"Go." Nasir had urged when Agron voiced reluctance to move for docks with the others in search of new recruits.

"I would stay with you. I am needed more here and…"

Nasir silenced him with the barest hint of a kiss and a gentle touch of fingertips to clenched jaw.

"You cannot be at my side every moment, nor I at yours no matter how much we may wish it. Fierce battle looms ahead and we have not yet the numbers or resources to meet it with any hope of victory. You must go, find more fighting men to swell our ranks." He paused momentarily, eyes betraying his own reluctance to say goodbye, even if but for short time. But this mission was important and it was small sacrifice. "You will be gone but a single night, that is all."

"A single night in which you will be alone."

They had not been parted a single night since Agron had borne witness to the nightmares which invaded Nasir's sleep and chased them away with loving arms and soothing words. Though there had been innumerable nights since and bad dreams had been kept at bay, he feared they might return in his absence. It was a thought that clawed at his very being.

"I will not be alone." Nasir reached for Agron's hand, threading their fingers together before bringing them both to rest upon his chest. Agron smiled softly feeling the steady beat of Nasir's heart beneath his touch. "You will be with me, here." He said. "And if absence of loving arms becomes too much to bear, I will have Naevia to comfort and soothe."

A short distance from Nasir's back, Naevia heard her name and broke from Crixus' embrace to turn, smiling.

"As I will have Nasir." She looked back to Crixus, face still bright with her smile. The Gaul shifted forward and gathered her once more into embrace. He seemed as reluctant to part from her as Agron was to part from Nasir.

"We are strong, we will manage." Nasir assured. He and Naevia now stood side by side as Crixus moved to join Agron.

"It would seem we have both been given marching orders." The Gaul said with a good humoured snort, resting a brotherly hand on Agron's shoulder.

Agron grumbled something under his breath and reminded himself that his lover was indeed strong. Stronger than any man he knew and though he had welcomed the comfort Agron had offered during the darkest of times, he was not a man who took well to being coddled. No longer a victim, Nasir was a survivor.

Behind him a voice called out, impatient. Spartacus.

"Agron! Crixus! Fall to task!"

The two men exchanged a glance and a sigh before capturing their lover's lips with tender kisses.

"I will return shortly." Agron promised, then he and Crixus took position at Spartacus' side and were gone.

They tore through not one but two ships, striking down Roman slavers as they went, Agron, Spartacus and a small group of men taking one, Crixus and a group of his men taking the other. With each cage unlocked and each shackle undone, the tale of Spartacus and the rebellion was told. Few understood the common language but those who did translated and by nightfall their numbers had swelled with men and women, Celt and Nubian, by the hundred, all indebted and eager to join the cause.

Time to rest was a luxury they did not have. To linger too long in one place was to invite discovery so they pressed on, Agron pressing harder perhaps than any in his eagerness to return to Nasir.

The sun was already risen in the sky when eyes yet settled upon the temple once more through the trees. Agron's heart began to beat a furious rhythm within his chest at the promise of empty arms being filled once again with the one who held his heart but as they drew nearer something in him changed, he faltered, his steps slowed, joyous expression upon face replaced now with one of unease.

Crixus noticed at once the change in the man he now called friend and placed himself at his side.

"What troubles you brother?" Agron spoke not a word for the longest time. "Am I to make guess?"

"I fear for Nasir's well being upon return." The German muttered beneath his breath.

"You think in your absence nightmares will return and send him back to dark place?"

Agron shook his head.

"No. I trust that he and Naevia will keep each other from that. It is not that which gives concern, it is…" He gave momentary pause and turned his gaze to the new recruits who followed behind. "Last time we made attempt to swell ranks it ended badly for Nasir."

The Gaul grunted softly.

"When first Naevia was ripped from my arms, I believed my affections were to blame. She made me see that was not so. You are no more to blame for Sedullus' actions than I for Lucretia's."

"I brought him to this place."

"You brought many others who were not him. People I now trust with my life, as Naevia and Nasir also trust. Do not start placing blame where none belongs and do not conjure to life fears which may otherwise not be born."

"Agron was silent for some moments then a slow smile spread across his face.

"Jupiter's fucking cock, when did the Gods decide to grant wisdom to a fucking Gaul?" He exclaimed.

Crixus chuckled and threw his arm around Agron's shoulders.

"On the day they decided to place a race of men east of the Rhine my friend. Now come, make haste. Our hearts await our return."

That night a celebration was thrown to welcome new arrivals. Nasir appeared confident and at ease among them, navigating the mass of bodies with a smile and breaking words with those who had an understanding. Agron yet held back, watching from a distance. He would have clear head and keen eye lest there was trouble.

He yet remembered clearly the last time there had been celebration, Nasir still troubled by his memories but fiercely determined to face his demons and break their hold upon him. Clearer still he recalled the celebration before that, the one that had brought said demon into Nasir's life. The memory still pained him but if Nasir could find the strength to put it behind him then Agron could, and would, do same.

From across the courtyard he caught Nasir's eye and even at distance he could feel the warmth of the other man's smile as he weaved through the crowd and made towards him.

"You do not join celebration?" Nasir questioned, drawing nearer to stand before him. Agron smiled and lifted a hand to brush away an errant curl from the other man's face.

"I find myself unable to tear my gaze away from your beauty for long enough to do more than blink."

"Flatterer." Nasir teased. He glanced over his shoulder at the revellers. "I have a good feeling about these people." He said. "They show gratitude and respect. I think they will prove worthy addition to the cause. I am glad to know them."

It seemed almost as if Nasir had seen inside Agron's mind, read his darker thoughts and sought to rid him of them. Agron was content to let him do so for it spoke volumes of Nasir's return to self.

"As am I." Agron responded, pulling his lover into his arms, pressing their lips together and kissing him thoroughly in front of any who eyes might set upon them. It was not a show of possession, never that. More a warning that Nasir was protected and that anyone who sought to cause him harm would first have to go through him.

When at last the kiss ended, Nasir stumbled backwards a little, flushed and breathless from the intensity of it. He licked his lips and made a small sound of delight.

"I tire of music and wine." He whispered roughly. "I would have us take to our bed for pleasures of a different kind."

"Of what pleasures do you speak?" The larger man asked in mock innocence. "You will have to be more specific." His body was already beginning to tingle and thrum at the merest thought of feeling his lover's flesh beneath his fingers, and the urge to drag him to their bed without further ado was strong, but he waited.

"I had a dream last night, while you were gone." Nasir answered. At first Agron was worried but the look in Nasir's eyes soon chased his worries away. "I dreamed we were together as before. I dreamed of your hands and your mouth. I dreamed of you making me ready with fingertips and tongue. I dreamed of having you inside me, stretching me, filling me, making me cry out in pleasure. I awoke hard and aching with your name upon my lips. So hard I was forced to take myself in hand to relieve the ache."

Agron swallowed dry, his voice stolen from him by words of apparent seduction. Did his ears deceive him? Was Nasir really saying the things it sounded like or was it Agron's own imagining born of a night absent Nasir's lips against his? Since that night when they had both made confession and once again become lovers Agron had offered no more than hands and mouth to give Nasir pleasure and Nasir had begged no more of him. Agron was content just to touch and be touched, never had he dreamed they might again satiate their desires in that most intimate of ways. And yet it seemed that Nasir had dreamed exactly that.

Nasir leaned into Agron, pressing his body teasingly against the other man's and stretching himself to full height on the tips of his toes.

"I would see dream become reality." Came his rasped confirmation against Agron's ear. Agron shuddered violently as a bolt of pure arousal surged right through him, and a desperate moan loosed itself from his lips. "If you are of a mind of course." He stepped back to await answer, leaving Agron feeling agonisingly bereft.

"Yes." He groaned. "Fuck the Gods Yes, I am of a mind."

Nasir flashed him a devilish grin, his eyes alight with playful mischief.

"Good. But I would have a moment to make myself more… presentable, before you join me. Fair warning though, do not leave me waiting too long or I may begin without you." He was gone in a flash then. Agron was glad of the wall behind him to hold him up. Nasir's parting words had caused him to conjure up a scene in his minds eye so deliciously obscene that it felt to him as though every drop of blood had rushed south making him light-headed, and he feared he might find difficulty remaining upright if he attempted to walk so soon.

Taking a moment to regain his senses, Agron cast yet one more glance across the courtyard at the rebels, old and new, and smiled to himself. At the edge of his vision he noticed Naevia leading Crixus by the hand into a secluded corner of the temple and his smile grew broader. It seemed a night absent Crixus' arms had had much the same effect on her as absence his own had on Nasir.

"Nasir." He murmured softly beneath his breath, blood coursing through his veins at ever quicker speeds just from the sound of the man's name. He took a breath, adjusted himself in his subligaria and moved swiftly to join Nasir in their bed, half hoping that he had not left him waiting too long, and half hoping he had.

THE END.