Concordia was alright, probably the nicest place Athena had been next to Atlas HQ if you ignored the surrounded devastated area of Promethea if you could.

While the occupants were odd, they weren't as annoying as other inhabitants she had run into on Pandora or any of the other planets she had been to. And while she wouldn't admit to it, she did appreciate that familiarity of Moxxi, the woman was… a lot but at least in between missions, Athena had a place to take a breather.

Though, while she appreciated all these small comforts, there was one bit Concordia that left her feeling lost.

That 'bit' being a person, who was currently behind her in their office while Athena stood next to the grinder, hoping that Springs did not notice she had been standing there for minutes on end as she pretended to go over her gear.

Athena wasn't one for small talk, she down right hated it, but that didn't mean she couldn't at least speak to others even if it was mostly just short harsh words. With Janey though, anything past business talk and she sounded like she never spoken to another person in her entire life, something about the other woman made her just act stupid. It wasn't like she never seen or even considered other women attractive, even members in her old team before she defected, but somehow all Janey Springs had to do was smile and Athena could feel all her composure just go out the window and explode.

And now she was making her do things she never expected to do, like stand around like an idiot trying to think up a way to start a conversation that didn't come off as trying to hard. So far she hadn't been able to come up with anything past a greeting or about past battle performances, which she wasn't sure if Springs would find interesting or boring. As Athena continued to hover in the room, she was saved (or made worse) from any more discomfort when Nisha called her over from the doorway, "Hey, the guys left to do some job in Triton Flats. Aurelia and me are gonna get a drink, join us once you're done with this." She waved her hand lazily in Janey's direction, a devilish smirk painted on her face and Athena could feel her embarrassment increase tenfold.

Before she left, Nisha threw out a "Hey Springs!", Athena turned to see that Janey had just exited her office and now she was totally screwed. "Heya, Nisha!" The junker turned to see Athena standing off to the side, if she at all noticed the panic look had then she didn't give any indication that she did. As she passed by heading towards the garage, Janey slowed down enough that she brushed shoulders with her, her dark brown eyes almost twinkling along her toothy smile, "Hey, Athena."

It took every bit of dignity within Athena to not wince at how hoarse her voice was as she croaked out a shaky 'hello'. She watched as Janey left her line of sight, listening to her footsteps as they stomped down the stairs and off to do whatever she does that wasn't… actually Athena didn't really understand what she did.

As soon as she stopped hearing her footsteps and was sure she was away from her line of sight, Athena banged her head against the side of the grinder. How was it this woman reduced her to a babbling idiot with just a look and barely any words?

Atlas training was suppose to harden her, completely and utterly remove any sort of possibility that Athena would ACT like this towards anyone, but no. She crash lands on the moon and apparently finds the one person in the universe who reduces her to mush.

UNBELIEVABLE.

But, she wasn't exactly upset about it, she found Springs' flirting and attention nice, almost addicting if Athena was being honest. Thinking about this was exhausting, and it distracted her from focusing on the mission, she needed to get this done and then.. maybe...

Taking the moment to steady herself, Athena stalked out of the Emporium and headed towards Moxxi's, maybe a drink would calm her down. She quickly spotted Nisha and Aurelia sitting off the side and judging from the Rakk Ale and Whiskey bottles on the table, already a few drinks down.

As soon as she took a seat, Nisha slid a glass of she-didn't-care-what-it-was-at-this-point and downed in one swig. "So, did you actually talk to her or just stare blankly like you always do?"

Athena didn't bother answering and chose to just glare harshly in her direction, it didn't do anything other than make the lawbringer laugh. "It's amazing how much of a badass you can be, but you immediately turn into a bumbling moron when it comes to Springs. It's almost cute."

"Please, stop talking."

While Nisha and Athena bantered back and forth, refilling drinks in between, all Aurelia seemed to do was sip her vodka martini with a slow ledger, letting them quiet down before she decided to interject.

"Athena darling, if you want, I could give you some handy advice for this particular situation?"

"You… what?"

"Help, darling.

Athena sat rigidly in her seat, studying Aurelia's lazy smile for any hint of deception. After a moment, she deemed she was telling the truth, setting her glass down and giving her full attention to her.

"Okay, go ahead."

"In my youth, I was completely enamored with a young lady, a heiress to some corporation I don't quite remember anymore. For a time, I was absolutely struck by her beauty and her absolute ruthlessness in the boardroom. It was intoxicating, but for some reason I was so unsure of how to approach her."

This was almost too unreal, for the short amount of time Athena had been acquainted with Aurelia, she had been nothing short of… well a stone cold bitch in her own words. But this was completely unexpected, Athena couldn't even begin to imagine the other women to act bashful or nervous in any way and judging from Nisha's shocked expression, this was as much as a surprise to her as well.

"It came to the point where I needed to make my move or simply continue to watch from the sidelines until those feelings faded or someone else did what I couldn't do. I'm not one to be showed up, so I made a plan and well, let's just say I made quite the impression that paid off."

"...What happened?"

"Hmmm? Oh she tried to buy out my company from under me so I did the same to her. Needless to say it soured any romance between us."

Oh.

Athena frowned, "Okay, so how does that help me?"

Aurelia sipped the rest of her vodka martini before setting the empty glass on the table. "My point, my dear, is either make your move before things are too late. You don't want to be left with any sort of regrets so take a chance."

Athena glanced down at her drink, running her finger against the lip of the glass; as much as she hated to admit it, Aurelia was right. Who knows how long Springs would stay interested in her, it was obvious she didn't wait around considering she had front row view of that with Amelia. She had many hangups and regrets already, Atlas's dirty laundry wasn't secret and it was obvious Springs knew enough since she already did ask her about it before the came to Concordia, but did Athena want to expose Springs to what Atlas really did to her, that darkness that never really left her?

Springs wasn't innocent, that much was clear especially the whole "please kill this guy for me" part. She's been nothing but nice to Athena, even when asking to do jobs for her; every time she had something to say, Athena wanted to listen, no matter how ridiculous or rambly she got. She even wanted to just be around her, Springs' presence seem to ease something within Athena, sometimes it scared her how much she wanted to fall into it.

The only thing that was holding her back was her own fears and insecurities, but Athena wanted nothing more than to try.

Yeah, she was gonna go for it.

Taking a deep breath and ignoring Nisha's still shocked expression, apparently this new side to the other woman was still too much to take in. "Thanks Aurelia."

"It was no trouble darling, now, that'll be 50,000 dollars. Advice isn't free."

"WHAT?"

A/N: Do you know how much of a nightmare it is to write femslash and deal with pronouns? If you, as the reader gets confused, CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW I FEEL?