A Ship in Harbor is Safe

“You cleaned the entire house,” Walt voices his observation, looking around suspiciously. “How long did that take you?”

Athena shrugs, casually straightening out her top. “I’ve been busy the past couple of days.”

Walt nods, “sounds fun, kiddo. I think I may be staying over at Mel’s tonight.”

“You stay over at Mel’s every night, Dad,” Athena grumbles, fixing her hair in the mirror over the foyer’s small table.

He nods, “you’re now just developing a problem with this.”

“Well, I just think it’d be nice if you’d make some time to meet Sid while he’s here.”

Walt nods, “oh, I’ll meet the kid. Just not now.”

Athena rolls her eyes, picking her keys up off of the small table. Hoisting her purse’s strap on her shoulder, she smiles down at Tyson. “I’ll be back, okay?”

The large dog adjusts himself, not looking away from Athena. Even as Walt leaves the room and begins to noisily ascend the stairs, the dog stares at the blonde woman standing before him.

“You have to stay here, okay?” She slowly backs toward the door. “You have to watch the door, okay, Tyson? I’ll be home before you know it.”

The large dog sits in the same spot as Athena closes the front door, but she hears him get up and run off somewhere in the house as she locks the deadbolt. As she makes her way down the walkway, to her truck in the driveway, she makes one last evaluation of her outfit, tugging at the fitted, black V-neck.

“I don’t even have time to change,” she mutters, turning the key in the ignition and pulling the heavy truck door closed. “God, I probably look so stupid.”



The feeling of her knee high boots rubbing together bothers Athena, but she continues to keep her legs tightly crossed as she looks around the baggage claim area. Her throat is uncomfortably dry and her heartbeat is stronger, and faster, than normal.

What if he doesn’t show up? Her right foot begins to move, rubbing the smooth material of her boots together. He didn’t call before his flight was supposed to leave, so maybe he’s still in Halifax.

Her thoughts are cut off when one of the baggage claim stations fires up, making an obnoxious buzzing noise. Athena watches as people’s luggage begins to circulate on the machine, and before long there are a handful of people waiting for their turn to collect.

None of these people are Sidney.

Athena resists the urge to bite her lip as she looks around, attempting to appear casual about her action. She slowly makes a full survey of the room, seeing nothing new. Biting the inside of her cheeks, she allows her gaze to move from the dispersing crowd amongst the luggage claim. A smile tugs at the edges of her lips when her gaze stops, landing on a person just entering the open baggage claim area.

His baseball cap is pulled over a decent portion of his face and he is walking with his head almost completely down.

Unable to rid of her amused expression, Athena slowly uncrosses her legs and stands up. Hiking her jeans up, she grabs her purse and begins to walk toward the seemingly faceless figure.

Sidney looks up when they are less than fifteen feet away from one another. Instantaneously, a large smile takes the place of a previously blank look.

Athena giggles when Sidney wraps his arms around her waist, lifting her a few inches off the ground. She quickly wraps her arms around his neck.

“Are you cold, or something?” Sidney asks quietly, barely pulling back from Athena in an attempt to look at her face.

Athena pulls back to look into Sidney’s shadowed eyes, quickly shaking her head once her flat boots are back on the linoleum floor. “No, why?”

“You’re shaking.”

She shakes her head, “I’m just… I’m so excited.”

A smile slowly grows on Sidney’s face.

Athena smiles back, almost shyly, feeling Sidney’s large hands on her waist. She allows her hands to slowly move from the back of his neck, to the front of his shoulders. “We should probably,” she awkwardly clears her throat, “go get your bag. Before they take it off the station… thing.”

Wordlessly, Sidney nods and removes one of his hands from Athena’s waist, placing it over one of her hands resting on his shoulder. His actions seem effortless, but with his hand engulfing hers, he easily lifts her limb up, slowly turning the young woman’s body to face their destination. It is a move similar to an old fashioned dance, of sorts, only Sidney continues to hold Athena's hand as he leads their walk toward the baggage claim station.

A goofy smile remains plastered on Athena’s face, even as she feels the weight of Sidney’s arm draping over her shoulders. She gently squeezes his hand, through their interlocked fingers. As they begin slowly walking, the young woman comfortably wraps her arm around Sidney's waist as she speaks to him quietly, “that was really smooth. How many girls have you practiced that on?”

Sidney laughs, shaking his head, “that was actually the first time I did that. It went well.”

In an attempt to hide her embarrassment, Athena decides to just concentrate on her and Sidney’s feet moving together in harmonized steps. Her voice is even quieter than normal, almost mousy, when she does speak again, “how was your flight?”

“I’ve definitely had worse,” Sidney nods as they stop in front of the seemingly empty, but still circulating, baggage claim station. He squeezes her hand gently with his fingers, “you alright?”

She looks up and smiles at him, “yeah, I’m… I’m actually really excited.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how excited are you?” Sidney smiles as he effortlessly reaches out and collects his suitcase.

Athena watches the suitcase drops and land on its wheels, as Sidney holds the handle. She begins to walk, bringing Sidney with her. “Hm, maybe an eight?”

“Only an eight,” Sidney stops them from walking, just as quick as Athena had started it.

She smiles up at him, squeezing his hand, “what?”

As he stares down into Athena’s blue eyes, Sidney chuckles. “Only an eight?”

She shrugs slightly, weighed down slightly by the bulky arm on her shoulders, “it doesn’t feel real yet, I guess.”

With the same expression, Sidney slowly leans down closer to Athena’s face, “only an eight, though?”

Athena bites her lip in an attempt to not giggle as Sidney’s face inches closer to her own. The gleam in his light brown eyes does not match his facial expression. She begins to giggle, “how are you keeping a straight face right now?”

Sidney shrugs, slowly revealing his bright smile. “I was doing really well until you said that.”

“I know,” Athena smirks, playfully scrunching her nose. “Now, c’mon. People are starting to stare at us.”

Keeping his head down as he laughs, Sidney feels Athena’s arm across his lower back as she begins dragging him toward the nearest set of automatic doors.

“Be careful, Sid. If you keep laughing, someone might think we’re actually above an eight in excitement to see one another.”

Sidney picks his head up as the first set of automatic doors open for them, “I seriously can’t believe you’re only at an eight. I’m at a twenty over here, and you’re just… an eight.”

“I’m actually at about a nine right now,” Athena jokes, laughing when she makes eye contact with Sidney again.