"There was a redhead on Promethea, he couldn't have been more than 12, we bombed his village to make way for an armory."

It was something that Janey made a mental note of in the back of her mind.

Though it was probably too early to make that claim considering that Elpis wasn't booming with kids, hard to raise a family on a moon when there was sparsely any cities and it was more than likely you'd die from Kraggons or Scavs before you got to that point.

Either way, it surprised Janey how much Athena seemed to be at ease talking to Pickle. Usually, any time the short woman had any sort of conversation towards people in Concordia, she had little patience and was curt, Athena wasn't one for small talk. Well, unless it was her.

But whenever Pickle made his way to visit the Emporium or they would go and see him at his place in Outlands Canyon, it would amaze her how much Athena seem to be gentle or as gentle as she could be towards anyone.

It really solidified when locking up the Emporium one night, they were taking Pickle out to eat with them, Janey saw out of the corner of her eye as they both laughed and she watched Athena reach out and ruffle his hair.

She nearly crushed her hand closing the door.

Living on Pandora, in Hollow Point, still not prime environment for raising kids but somehow among the bandits and psychos roaming around, life finds a way. After the fiasco of the Traveler and getting married, things have been tentative but different in a really good way; after frying Rudiger's face off and losing her job as a food stand attendant, Athena somehow found herself as an helper for Hammerlock whenever he went out to study animals or needed her to get samples. It still amazed them both how different he was compared to Aurelia, were they really brother and sister?

While locking up Scooter's, well her garage now, she could hear from behind the building the sounds of kids laughing and yelling, Janey pocketed her keys and moved towards the door leading out the back, the sight that greeted her made her smile. As she leaned against the door, she watched Athena fiddle with a worn out ball, a handful of kids from around Hollow Point surrounding her; the empty lot behind the garage always served as a point for the few kids to play in, also probably having a force of nature like Athena so near made them feel safer.

"Hold up, I can throw it hard enough to break it."

Janey could hear the cries of disbelief and amazement as she watched her wife wind up and throw the ball so hard, reminiscent of how she did the same for her shield. The toy was a blur as it hit the already crumbling brick wall across from them with enough force that it stayed embedded for a few seconds before pieces of brick fell off with the ball and now a pretty sizable hole was left.

The kids with Athena let out loud cheers until a loud bang from a door of the building with the bust wall swings open and someone yelling about the noise killed the good mood. Janey could hear Athena whisper loudly to the kids surrounding her to run and she watches as they take off, running past her and away from any danger, who upon seeing Athena immediately freezes and slowly steps back inside.

Janey laughs and watches as the other woman walks over and pick up the toy, dusting it off before turning around and smiling once she saw her.

"All done?", Athena asks as she walks over, tossing the ball towards Janey, who just barely catches it.

"Yeah, ready to head home?" Athena nods and they make their way towards their home, Athena's hand warm against her waist as they walked quietly together.

Janey sets the toy on their makeshift coffee table, flopping lazily on their worn-out couch, "What do you wanna do with that anyway?" Athena clips off her armor before lifting Janey's legs and setting them on her lap, "Just hold it until tomorrow, they know I go to the garage after work so they'll be waiting."

A comfortable silence passes when Janey speaks up again, "You know, it still amazes me how good you are with kids." Judging from Athena's stunned expression, she wasn't expecting that comment.

"I don't.. really?"

"Well, unless they're just hanging around you for your pretty face, but who could blame them if they were?" Janey punctuated her statement by grabbing Athena's hand, lacing their fingers together.

"Well kids are just people technically." Janey laughed but agreed with her.

They let themselves sink into a comfortable silence.

Athena had been sent by Hammerlock to clear out an abandoned village that some Bullymongs had "ever so rudely", his words not hers, pushed out some residents and asked to bring back some skin samples. She really didn't understand what he did with any of that but he paid too well for her to complain honestly.

Once she got there she noticed some bandits had made home near the outskirts of the village, she made quick work of them and took out the Bullymongs as well, she bagged whatever sje could for Hammerlock and was about to head back to Sanctuary for her reward when she heard a noise from a run downed shack.

What she found was a scared child, a young girl with dirty clothes and a large bruise on her face; Athena said aside her gun and kneeled down before outstretching her hand, "They're all dead, there's no one here but the both of us."

She wasn't sure how much time passed as the child hesitated to come near her, Athena watched as she timidly took her hand and look up at her with frightened eyes.

They walked slowly through the quiet village littered with Bullymong and bandit corpses back to tje runner.

Athena felt the fast-travel effects fade as she appeared in Pierce Station and headed towards Zed's, Sanctuary was the safest place or safest at least for her to leave the child here.

First impression of Zed with him blood covered and holding a saw wasn't the best, but she growled at him and told the weirdo who always hung around to buzz off.

Athena asked him to check her over and see if she was okay, she would tell Lilith she found her and as she turned to leave the child grabbed her arm, their eyes gave way to how frightened they were.

"You're safe here, I promise."

"Can't I come with you?" Her fingers clung harder onto her sleeve, Athena furrowed her brows, unsure what to do.

"I don't live here, but I will be back tomorrow."

"You promise?"

"Uh well I work here so, I suppose…"

That was enough to placate them, flimsy as it was, after Athena reported the child to Lilith and got her payment from Hammerlock, she made her way to Hollow Point, eager to see Janey.

She found her wife in the garage office doing paperwork, the day's exhausting events finally catching up with her, Athena kissed her on the cheek and sat on her lap, wrapping her arms tightly around her.

Janey chuckled, "Hard day?"

"I'll tell you when we get home."

"What does wife look like?"

A few weeks after taking the child, whose name was Nia, to Sanctuary and being okayed by Zed, as good as that can be considering, Athena found whenever she visited that she would always be sought out and her usual short visits were prolonged. It was strange, she assumed that after awhile she would be forgotten considering the amount of colorful characters in the city but no, Nia would always ask for her and stick close to her whenever she was here.

And somehow, Athena found herself sharing things and talking and it was very weird. Maybe she was getting soft she thought as she warily reached into her vest pocket and pulled out the photo she kept of Janey and her from their wedding, "She's pretty."

Athena pulled the photo back, gazing at Janey's smiling face, "Yeah, I know."

"C-can I..meet her?"

Athena turned her gaze to the child, who was burying herself against the stuff toy she was holding, a gift from Maya.

"Yeah, okay."

"Really?!"

She leaned away as she yelled, "Yes but you're gonna come back here."

"Oh.. okay, that's fine." Nia pouted, clearly wanting to stay with her.

As the fast-travel effects wore off and Hollow Point came into view, Athena led her towards the Catch-a-Ride garage. Janey was working on a special runner, a commission she had told her about, as she turned to grab at a tool she needed she paused once she them and smiled

"Oh hey there Hon, is this who I think it is?"

"Um yeah, this is Nia."

The child tentatively peaked from behind Athena, gazing at Janey in curiosity before saying hi.

AN: I finished this while at work so mistakes were made I also did not wanna make this longer than necessary for my own sanity, also Hammerlock's animal sidequests fill me with so much rage.