A Ship in Harbor is Safe

Jordan rolls his eyes, rapping his knuckles on the door with an excessive force.

"Okay! Just a second!" The voice shouts from what sounds like a decent distance. With a smile on her face, Athena pulls the door open. "Hey, come on in."

"Maybe we should just get going," Jordan suggests.

"I'm not done getting ready," Athena shrugs, pointing to her tank top and bare feet.

Jordan shrugs, mocking Athena's voice. "That's not my problem."

Athena tries to keep a straight face, beginning to close the door. "Fine, wait out in the hall--"

"I was kidding," Jordan quickly puts his hand on the door, pushing it against Athena's meek force. "I'm not standing in a hallway for another twenty minutes."

Athena smiles, pulling the door open. "Entrez vous."

"Ugh," Jordan scrunches his nose, "you really have been hanging around Max, haven't you?"

"Actually, Flower taught me that."

Jordan nods, looking around the apartment as they walk further into the living space. "You're just hanging around the whole team now, aren't you?"

Athena eyes narrow and she crosses her arms under her chest.

"What?" Jordan asks after a second.

"You're getting an attitude, Jordan."

"No, I'm not. Would you please just go finish getting ready so we can go?"

Athena rolls her eyes, wasting no time climbing the stairs and leaving Jordan alone in the living room.

He stands with his arms crossed for a moment, just taking in his environment. His legs carry him to one of the end tables, where he finds himself holding a picture frame. After glancing to make sure Athena isn't watching, he looks down at the picture. Athena is standing in front of Sidney and his arms are wrapped around her. They both have the most genuine smiles on their faces.

"That was the day we got this place," Athena speaks quietly.

Jordan looks up, seeing Athena looking over the railing from the landing and down into the living room. "Is that the kitchen?"

"Yeah," she nods.

"It's nice," Jordan comments before setting the frame down.

Athena smiles, "wanna see it?"

"Why not?"

She descends the staircase quickly, her tennis shoes lightly squeaking on the marble.

"Your jersey big enough?" Jordan smirks.

Athena grabs the ends of the sleeves in her hands, "well, it's technically not mine."

Jordan's eyebrows go up, until they furrow when Athena walks by him. He rolls his eyes, following her into the kitchen.

"You want a bottle of water, or something?"

"Sure," Jordan stands on the other side of the open stainless steel refrigerator door, examining the photo strip of Sidney and Athena. His throat nearly closes up when his gaze stops on the last picture, of the couple kissing.

"Jordan," Athena snaps her fingers in front of his face. "If you weren't wearing a suit, I would've poured this water on you."

He accepts the bottle of water, not saying a word.

"Jordan," Athena speaks gently this time, setting her hands on the counter. "What's the matter?"

He shakes his head, not saying anything.

Athena shakes her head, "don't even. What's wrong?"

Jordan shakes his head again, "nothing."

"Don't lie to me, Jordan."

"It's fine," he shrugs.

Athena's lips purse, "you know I don't believe you."

Jordan looks at the stove, "we better leave now, so we get there early enough to get settled."

The young woman narrows her eyes at her best friend, "fine, let's go."



"Where are we going?" Athena attempts to keep up with Jordan's long strides down the white-walled corridor.

"Gonna stop by the locker room real quick."

She shakes her head, "for what?"

"Well, I have to get something. I figured maybe you'd wanna see it."

Athena winces, "before the game probably isn't the best time, Jordan."

He shrugs, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and pulling out a card. Swiping the card by a door with a large Penguins' emblem on it, he walks to the door and looks back at Athena.

"I'll wait here," she smiles with a nod.

"Are you sure?"

She nods, "I'll be right here when you come back."

Jordan sighs, before entering the locker room.

Athena sighs when the door clicks shut behind Jordan. She tucks a chunk of hair behind her ear, rocking back and forth on her heels. She jumps when the double doors burst open.

None other than Evgeni Malkin strides out of the locker room, with a soccer ball under his long arm. "Athena!"

"Hey, Geno," Athena smiles slowly, unable to remove her hand from her neck. Her pulse is still touching her fingertips rapidly.

The tall Russian bounces the ball as he walks over, "you come to watch game tonight?"

"Yeah," she smiles, nodding, "I'm really excited. This is the first time I've seen you guys play in person."

Evgeni smiles, "you love it! Ours fans best."

"Yeah? We'll have to see about that, huh?"

A large group emerges from the locker room.

"Let's go, Geno!" One of the guys yells as they begin walking out into the hall.

"Sid still in locker room, you go see him?"

Athena shrugs, "I told Jordan I would wait here for him."

"Go in, Sid be happy to see you."

"Ma belle," Max smiles.

Athena looks away from Geno, to see Max leaving the group of guys to talk to her. "Hey, Max."

"You're looking for Sid? He's in the locker room; he'll be out soon, though."

"She go see him, yeah?"

"Go see him," Max nods. "Jordan's in there, too, talking to Flower."

She winces, "I think it's safer to just wait here. I don't wanna throw off his routine."

"Athena," Flower's distinct voice emerges from the doorway, with Jordan following closely behind.

"Hey, Flower," Athena smirks.

The goalie playfully snatches the soccer ball from out of under Evgeni's arm and runs off to join the group of teammates.

"We're gonna head up to the box now," Jordan tells the guys.

Max nods to Athena, "have fun, ma belle."

"You have blast, Athena. Sid score goals for you." Evgeni turns around quickly, walking backwards and speaking to her, “me, too. ‘Cause I best. Sid after me.”

She smiles, "thanks, Geno. I can't wait."



"Watching from a box isn't as fun," Athena whispers, looking over at Jordan. "Why aren't your parents and Tanya up here?"

He looks away from the game, shrugging. "It's isolated. And they like to sit in the stands."

Athena does not have to look around to know that the box is empty.

"Come on," Jordan whispers, moving forward in his seat slightly.

Looking down onto the ice, Athena feels her smile growing when she sees Geno passing the puck to Sidney.

Jordan is literally on the edge of his seat when his teammate passes the puck, and the injured forward stands and cheers with the rest of the crowd when the first goal of the game is scored.

Athena smiles at Jordan, watching him sit back down.

"What?" He asks after a moment.

She laughs, "it's just cute that you're cheering for Sid when you two clearly aren't on good terms."

Jordan shakes his head. "I just want my team to win."

“You never told me what was going on, Jordan,” she whispers, not looking away from the ice.

“There’s not much to say,” Jordan mutters, leaning to place his elbows on his knees.

Athena blinks, “I think there is. You guys don’t talk. You won’t even mention each other by name… that’s pretty bad.”

He shakes his head, “so what? People don’t talk all the time.”

“You’re insulting my intelligence, Jordan. I don’t appreciate that.”

“What do you want me to say?” Jordan sits up straight again.

Athena takes a deep breath, thankful that they’re alone in Mario Lemieux’s luxury box. She picks at one of her nails, “I just want the truth.”

“No, you don’t.” Jordan shakes his head, turning back to the game.

“You can’t tell me what I want, Jordan.”

“I know that the truth… it’ll just mess things up. Can we please just leave it at that?”

She shrugs, “what if the truth could fix things?”

“That’s not the case.”

Athena purses her lips as she rubs her hands on her denim covered thighs. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Jordan… but I’m pretty sure I can handle the truth.”

Complete and utter silence falls over the two. It lasts for nearly fifteen minutes, a few minutes into the second intermission.

Athena rests her head on Jordan’s shoulder, “you know you’re gonna have to tell me one day, right?”

“Yeah,” Jordan says quietly. “I know.”