The rays of sunshine that poured through the small window demanded entrance into Liv's eyes. As her mind still clutches onto fading dreams, she stirred away from the light, with little success. The entire bed was engulfed in sunlight, leaving her little choice but to face the start of the day. Rubbing the remainders of sleep from her eyes, she gazed around the painted room in confusion. This wasn't her apartment?

"Good morning, beautiful." Zach yawned, placing a tender kiss to her bare shoulder before he noticed the confusion in her eyes. "We are in the Domus, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess I'm still sleeping." She turned around to face Zach, her jade green eyes glistening with excitement in the morning light. "How does my paterfamilias like his breakfast?"

Zach tenderly brushed some of her fiery loose strands away from her face, "Well, we should eat like Romans. But I'm craving some of your famous wheat pancakes. Do you think you'll be able to make them with these pans? You don't have to if it's too much trouble."

"No, no, I'll be fine. I just have to see if we have milk in one of the amphorae standing in the kitchen." Liv yawned as she pulled the long tunic over her sleep-deprived body, strolling barefoot out of the room.

"I think those are for olive oil or maybe wine," Zach yelled after her.

"I guess we'll just have to find out," she yelled back. "Why don't you take a bath while I cook."

The idea of a bath was very tempting. His limbs were sore from the long flight and the cramped bed. Soaking in some hot water might be just what he needed, Zach figured as he made his way to the granite bathtub. His mind was already preoccupied with sliding himself in some scented water as his hands try to turn open a faucet that wasn't there. For a moment, he just stared at the empty bath, unsure of why there was no way to fill it with water. When his mind finally clicked, the idea of a relaxing soak evaporated before his very eyes.

"No," Zach shook with determination, "if they could fill a bathtub by hand, so can I. I just need a bucket."

With a wooden bucket in hand, Zach made his way to the pool in the atrium. Surprise stopped him in his tracks when he found Liv there, scooping water in an earthware bowl. "What are you doing, babe?"

"Getting some water for the tea? What are you doing, weren't you going to take a bath?"

"I am," he answered, shaking the bucket in his hand, "but firstly, I'll need to fill it up."

"With cold rainwater?" Liv wheezed, "You might as well jump in the pool here."

Zach groaned in annoyance as he stared at the pool that was ankle-deep at most, "never mind. It's too early for this much work."

"Are you not going to wash?"

"We'll just find a bathhouse in the city."

Liv held back a laugh as she looked at Zach's sleepy form pouting on the edge of the pool like a sad kid. His tousled brown hair and slight stubble always made him look so unlike himself. So unkempt, wild and free, and Liv loved it. It was what attracted her to him all the way back in Egypt, and she still felt that feeling bubble up in her chest when she saw him like this in the morning.

"What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?" He asked worrisomely. Liv shook her head, "no, nothing's wrong. I just thought about how-"

"Oh my god!" Zach interrupted as he ran past Liv and into the smoke-filled kitchen. The smoke billowed black across the room, filling his lungs. The coughing was instant, as were the tears that washed over his eyes as he doused the pan with water. The charcoal pile inside the terracotta pan might have been a pancake a few minutes ago, but now it could hardly be called eatable.

"Oh shit." Liv cursed under her breath as she looked down at cremated remains of her breakfast. "Well, I could always try to make another."

"No!"

Jade green eyes looked up at him in shock and disappointment. "I mean, why not go out into the city. We're in Rome Liv, let's explore it." He rambled, not wanting to make it seem like he doesn't trust her cooking skills.

"Now, you are speaking my language!" The burned pancake long-forgotten Liv skipped back to the bedroom to get dressed, leaving Zach to stare at her with a chuckle. The whole kitchen could have burned down, and somehow Liv would still find something positive in what in his mind would categorize as a disaster. How she did, it was a mystery to him, but it sure was infectious.

Putting a hand over his heart, Zach controlled his racing heart, pushing the irrational fears to the back of his mind. "We're in the most beautiful city in the world. There is nothing to worry about," he mumbled to himself as she follows in Liv's footsteps.

"Zach? Can you help me?" Liv stumbled before a small yelp cut her off. Throwing the fibula to the ground, she suckled on the painful prick in her finger. Her tunic had come undone on the left sleeve, pins pricking her flesh as she desperately tried to cover herself up. Zach pulled the linen back together and diligently put all the pins back in their place, making sure she wasn't pricked again. When the last one was fastened, Liv draped her saffron-colored palla over her left shoulder while Zach slipped into his own tunic. "Could you help me with this?" he asked, holding up the indigo toga. Liv nodded, taking one end of the fabric and spinning it around him. As she draped the last part over Zach's left arm, the first corner fell from his shoulder. "Shit! Why doesn't it stay?"

"You have to secure it under the belt," Zach explained as he clung the heavy wool to his body with what little arm movement he had.

"I did," Liv snapped back, "but it doesn't want to stay." She tried to pull more of the toga under the belt, which only resulted in less fabric on the shoulder and not enough fabric for Zach to drape over his arm. "Maybe if we tie the front part to the belt, it won't shift." Zach proposed, earning a confused look from Liv. "Did Amar tie it to the belt yesterday?"

"I don't think so? But if it stays, it stays, right?"

Liv shrugged in agreement and tied the front part around the belt before draping the toga around Zach for the third time. Finally, it stayed in place, although Zach could feel the knot digging into his side like an uncomfortable poke from that annoying friend that doesn't seem to understand personal boundaries, which he tried his best to ignore.

"Okay, let's go see Rome!"Liv exclaimed excitedly, making her way to the entrance as she spoke.

"Wait! I got to go empty my tank first." Zach called out.

Liv spun around, "You have to pee, now?"

"Yes, just give me a minute," he responded before hasting back into the bedroom. After a few moments of silence and awkward shuffling, Liv could make out the faintest call. "Uhm. Liv?"

"yes?" she responded, dreading the reason for Zach's distress call. If that toga had come undone again, she would-

"can you hold up my toga? It's kind of in the way."

She chuckled at the absurdity of the request, before checking to see what the hell Zach was up to. As she entered the room, she found her boyfriend hovering over the chamberpot in a half squat with his tunic pulled up to his thighs, and his toga draped on his shoulders and head like a toppled over turban. "You should see yourself right now. Oh my God, I so want to take a picture of this." Liv laughed hysterically.

Zach became as red as a beetroot, and blurted, "Well, have you tried peeing in this thing?"

"yes, as a matter of fact, I have," she replied smugly.

"When?"

"Last night," she explained, and his brows furrowed together almost instantly. "Not fair, you were naked then, while I'm juggling 20 pounds of fabric like some sort of knock-off hunchback over here."

Liv dissolved into a puddle of laughter, and Zach could see her stomach shaking as she fought a new gale of giggles to finally help him out. "When I signed up to be your 'wife' I didn't think that would include this kind of intimacy." Liv teased, pulling her mouth into a lopsided pout.

With just one sideglance, Zach could see the cog in her brain, turning as he narrowed his eyes just a bit. Not that that would stop her, she strode right through and added. "To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for pisser, for pooper."

Zach burst into a loud, harsh cackle of laughter, nearly losing his aim. It was such a lame joke, even for Liv, but with the absurdity of this all, he couldn't help himself. With any other person, he would have wished for Jupiter to strike him down with lightning right there and then. But Liv could turn this embarrassing situation into a lighthearted joke and hook her arm through his as they made their way to the front door as if nothing had happened. Neither the knot digging into side nor the surprised stares from a couple of elderly men as they walked down the street could bother him, as long as Liv was beaming confidently by his side. 

A/N: And there they go, out into the great big city that is Rome. How do you think Zach and Liv are doing so far? 

They only nearly burned down the house on their first day, so what else could possibly go wrong? 

Wordcount: 6340