Rome
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine.
Author’s Notes- This is my contribution to day 4 of my advent fi challenge. This one features Antony and Portia and is set a few year’s after Caesar’s death. It is short and reflective, just a glimpse into their future.
Rating- PG-13
Pairing- Mark Antony/MC
Summary- Portia contemplates life in Rome.
Portia slipped from the bed and moved to the window.
Outside there was still light coming from the city. From the various houses and from the streets. Torches carried by patrols. Fires lit for warmth and for worship of the gods. Whatever the cause, Rome never seemed to ever get truly dark adn after all these years, she still wasn’t used to it.
If she closed her eyes, she could still remember the dark stillness of the Gallic woods, where the only light came from the stars and the occasional fire. It had been quieter then too. Dark and quiet. Many would call it peaceful.
And it had been, for a time, before Rome came.
Then, for many years there was no peace. The idea of finding peace in a Rome had seemed impossible. Rome was the city of the enemy, a city of war, of people who took what y want regardless of consequence. She could never be at peace here.
Or so she had thought.
After a long moment, Portia turned from the window, back towards the bed. Antony was still asleep, the blanket draped over his lower half, his face having a curious sweetness to it in sleep. And beside the bed, baby Marcus slept in a basket, without a care in the world, totally content.
Portia gazed down at the baby, her fingers grazing his soft little cheek, and then she returned to the bed, noting the way Antony shifted in his sleep, his arm instinctively drawing her to him and wrapping around her. She settled in, curling up against him, unbothered by the dim light of the city below.
She had grown used to it and she found it as peaceful as she had once found the dark woods. This was her city now. She ruled it with the man whose arms surrounded her and one day she would give it to her son.
And while it was not the kind of peace she had once known or craved, there was satisfaction and contentment. Rome no longer represented the enemy, instead it contained her whole world.
- End
