them so she was beside him and tugged off her wrapper, exposing her breasts, cupping them gently, carefully with both hands. Her nipples felt chapped under his palms and he broke the kiss to frown down at her.
"Tender?" he asked.
"A little." she allowed, not wanting him to think she wasn't enjoying his touches.
"Do you have the cream Andrea made you last time?" Mint mixed with lanolin from sheep's wool, it had been a big help when she'd had Sophia and Marcus.
"I tried, but the boys don't like the taste or smell or something." she sighed. They'd refused to nurse until she scrubbed her breasts clean of all the healing cream, but that had irritated them further.
Darol reached up to the headboard and took hold of the small round bottle of olive oil steeped with lavender buds he'd hung on its string there.
"Let's see if they like this better..." he said as he opened it and poured some out onto his hand and then re-corked it. He rubbed his hands together to warm the oil and then gently massaged it into her breasts.
"Oh my gods... that feels..." her eyes narrowed to slits and her mouth went slack.
"Soothing?" he asked, but felt the centers grow pebble tight, heard her breath catch.
"The babies just fed—my milk shouldn't come down—please? Use your mouth on them and touch me—please?" she asked, craving the different way it made her feel to have his rough bearded chin and jaw against her soft breasts, the stronger way he suckled and used his teeth on her nipples a completely unique sensation.
"You sure?" he murmured, kissing her lingeringly, sucking on her tongue and lower lip before nipping her chin, "Don't want to hurt you."
"Sure." she sighed. "Feels good. Need it. Need you."
He used one oil slick hand to plump her right breast for his mouth, kissing along her cheek and along her slender neck while at the same time he trailed the other hand down to slip between her folds, teasing her, testing her.
"Still feel good?" he asked, his mouth hovering over her nipple.
In response she arched her back up and twined her fingers through his hair to urge his head down. He licked concentric circles all around her breast before settling in, drawing down hard to a slight sweet taste of her milk.
The first time she'd been pregnant, with Marcus, she worried that her body during and after would displease him. She felt huge and ungainly, her center of balance all out of whack, feet swollen, lower back in constant pain; miserable.
Darol loved her through it by doing everything he could think of to make her comfortable and happy. The sight of her carrying their child sent him to his knees with devotion. He even insisted on being present for the birth despite Deanna's attempt to bar him, saying he'd never look at his wife the same way again. He hadn't. He'd loved her even more knowing how much pain she went through to bear their son.
In the years since they'd wed, their sex life continued to be bawdy, adventurous and deeply emotional. The connection they'd had since their first kiss never waned. Any residual tension that had been present when Aaronus came to live with them had disappeared over time as the trust and friendship between the three of them grew. When he and Erikos had found one another the two men had become family and just like they'd done with Andrea as aunt, they'd all grown so close that their children called the men uncle.
"This all reminds me of something..." Carola sighed, the sense memory prompted by the scent and feel of the olive oil on her skin.
Darolus lifted his head and chuckled, feeling himself start to harden again. Over the years they'd made good use of Tara's first gift to spice up their sex life and found other ways to keep it interesting as well.
"I am at your mercy, as always, sweetling." Darolus smiled back. "Whatever you want."
"Make me yours." Carola replied softly, just as she had done their first time together, and keeping her eyes on his, raised her arms above her head.
"By your command, my goddess." he grinned wolfishly and kissed her deeply, reaching up to lace his fingers with hers as their bodies merged, like their lives, in perfect accord, equal parts passion and ease, always at home together.
Deep gratitude to all of you who have taken the time to let me know that you liked this story. I put a lot of work into my writing, especially the historical AUs like this one, researching them and at the same time trying to make the plot interesting and the characters compelling versions of the ones we all know from TWD canon.
Thank you!