"I'll shush. Just for you, love... And your place will be left in the same condition you left it, I promise."

"Good," she replied, though she could have thought any of the three ideas expressed in that sentence was good. Him shushing, her place being kept clean, and, well, the fact that he called her love which meant endearment, which made her feel nice and warm behind her sternum.

"Dinner? Tonight? Before you leave?"

Didn't he just get through saying that he wanted to take her out after she got back? She'd have enough time to prepare herself for that. This, this was so sudden that she was a bit dumbstruck for a moment.

"Well... I... are you going to make me get dressed up?" She couldn't help it as the words left her mouth and she realized just how stupid they sounded. He did that to her: he drew out all of her stupidity and spread it before her to see.

"I mean, yeah, yes." Athena ran a hand through her hair. For the twentieth time, she asked herself what on earth she was doing. "I'd like that." She wanted to saturate herself with time with him before having to leave him for as long as a month.