A Ship in Harbor is Safe

“Hey,” Athena smiles, placing the phone to her ear.

Sidney laughs, “you sound happy.”

“Yeah, Max and I just got home from grocery shopping.” Athena smirks, pushing Max away from her when he tries to listen into what Sidney’s saying.

“Oh, well, you’re not busy, are you?”

She quickly shakes her head, “no!” Her hand stays on Max’s chest, holding him an arm’s length away from the phone, “not at all.”

Sidney chuckles, “I was wondering if you wanted to come and look at a few places with me.”

“Of course,” she nods. “I’d love to.”

"Awesome. I'll be over there to pick you up in fifteen minutes."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

Max's jaw drops as Athena hangs up the phone.

She shrugs, "what?"

"When are you seeing him?"

"He's picking me up in fifteen minutes," Athena smirks.

Max crosses his arms, "and where is he taking you, ma belle?"

"He wants me to go look at some places with him."

Max's eyes grow wide, "places? Like, to live?"

"I'm assuming," she nods slowly.

"That's serious, ma belle."

"I don't think it's as serious as you're making it out to be," she smirks.

He shrugs, "we'll see…"



"Okay, apartment number three." The realtor speaks as he unlocks the door. "This is probably the nicest one out of all the places."

The realtor enters first, his loud footsteps echoing off the marble floors.

Athena enters the foyer, guided by Sidney's hand on her lower back.

They both stop in the foyer after closing the door to look around.

"So, this place is a total of about two thousand square feet. Two bedrooms, three baths. Everything's completely updated and ready to go. Feel free to look around."

Athena slowly walks with Sidney, when he gently grabs her hand and begins leading her through the apartment.

"This place is huge," she whispers, looking around in an attempt to take everything in. "There's a second story?"

The realtor nods, "that's where the master suite is."

Sidney continues to walk Athena through the apartment, looking through every room. They stop in the middle of the second bedroom. Sidney's voice is quiet, "what do you think?"

Athena bites her lip, looking down at the city of Pittsburgh from the floor-to-ceiling window. "It's... big."

He nods, "not too big, though?"

She shrugs, "I mean... it's beautiful. It really is."

"I don't think it'll seem as big once we get furniture in it."

Not knowing what else to do, Athena nods.

"Could you see us living here?"

The phrase nearly knocks all of the air out of Athena's lungs. A small smile pulls at the corner of her lips, "I could see us living in any of these places, Sid."

"But, could you really see us here?"

She looks out the window again, biting her lip. Blinking, she moves her gaze to Sidney and nods.

A smile tugs on his lips, as he lets Athena’s response sink in.



Athena quietly closes the front door behind herself, breathing a sigh of relief when she sees the living room light on.

"No!" Max's yell is followed by a loud noise.

Quickening her pace toward the room, where a television is clearly making noise, Athena halts at the edge of the room.

Three men are sitting on the large couch, and the large plasma screen is split with a screen for each player with a controller in hand.

"Fucking fuckface!" Marc-Andre Fleury's thick accent is unmistakeable.

Athena scrunches her nose, concentrating on the screen.

"Fuckers!" Max yells, quickly standing up and going to leave the living room. "No more drinks for you."

"I brought my own alcohol, you can't cut me off." Flower turns his head to look at Max.

Both French Canadians stop and fall silent when they see Athena in the threshold of the room.

The goalie on the couch smiles, "hey, Athena! Wow, I didn't expect to see you here."

The third occupant of the couch slowly turns his head, not saying a word.

Athena does her best to ignore the blonde on the couch, forcing a smile for the Penguins' goalie. "Yeah, I'm staying with Max for a little bit."

"Really? Max didn't say anything!" He nearly shouts the comment, obviously trying to make sure Max hears him.

She shrugs, "he probably didn't even think about it."

"Staalsy," the cheery French Canadian hits his teammate's bulky arm, "have you met Athena?"

Jordan's response is short and cold. "Yeah, we've met."

Blinking, Marc-Andre looks toward Athena as Max walks around her to enter the living room again.

"Um, well... I'll be in my room, if anyone needs me."



"Go talk to her," Max says casually.

Jordan scoffs, shaking his head.

Max leans against the kitchen counter, "you can't be mad at her forever."

"Who's side are you on here?"

He shrugs, "I just want you two to get along. Like you guys were in Vegas."

"That was before she..." Jordan shakes his head, "nevermind."

Max crosses his arms, "she's gonna be here all season. It'd probably be better to get it over with now."

Jordan watches Max leave the kitchen, to go watch a movie in the living room with Flower's passed out body. He rolls his eyes, slowly exiting the kitchen.



Athena examines the damp ends of her hair as she leans back onto her pillows. Her eyes dart up when there's a small knock on the door. "Yeah?"

The knock occurs again.

She blinks, "come in!"

Opening the door hesitantly, Jordan steps into the room.

"Wow," Athena says quietly. "I'm surprised you're even acknowledging me."

Jordan closes the door without a word, casually leaning back against it.

For what feels like a solid five minutes, they stare at one another.

"What are you doing here?"

If his words didn't sting so badly, Athena would've smiled at the fact that he spoke to her. "What do you mean?"

"Why aren't you in Thunder Bay?"

"I was invited to Pittsburgh," Athena shrugs.

He shakes his head.

"Do you have a problem with me being here?"

Jordan nods, "a little."

"Why?" Athena shrugs, folding her hands in her lap.

"You're here to be with some guy that you don't even know."

Athena smirks, "that guy is one of your friends and a teammate of yours. And I do know him, actually."

"Yeah, I know him a lot better than you do." Jordan's lips are pursed.

She shrugs, "okay. What's that got to do with anything?"

"You're gonna be really disappointed, Athena."

It is her turn to purse her lips. "What would make you say that?"

"I actually know Sidney. I know what he does. His pattern."

She blinks, "what're you talking about, Jord?"

For a split second, a smirk crosses his features before falling again. "Hockey will always be the number one priority."

Not faltering, Athena shrugs. "I'm used to that."

He shakes his head.

"Don't act like you never put hockey before me, Jordan. Don't, okay?"

Jordan shakes his head, "you'll see what I mean, since you don't wanna take my word for it. And you're gonna have to learn the hard way."

She blinks, "am I not allowed to do that?"

"I'd rather you not have to," the tall blonde shrugs, slowly taking his weight off of the door.