If Athena was at all bothered by the fact that she became interesting more or less to the resident kids of Sanctuary, she never showed it. While she could express frustration because answering nonsensical questions over and over again was really taxing, she was never was harsh; well harsh in the sense of how she treated anyone who wasn't Janey whenever they ticked her off.

Tina seem to be the one who hung around her the most, or was at least the loudest.

After being released, or less of a prisoner but still forced to stay in Sanctuary until Lilith deemed her "not a threat", Tina had showed up and asked for a story about a raid boss.

Whatever that was, so she told her about the Sentinel fight though she had to deal with Tina interrupting somewhat to jazz it up.

Annoying but, Athena wasn't so above it that she didn't get caught up in the theatrics herself, she was a little proud of when Tina declared it a good story.

She thought that would be the end of Tina's interest with her, but she came back much later during the day when the sun was starting to set and Athena was staring at the horizon from the window in her not cell, clutching the corpse jewelry she had been given to by Janey. Tina barged in the room with Brick trailing behind her, possibly to keep on eye on her like if she would ever harm a child, and asked for the entire Elpis story.

Considering Athena had spent most of the afternoon retelling it, she wasn't exactly in the mood to do it again. She really wanted to say no, wanted to have time to herself to think about what she could say to Janey and apologize for breaking her promise and lying.

She decided to put that on the back burner for now.

While the interruptions were annoying she didn't mind, though Tina asking whether or not she and Janey hooked up was… not ideal. Didn't stop her from high-fiving the kid, Athena tried to ignore the feeling of her burning face and sly faces she was receiving from both occupants of the room with her.

After being deemed a non-threat, Athena was allowed to roam around Sanctuary freely but still wasn't allowed to really leave which wasn't great because she still hadn't been able to contact Janey. Made worse because during her fight with Brick and Mordecai her echo had been more or less crushed flat, getting a word out to her to Hollow Point without endangering Janey because she still didn't trust Lilith or her vault hunters was practically impossibly, she would've asked Scooter but she hadn't seen him at all since she was brought to Sanctuary even after being released. So when Janey showed up, the custom Jakobs shotgun Athena had modded for her strapped to her back and Maliwan pistol in her hand, rushing out of Pierce Station and stopping short in front of Athena who was sitting in the square. Athena tried not to show her smug amusement over hearing Janey chew out Lilith for kidnapping her, though that joy was short lived.

The talk they had afterwards was... long needed and painful and it felt like days when it was only a few hours.

But by the end of it, Athena felt lighter and she could tell Janey was too.

It still scared her, the thought that she was giving so much of herself to one person. It was absolutely terrifying but also exhilarating, she loved Janey, knew for a long time that she did but admitting that to herself or out loud scared her because the reality of it could break whatever spell over their heads.

Athena really didn't want to wake up one day and find everything was just some weird elaborate delusion and she was still stuck in Atlas.

If anything happened to Janey, by her hand or by outside influences, she wouldn't know what to do. Athena wrapped her arms around her fiance as she slept, she could hear the residents of Hollow Point as they walked around and the Psychos yelling nonsense from within their home. It was strange to think after everything, that after everything that had happened that this is where she would end up.

Athena finally fell asleep, tucked into Janey's shoulder.

Janey had more or less forced her way into the Crimson Raiders' business, saying if they were gonna use Athena for their plans then she was coming with, no ifs ands or buts about it.

While Athena would rather keep Janey out of danger, especially something that was being described as a war, she wasn't gonna say no to it. Plus seeing how much Janey's presence intimidate the hell out of Lilith, it was just an added bonus for her.

Considering that Janey was now in Sanctuary, Tina practically died upon seeing her and embarrassed her to hell and back for yelling about how Athena scored a mega hottie.

She wasn't wrong, but still.

Janey loved Tina, she thought her enthusiasm was infectious and cute. So her hanging around them didn't bother her at all, though Athena wasn't sure what to make of Tina actually showing up in Hollow Point at their home or the garage, not at all bothered by the bandits or psychos roaming around.

Though it looked like they were avoiding and running away once they caught sight of her, Athena wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

So for awhile, Tina seem to just be there with them.

Sometimes she would show up at the garage while Janey was working or she would somehow be in their home when the door was clearly locked and Athena would be so annoyed because if Tina could break in then who else could? She couldn't help but be impressed by the kid's ability to bypass her own locks though.

Janey didn't seem to mind, which was more important if this was bothering her in anyway, Athena would do anything to make sure she was happy. But Tina endeared her, hell she was inspiring Janey to write again which took an unfortunate backseat when they moved to Pandora and were busy trying to build a stable life together.

Athena wasn't sure when it started to feel normal.

The realization of the situation occurred to her when one night Janey and her were in bed about to sleep and Tina, who had come over as she did nowadays, was there laying in between them already out cold and snoring.

Tina had skipped up to Athena and in her own cute way, demanded that they go and blow up Skag dens, why? She didn't really question it, trying to question Tina's motives was not worth the headache.

After about a few good explosions, letting Tina use a rocket launcher and asking her to not tell Janey about it, and also unintentionally blowing up a runner that was definitely not her fault and history be damned of Athena crashing moon zoomies means nothing, they had traveled back to Hollow Point. Janey had just finished up a custom job and was closing up the garage, they made their way back to their home with Tina in the middle and swinging their hands.

Dinner was lively with Tina exaggerating their day and reenacting some of it, food the unfortunate casualty. After that and a few episodes of some echo show that they just needed to watch because oh my god it's just so good, they decided to sleep.

It was odd that Tina even slept since she was someone who screamed energy, enough that she exhausted Athena by just listening to her even talk. Seeing her actually being still and quiet, it was fascinating and maybe she just couldn't help but reach over and tuck some of her hair back in place.

And maybe she didn't get embarrassed over Janey teasing her over it.

Tina was a good kid.

A/N: Finding time between work and life to write is horrible lol next chapter will be Pickle.