Monday of the following week found Athena having to babysit the Wright Anything Agency office, as Apollo and Mr. Wright were at court for a case, facing off against Gaspen Payne.

Sitting on the couch and scrolling through Widget's menu, she hoped that they would wrap up quickly and come back – the office being empty and quiet while Trucy was at school and everyone else was out was a drag.

Not only that, it left her with far too much time to think about the fact that she had not heard a peep from Simon since their meeting last week. As she was the one asking him for a favor, she had restrained herself from calling, herself, not wanting to bug him until he said "no" just to get her off his back, but…

Just how long does he need to make a decision? Or did he just say he would "think about it" to get rid of me?

No, he was not the type to do that kind of thing… was he?

She was rattled out of her contemplation when the door opened and her associates strolled in, obviously in a good mood.

"Hey there, boss, Apollo… how'd it go?"

Her colleague grinned at her. "How do you think? We went up against Payne…"

Athena laughed. "Yeah, sorry, I forgot for a second. How often did he call you 'rookie' this time before you schooled him?"

"I dunno, since the trial was pretty short, I think he only managed to say it about twenty times… Hey, wanna get out of the office and go grab a bite to eat? I'm starving."

She shook her head at Apollo. "You always are. Well, vamonos!"

Mr. Wright called out from his study after them, "Get me something, too, I don't care what it is!"

"Will do, boss!" Athena called over her shoulder just before the door slammed shut behind her.

A few minutes later, they were standing in line at the sandwich shop around the corner; Athena had suggested Eldoon's, but her associate had logically pointed out that bringing a bowl of noodles back to the office was a bit of a pain. "Also," he admitted after looking around to make sure that Guy Eldoon was not suddenly sneaking up on them with his noodle stand, "I don't know if my stomach can't handle that much saltiness today…"

While they were waiting, Apollo suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, you wouldn't be interested in the newest gossip from the prosecutor's office…?

Athena giggled. "Are you gossiping with Payne between bouts now? Oh, how the mighty have fallen…"

"Shya right," he snorted. "No, we ran into Prosecutor Gavin on the way out, and he told us something that I thought might interest you, but if you don't wanna hear it…"

She fully turned towards him while he feigned a sudden interest in his fingernails.

"Okay, you got me. Spill!"

Apollo left her hanging for a moment longer before he faced her again, just as the crowd moved forward a few steps. "Apparently, Prosecutor Blackquill got rid of his long hair."

She stared at him. "You're kidding."

Her associate shook his head. "It's just hearsay, but… cross my heart and hope to die, that's what I heard."

Just at this moment, her cell phone began to ring in her bag, and when she had finally fished it out, she was surprised to see that the caller was Simon. Speak of the devil.

Quickly accepting the call, she greeted him with a cheery, "Hey, how's it going?"

An amused huff on the other end of the line. "I can't complain. I hope I'm not disturbing…?"

Athena smiled. "Nope, I'm currently on lunch break… waiting in line, you know how it is… hold on."

Apollo was gesturing at her wildly as they were now rapidly approaching the counter, and she quickly rattled off, "Black forest ham, all veggies, light mayo. Let's get the same for Mr. Wright, I've seen him order that more than once."

He nodded to signal her that he had understood, and she lifted her phone back to her ear.

"Sorry about that… so, what's this I hear about you getting a haircut?"

From the corner of her eye, she could see Apollo starting violently, turning to stare at her until people behind them gestured impatiently for him to place their order.

"…had I known that my hairstyle would be the talk of the town, I would have timed the change to coincide with more interesting gossip material."

She snorted at his consternation. "That'll teach you to do something like that on a slow news day."

He harrumphed. "Consider me taught. Speaking of 'teaching'… I am calling because of your request the other day."

"Yes…?" Athena could not help but feel her excitement mounting as she stepped out of the line, Apollo now holding a plastic bag with three sandwiches wrapped in aluminum foil. Please don't say no please don't say no pretty please…

"I have used the weekend for a thorough review, and I am reasonably certain that instructing you would be feasible."

Athena's unavoidable little hop of joy apparently caused her associate to think that she had completely lost her marbles. She did not care one bit at the moment. Yes!

"Thank you, it means a lot to me," she quickly replied, grinning from one ear to the other.

"Don't thank me yet. I hope you realize that I will expect you to work hard at this."

Simon sounded amused in spite of himself.

"Pas de problème!" Athena assured him right away. "So… where are we gonna do this?"

"My apartment has sufficient open space available. Do you have something to write?"

"Hold on…" Holding a hand over the phone's lower edge, she urgently whispered at Apollo, "Do you have a pen and some paper?"

Her associate shook himself visibly; he had still been in open-mouth mode. "Uh, one sec…"

He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a stubby pencil and an old receipt. Athena nodded her thanks, and motioned for him to turn around to let her use his back as a scribbling surface.

"Alright, let's hear it."

Simon told her the address, which she quickly wrote out, verifying the house and apartment numbers but nothing else, since she did not think he would be thrilled to hear his address shouted out for all the world to hear, even if most people around her at the moment probably could not care less.

"Barring any unforeseen engagements, I am home every evening after six. I would suggest we train for two hours two to three times a week in the beginning, to be adjusted as necessary."

"Wow, that often…?" Athena realized immediately that her reaction sounded profoundly ungrateful, and hastened to add, "I mean, I don't wanna take up all your free time, no, what I really mean is…"

A low chuckle on the other end of the line interrupted her. "Once again, if you bother me, rest assured that I will tell you. As for my suggesting a rigorous regimen…" She could just about hear the smirk on his face, "…you've never been particularly patient, and you still aren't, as the episode at the office last week rather abundantly proves. I figured that you wanted to see improvement before the year is out."

His flippant explanation made her laugh. "Guilty as charged. All right, I'll be over tonight then." Also because I really want to see your new 'do.

"Very well, I will see you then."

The line went dead.

Shoving her phone and the receipt with his address into her bag, Athena turned towards Apollo, who had been eyeing her stuck between bafflement and curiosity.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Before you ask, yes, that was Simon. Any other questions?"

"I, uh… that wasn't a set-up for a date, was it?"

Athena could not help it: she laughed in his face.

"As if! For all I know, he still hasn't gotten over the fact that I'm not a kid anymore! No, he's going to teach me how to handle a sword."

Apollo cringed. "That's almost more terrifying to imagine than option number one. Isn't throwing people enough for you anymore?"

Her expression froze for a moment, before it segued into one of melancholy. "That's not it! Actually… since Simon learned his techniques from Mom, I thought it'd be nice if I could in turn learn from him, do something she enjoyed doing…"

Her associate's face fell. "Shoot, Athena, sorry for being so blasé about it…"

She could hear guilt in his heart and quickly forced herself to resume smiling. They were still on occasion dancing around the doubts he had harbored about her at the time of the UR-1 retrial, and even though she had assured him that it was all water under the bridge numerous times, their friendly relationship was not yet back to the way it had been.

"Don't be silly – and before you get all cringe-y again, I promise that I won't start bringing bladed weapons to work with me anytime soon, so you only have to keep fearing my ace shoulder throws!"

Apollo's responding laugh sounded genuine. "That's a relief. Well, I hope he's not going to send you home black and blue all over tonight."

She snorted. "That makes two of us. Let's get back to the agency, or Mr. Wright is going to call a grand search for that lunch we're supposed to bring him…"

Athena generally was not a person who spent her entire workday aching for time to pass more quickly, but today was definitely an exception to the rule. She could not even entirely explain to herself why she was suddenly so stoked at the prospect of sword training, given that it had not even crossed her mind to try her hand at it prior to last week.

It must be because Simon is the one who's gonna teach me…

They had been unable to talk without a multitude of physical and professional barriers standing between them for so long, and two half-hour conversations were hardly enough to erase the seven-year chasm which had opened up between them, although she was already relieved that they once again seemed to be on friendly footing. Not only would she be able to reconnect with him on a personal level, maybe their impending shared activity would erase the dull ache in her heart whenever she thought of her mother, whom she had so gravely misunderstood.

Of course, Apollo spilled the news to Trucy as soon as she returned from school, and the young magician promptly quipped, "Cruisin' for a bruisin', Athena?"

Before she had been able to respond, the boss inserted himself into the conversation. "The guy went to jail for her, Truce. I doubt he's going to hurt her… much."

"Aren't you all shining beacons of confidence," Athena grumbled. "I know that I'm gonna get whupped a number of times, thank you very much. You don't have to rub it in just yet."

Trucy grinned at her. "Okay, we're gonna continue after the first few whuppings, then."

"Gee, thanks."

"That's what friends are for!"