love in the time of trash fires

Athena felt like she was floating around on a tiny cloud since she accidentally found the engagement ring. She had said yes before Max even got the chance to properly ask her to marry him, but he had just laughed and seemed relieved that she was so happy. She had almost run into lamp posts and open doors a few times because she stared at the ring so much.

She did as Michael had asked and gotten a sandwich to go with her salad. She popped into the little grocery deli a lot when she was working. On her way out to go back to the clinic, she ran into an older woman who owned a pizzeria in the area. Her family had been coming into the clinic since Athena was little; she still gave them free pizzas a lot because they’d helped her son when he OD’ed on cryopane.

“Athena!” she gushed. “I haven’t seen you for a while.”

“I’ve been a little busy. My fiancé was in an accident, so I was at home with him.”

“Fiancé?” The woman’s eyebrows shot up with interest and Athena smiled as she showed off the ring for the five hundredth time. She stayed and chatted with Mrs. Giovanni for a while, making her lunch run a little long. She hurried back to the clinic, apologizing for being late as she shrugged out of her jacket.

“Shouldn’t you be sitting down?” Athena asked Max, giving him a stern look. “You’re still on restricted duty, you know.”

“I was sitting down,” Max protested. “Tell her, Michael.”

“Yeah, the boy was sitting.”

“I don’t think I believe either one of you,” Athena huffed. “You’re such an enabler, Dad.”

“I am not. Did you have a nice lunch?”

“Fine. How were things here?”

“Oh, fine,” Max and Michael replied in unison. Athena glanced over at them, eyebrow raised.

“Everything was good here,” Michael added.

“Okay,” Athena said slowly. She gave them another weird look and then shrugged it off and got back to work. She and Max walked home that evening, now that he was required to routinely get some movement in. It was a slow walk, but Athena didn’t really mind. She just clung to his arm the whole way. She made him sit once they reached the apartment, then she flipped through the mail.

“Got another postcard from your mom,” she remarked. “Seems these days she’s hooking up with a yoga guru.”

“Of course she is,” Max sighed. Athena laughed and sat beside him, handing him the postcard and photo.

“She certainly seems like an interesting person,” she said. “I hope I get to meet her eventually.”

Athena had mostly made peace with the fact that her own mother was a lost cause. She’d spent a lot of time as a kid and teenager worrying that maybe she’d done something wrong, to drive Veronica away. But it was pretty clear that Veronica was just selfish. It still didn’t feel great that she didn’t have a mom or any woman at all to help her prep for her wedding though.

Max was getting antsier about finally being cleared to go back to resume life as usual now that he was doing so well in physical therapy. Athena still tried to keep him from doing much around the house and was still a little worried about hurting him. He could make it to bed now but Athena tried to sleep on her side, leaving some space between them to avoid cramping his injured leg. He acted really pouty about it though and now that he was up and moving again the puppy face was harder to resist.

They were working a little late one evening when Michael said he needed to take some prescriptions to a few patients who had trouble making it to the clinic, and Max insisted on picking up some Chinese takeout for dinner from a place they frequented down the block.

“I’ve been sitting for two hours,” he said when Athena gave him a look.

“But you’ll have to carry the bags back,” she frowned.

“Athena, I love you, but I can handle carrying a takeout bag. It’s maybe a seven minute walk.”

She sighed. “Okay. You’re right. Just be careful.”

She leaned up to give him a kiss before he left. Left alone for a bit with no patients, Athena continued organizing patient charts and filling out some delivery forms. She heard the front door open and moved out into the front to see who was there. She froze when she saw none other than Seth Rathbone standing in the lobby, hands in his pockets.

“Mr. Rathbone,” she said flatly. “I assumed if you needed medical attention you’d go somewhere like Hobbs Memorial.”

“I’m fit as fiddle,” he said, flashing her a smile. “I actually came to speak with you. It’s been a while I know but I had to track you down and this is the first I’ve been able to get away. I just wanted to apologize for the misunderstanding we had at tea.”

“Misunderstanding,” Athena repeated.

“Look, your mother didn’t tell me you were seeing someone. She had told me about you and I agreed to meet you since our families are friends. Honestly, I assumed she must be exaggerating about you to get me interested. I was pleasantly surprised that she wasn’t. But clearly it was the wrong time and setting for the encounter.”

“The implication there is that you think there would ever be a right time and setting,” Athena said. “I’m still unavailable and uninterested.”

“Right. The boyfriend.”

“Fiancé, actually. I suppose Veronica didn’t tell you about that either. Or she did, and you still have the nerve to show up here in some last ditch effort to woo me to the dark side.”

“I know it must seem inappropriate,” he said. “It’s just that I’ve found myself thinking about you surprisingly often since we met. You weren’t at all what I was expecting. And surely you’re aware of how lovely you are.”

“Oh, please. We met for all of five minutes,” Athena snorted. “You’re either here as a favor to Veronica, or you just can’t fathom the idea that someone doesn’t want you and you hoped to soothe your ego. Did you really think you could just waltz in here and give me some cheesy bullshit line and I’d just fall into your arms?”

Seth looked both surprised and annoyed; confirming that yes, that’s probably exactly what he had assumed.

“Miss Winters, I just—“

“Shove it, Seth. Even if I was single, I wouldn’t be interested in you. The fact that I already found someone who’s at least ten times the man you are doesn’t help your case.”

His charming demeanor was gone now. His gaze had hardened and his posture was stiff.

“Well,” he said flatly. “I can see coming here was a waste of time.”

“Good. Then get out.”

He looked about to snap at her but the door opened and Michael and Max stepped inside. Max was holding the takeout bag and Michael was laughing at some joke he’d told, though he broke off and they both drew to a halt when they saw Seth standing there and Athena looking ready to punch him.

Seth cast Michael and Max a cold look and left without saying anything else.

“Who was that?” Michael asked.

“He’s no one,” Athena said dismissively. “He was lost, so I told him where he could go. The food smells great, let’s eat.”