Title: Unshackled
Author: Emmy
Rating: NC-17
Archive: you betcha
Disclaimer: Here I go. First I smuttily desecrated Lucas' turf, now I'm going after Spielberg's. So...(ahem)...Maximus and all other Gladiator characters belong to Dreamworks & Universal.
Notes: Bear with me. I've never written anything but Obi smut! I feel rather silly about this new venture. So, I present this to you as I dive under my desk to hide.

"Wake up."

Maximus grunted as he felt the insistent jab at his ribs. He opened his eyes, finding one of the guards standing over him. "What's going on?" he mumbled, shifting his eyes around to verify that it was still dark.

"Get up. Proximo calls," the guard said, walking out the small cell and waiting in the hallway.

Maximus rose from the uncomfortable bed and walked into the hall. The guard quickly fastened shackles around his wrists and ankles and ordered him to move forward. Despite the fact that he was a champion in the coliseum and a monetary and social windfall for Proximo, this was Rome. He was a slave and would be treated as one, no matter how benevolent Proximo had become toward him.

The guards led him out of the dank, dungeon-like slave quarters and outside into the courtyard. Something was extremely amiss, although Maximus had no sense of the cause. Never before had he been dragged out in the middle of the night, and his instincts told him he was being led into something he was not quite prepared for.

"Where is Proximo?" he asked in his best non-threatening tone.

"Quiet," the guard said as they walked off the grounds of the compound and out onto the street.

Maximus kept his senses alert, glancing from side to side as they turned each corner, moving his feet as quickly as he could to keep up with the guards' pace as they walked freely while his ankles remained shackled.

They finally stopped in front of a large home, boisterous noises spilling out from the open windows. The guards knocked on the door and waited for several moments.

Maximus gazed curiously through one of the windows, feeling rather unsettled as to the purpose of his being brought to this place.

"There you are!"

Maximus turned his head to see a very drunk Proximo hanging out of the lower window.

"Come in! Come in!" Proximo called enthusiastically, waving his arm at them.

The guards opened the door and pushed Maximus forward. As he stumbled through the doorway, the revelers inside suddenly fell silent, their eyes growing wide at the site of the victorious gladiator - their former general, no less - up close and wearing his scant slave tunica more impressively than men of the highest station in the city.

"We've been waiting for you, my friend," Proximo slurred as he staggered over to Maximus.

"What is this about?" Maximus asked quietly as his eyes darted around the room.

"You," Proximo said with a grin. "It is all about you." He turned to the crowd that remained transfixed on his champion. "Here he is, my friends. As you requsted," he said, trying to bow humbly but stumbling slightly due to the evening's over-indulgence.

"Most impressive, Proximo," an older man said as he stepped forward to get a better look.

Maximus eyed him, something in the man's demeanor suddenly making it very clear why he had been brought there. The realization sickened him. Having to fight for sport was one thing. But this was something he was not prepared for.

"I will give you fifty denarii for him."

Proximo chuckled nervously. "My dear Claudius, I am flattered by your offer to be sure. But...he is not for sale."

Claudius laughed. "Proximo, I don't wish to buy him outright. Just for the evening. Besides, even I wouldn't make such an insulting offer for a slave such as this."

"Oh, of course you would, Claudius."

Maximus shifted slightly on his feet as his eyes settled on the woman who had spoken. She wore a simple gown, but its rich jeweled crimson tone told him she was a woman who possessed the wealth to back up her challenging tone to the older man.

Claudius turned to face her, feigned amusement in his expression. "Olivia, I am disheartened by your lack of faith in me."

She chuckled softly. "Claudius, you are as cheap as my husband. It is a simple fact and no matter of faith at all."

Maximus tried not to smile at her boldness. Despite what the evening may entail, at the moment it was certainly more entertaining than keeping company with the rats in his cell.

Claudius smiled with far too much exaggeration. "My dear, I believe it was your husband's frugal disposition that allows you to live so well and speak so freely today."

"You are correct, Claudius," she said with a slight nod. Then she turned toward Maximus, eyeing him for a moment. "Proximo, I will give you seventy-five for him."

"Well...I...." Proximo stammered.

"Just for the evening, of course," Olivia said.

"Are you trying to upstage me, my dear?" Claudius asked through gritted teeth.

"No, Claudius," she said. "Upstaging you would imply that there was some sort of competition between us. As far as I know, we are not enemies."

Claudius gave her another polite, phony smile. "Of course we are not." Then he turned to Proximo. "Eighty."

"One hundred," Olivia said.

Proximo looked at Maximus whose face was expressionless except for the corners of his mouth drawn tightly downward. He looked at Olivia and then to Claudius.

"No higher bids?" Olivia said, glancing sideways as she heard Claudius huff. Then she smiled. "As you can see, Proximo, I am a woman of superior means...and taste," she added, looking over her shoulder as Claudius walked away.

"I...." Proximo said. "He is very valuable."

"Of course. I will have him returned first thing in the morning," she said loud enough for Claudius to hear. "Besides," she said, walking forward and stopping right in front of Maximus, "what harm could I possibly cause him? In fact," she crossed her arms and looked up at his face, the top of her head barely level to his chin, "I should be more concerned about him harming me, shouldn't I? Especially after what we witnessed in the games today."

"I do not have the disposition to harm a woman," Maximus finally said, "unlike others in this empire."

Olivia ignored the random gasps of offense from the others standing behind her. "He speaks," she said. "How inappropriate and intriguing." She turned her head. "So what say you, Proximo? Do you want my money or not?"

"It would be an honor," Proximo said, shifting a slightly guilty glance to Maximus.

"Very well," she said, walking around Maximus and toward the door. "Have your guards escort us to my home. I will send the money with them, and they can return in the morning to retrieve him."

"Of course," Proximo said as Olivia walked out of the house. He gave Maximus a weak smile. "You have won the city, my friend."

Maximus glared at him, the idea of being bought as merchandise on a wealthy woman's whim displeasing him to no end.

"Wipe that scowl from you face and please her well," Proximo said. "You could do far worse than her, believe me. I regretfully remember my share of wealthy matrons." Proximo patted him on the shoulder as the guards walked Maximus out of the house.

~*~

"Here is the money," Olivia said, handing her payment to one of the guards. "Now go."

"One of us will stay," the guard said.

"Why?"

"He is dangerous."

Olivia smiled. "Aren't you all?"

The guard shifted on his feet. "I will stay."

"Outside then," she said. "And give me the key to his chains."

"But--"

"Give it to me," she said, holding out her hand insistently. "Now, outside," she said as the guard handed her the key.

Maximus regarded her carefully as she hurried the guard outside. Proximo had been right in one regard, she certainly had physical appeal and presented a much more desirable opportunity than the whores who baited the gladiators as they waited in their holding cells at the coliseum. But neither did he feel inclined to be treated like whore himself by a woman with an obvious abundance of money and an equal lack of obligation to anything or anyone in her life, including her husband apparently.

She led him through the house to her expansive bedroom. "Sit," she said, tossing the key on a table. "I imagine you are hungry." She summoned a servant to bring some food and then turned to sit down at the table herself.

Maximus remained standing, watching her eyes that were as dark as her hair. He held her gaze, making sure she had no doubt that he was not going to be ordered around.

She smirked at him and leaned against the back of her chair. "I'm sorry, of course the great General Maximus would not be inclined to take orders from a common woman." She watched the servant as the food was placed on the table. "I am merely extending a courteous invitation. If you do not wish to sit and eat what I am sure is much better fare than you receive from Proximo, far be it from me to force the issue." She then smiled slightly as he pulled the chair out carefully, his hands still chained together.

"Thank you," he said quietly as he sat down, the spread of fruit, hot grains, and bread making his stomach growl.

Olivia directed the servant to place some food in front of him, as his hands could not reach far enough before being halted by the shackles. "Would you care for some wine?" she asked.

"Please," he said.

She nodded to the servant who poured the wine before being dismissed from the room. She watched Maximus for a few moments as he ate, attempting to keep the chains from clanging into the table and her good dishes.

Maximus looked up from his food as Olivia stood, uncertain of her next move. And then he watched her as she took the key from the table and unlocked the cuffs around his wrists.

"Get rid of those chains entirely," she said as she sat back down. "They offend me." She then smiled at his expression. "You look surprised."

Maximus released the last shackle from his ankle and pushed the chains aside. "You are not afraid?"

"Should I be?"

"No," he said, taking a large drink of wine.

"Besides," she said, "I don't watch those games. Hearing about them is more than enough."

"Oh?"

"They are revolting."

"Then you must find me revolting," he said, slowly eating the sweet grapes that had been placed in front of him.

"Perhaps," she said.

Maximus thought better of it, but said it anyway, "And what does your husband think of you bringing a revolting man home?"

Olivia pursed her lips and glared at him for a moment. "My husband is dead."

Maximus stopped chewing, caught off guard by her response. "I am sorry."

"And I may bring home whoever I choose."

"Of course."

"And whatever my opinion of you, I have spared you from the far more revolting experience of being Claudius' pleasure slave," Olivia snapped. "It might behoove you to show me some respect, if for nothing else but getting you out of the clutches of that chubby, half-witted, arrogant buffoon. I do not believe I have treated you poorly or demanded anything of you but to sit down in my home and eat my food and drink my wine."

Maximus bowed his head slightly. "I apologize for my offense."

"Nor shall I demand anything of you," Olivia continued. "The fact that Claudius is cursing my name at the moment is pleasure enough for me. I have no expectation of you, General, aside from cordial conversation. That is if you are capable of it."

Maximus suddenly found himself at a loss for words. Not simply because of her admonishment, but because she had called him "General," something no one but his fellow slaves had called him for quite a long while.

"My husband always spoke well of you," she said as though able to read his thought.

"Were we acquainted?"

"No," she said.

"He was a senator, then?"

"A businessman," Olivia said. "A very successful trader and financier with a keen interest in the expansion of the empire. Your name and reputation were well known to him."

Maximus nodded. "A man of his influence must have been acquainted with the emperor."

"Yes," she said. "Politicians, by necessity, must forge alliances with those who hold the largest purses. Even now that my husband is gone, the son, Commodus, has a great interest in the workings of my husband's company."

Maximus scowled slightly at the mention of that name. "I am sure he does."

"A most unpleasant young man," she said.

"You should be wary, Lady. Words like that could endanger your fortune and your life," he said quietly.

Olivia smiled. "You are the only one I have told, General. And who could you possibly tell?" she asked, taking a sip of wine.

Maximus simply regarded her without answering.

TBC