Poppaea Sabina biases against Nero and the impossibility of their knowing private events, and hence recognize that Poppaea may have died due to fatal complications of miscarriage or stillbirth. When Poppaea died in 65, Nero went into deep mourning. Poppaea's body was not cremated but embalmed after the Egyptian fashion. She was given a state funeral and divine honors, and entombed in an as yet unidentified "Tomb of the Julii". Nero supposedly burned a year's worth of Arabia's incense production at her funeral. After that in 67, Nero ordered Sporus, a young freedman, to be castrated and then married him; according to
Tad Martin a massive heart attack. Despite prompt medical attention, she dies in the emergency room, with Tad at her side. Her last words were to Tad: "together forever". Tad grows close to Jim and Linda Mershon's adopted daughter, Kathy (Alexa Gerasimovich). Julia, who was named as Kathy's guardian, acts uncomfortable when Kathy asks Tad to be her new father after her parents are killed in an auto accident. Kathy helps Tad cope with his loss. Krystal, who has married Adam, reveals the child she is pregnant with is Tad's, not Adam's. Adam reacts by kicking his wife out. Krystal and Tad's