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Touring Europe feels the same way listening to Thena name the stars used to feel. The shapes around her are difficult to recognize, the names impossible to understand. Everything feels so big and so open in some places but crowded and cramped in others, and the only thing that keeps Juniper from flying home on the very first day is Athena's overwhelming joy, which seems to renew with every city they visit. Well, that, and the fact that she doesn't really want to have to navigate the airport or be on a plane by herself.
Thena is the very definition of radiant when she’s standing at the rail of a bridge over the Seine, when she’s posing in front of a statue in Rome, when she’s resting in the shade of an enormous tree somewhere in Germany. Juniper follows her through art museums and bustling markets and listens to every bit of the stream-of-consciousness chatter she produces as they go. Being on the move seems to energize Athena until she’s nearly electrified, and it's so dazzling to observe that Juniper keeps forgetting to take pictures.
It had been difficult at first to reconcile this globetrotting woman with the girl she’d known, the one who only really liked three places and didn’t even want to move among all of those in the same day, but it suits her. Athena's appreciation for the world around her is enough to make Juniper reclaim a little of her own sense of wonder.
After a week, she’s even getting used to the rhythm of traveling. They’re on a train back to Paris on day eight, watching the countryside pass them by, and Juniper realizes suddenly that she could do this forever if it meant sitting across from Athena and watching her doze off in the evening light at the end of every day.
It would be a little difficult to do for two people with full-time jobs, of course. They were lucky to find even this much time. Still, it makes for a nice goal. Maybe she’ll even be able to take Thena somewhere she hasn’t been, someday. Somewhere further than she’s ever dared to dream, if Thena’s big dreams have any limits at all.
The other realization she has is bigger, too big to consider while sharing a seat with an old woman who only speaks a language Juniper can’t understand but seems to be repeatedly offering her chocolate. Juniper holds up the sleeve she's knitting, trying again to communicate nonverbally that she's too busy to take candy from strangers.
Even though her new epiphany is daunting, she lets her mind wander the edges of it, planning just to consider its shape. It's a little like walking into a room and seeing a couch covered by a blanket, though: the details might be hidden, but there's no real doubt as to what's underneath.
Ready or not, she has fallen completely in love with Athena Cykes.
She isn't really surprised. It's always been Thena, after all. Her first real friend, her first pen pal, the recipient of the her first lumpy, too-long scarf, her first tentative romantic partner, her first kiss. Why not her first real love, too?
Thena had been so surprised to learn that Juniper had never dated. It wasn't that she'd intended to wait; it was just that, after Thena left in middle school, she hadn't even seen the opportunities around her, too concerned with maintaining her most important friendship. She hadn't had time for anything more than classroom acquaintances, not between her studies and her frantic, frequent letter-writing in the early days.
She still doesn't know who stopped writing meaningful letters first, and it doesn't really matter anymore. People drift apart, and Juniper had been content to believe that Thena had finally settled into her new life. A quick update here and there was better than nothing.
She'd been heartbroken, of course, when she'd woken up one day to realize that for months, neither of their letters had actually said anything. At the time, she'd chalked the devastation she felt up to the length of their friendship. It had felt the way Juniper would expect losing touch with any friend would feel, just... amplified to the power of the years they'd known each other. Not that she had anything to compare it to.
Regardless, it hadn’t left her any time or space to say yes to anyone else. She’d filled the emptiness in her heart with creative hobbies and, by the time she started at Themis, with other equally lonely people, all of them implicitly agreeing to keep their darkest secrets and oldest hurts under wraps.
Maybe it should have been predictable that Athena's intervention, incidental as it was, would go a long way toward healing all of them. Looking back, it all kind of feels inevitable: of course Athena would once again become the biggest and steadiest presence in her life. It hadn't felt like a certainty when she'd been in the defendant's chair, though, or even for a long while after. In the ruins of their old status quo, Juniper hadn’t given any thought to the form their new relationship might take. She'd been focused on wondering if they could even rebuild at all.
They had, though. It wasn't quite the effortless "picking up where they left off" that movies had promised her, but they'd made it through. She shouldn’t have doubted. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to doubt again, not with the golden sunlight glinting off the sunflower that hangs from Athena’s left ear, not with the way she pins her own right sleeve closed with a little crescent moon every single morning.
Across from her, Athena snores herself awake, blinking around sleepily and then grinning widely in her direction. "Hey, you made a lot of progress on that!"
Startled, Juniper looks down at the sleeve on her circular needles only to find that Athena is correct. Unfortunately, she's been working on such extreme autopilot that her stitch count is very visibly off. She has completely forgotten to taper it, resulting in a sleeve that could be described as baggy by someone feeling particularly gracious.
Juniper is not feeling gracious. She sighs and starts to rip it back, but pauses to reach over and hand the ball of waiting yarn to Athena. "I'll tell you when to stop."
Thena's eyes light up. She could not be taught to hold a needle or a hook of any kind, but she loves frogging. "I always feel so bad about enjoying this," Thena says, biting her lip. "Sorry it didn't turn out right."
"It's OK," Junie sighs. "I was pretty distracted."
"Aw man, did I sleep through something cool again?" Thena asks, winding back the yarn and watching carefully for Juniper's signal.
"Huh? Oh, no. I was just… thinking," she admits, wincing and blushing when she hears herself squeak a little.
"Ohhh?" Athena asks, a teasing smile on her face. "About what?"
Nothing she's ready to admit. Except, maybe… "About how… sometimes, when things come apart, it's just so they can come back together for something better later."
"Uh, Junie? Are we still talking about knitting?" Thena asks, eyes as wide as Juniper's seen them.
She doesn't say anything, just gives the signal to stop pulling when Thena's efforts bring her to the stitch marker that begins the last correct row.
Thena passes the yarn back to her, looking avidly curious, and Juniper feels a wash of gratitude that everything has turned out just like this. Now that she's had time to think about it, it doesn't seem so bad that they needed a little doubt to learn real trust or a little separation to learn how to bridge the distance between them.
"Junie?" Thena tries again, cocking her head and tapping a finger against her chin, trying to figure it out.
"I'll tell you later," she promises, and whatever Thena hears must be very interesting indeed, because her eyes widen again, and now she's the one blushing. Juniper packs up her project and zips her bag closed.
The old lady waves a piece of chocolate in her general direction yet again and beams when Juniper accepts it this time.
Juniper shuts her eyes, reveling in the rich taste of it and in the warmth of knowing that Athena is still watching her, constant as the big moon overtaking the sky outside.
— — —
One Week Later
As soon as their bags settle on the floor, Athena flops onto the bed. It’s going to be weird to start sleeping in her own bed again, she realizes. Once they sleep off their jet lag, Junie’s going back to her place, and Athena won’t be able to start her morning the way she’s come to like best: sneaking out of their shared room to wake Junie with local pastries and a hot drink.
And to think she’d thought she was ready to come home.
Junie, always one step more prepared than Athena, at least manages to wiggle out of her coat before settling down beside her. “Definitely not unpacking today,” Junie sighs.
“Tomorrow’s problem,” Athena manages to confirm before her eyes shut and refuse to open again.
— —
Neither of them wakes until almost noon the next day, and when they do, it’s only because Trucy shrieks at the sight of them.
“Wha? What? Trucy!?” Athena shouts muzzily back, head spinning as she tries to figure out why any of what’s happening is happening. She sits upright in a hurry, looking around and finding Junie attempting to cocoon herself under the covers like it’ll undo their unexpected wake-up call.
“Thena! You were supposed to text me when you got in! I figured your flight probably got delayed and you put your phone charger in your checked bag and it got lost in La Guardia and none of the stores were open to sell you a new one. Or something like that.”
“Personal experience?” Athena guesses, rubbing at her eyes.
Trucy shrugs. “Daddy’s a nightmare to travel with, what can I say? Miles isn’t much better. He’s good at finding murders. Did you find any murders?”
Junie mutters something into her pillow that sounds suspiciously like “not yet.”
Athena bites her lip hard to keep from laughing. She hadn’t even known Junie could get cranky until the first round of jet lag. “Sorry, Truce. Nothing exciting here. I really just forgot.”
“Boring! Well, you sure do look awfully tired. Guess I’ll go ahead and water the plants and feed the fish while I’m here,” she says sweetly. “I’ll add it to your bill.”
“Thanks, Trucy.” Athena rolls her eyes. Can’t blame a teenager for being enterprising, but seriously, it’s hard to believe she needs any money now that Mr. Edgeworth has stopped pretending like he doesn’t want to shower her with everything she looks at with the slightest hint of longing.
She settles down again, snuggling up to Junie and trying to reclaim some of the blankets for herself. She’s just barely starting to fall asleep again when Trucy yells out that she’s leaving.
“Ugh,” she groans, rolling onto her back. “Sleep is over.”
“Noooo,” Junie protests.
“To be fair, I think we slept for about twelve hours,” Athena points out, checking her phone and wincing at the number of missed messages. It’s nice to be reminded that people were worried about them, even if it makes her feel twice as bad for forgetting to let anyone know they made it back safely.
She sends off apology texts to all the relevant parties: Mr. Wright, Pearl, Apollo, the group chat with Junie, Hugh, and Robin.
Simon.
Yikes.
He hasn’t sent a single inquiry, which is almost worse, because Athena knows he’s worrying and trying not to be overbearing.
She sits up to deal with that one, typing and deleting several replies before settling on the simplest one.
[11:23 AM]: We’re back safe!
[11:23 AM]: Sorry it took so long to let you know! Was on autopilot from the airport back home and fell asleep immediately!
When her phone rings a few minutes later, she expects it to be Simon, ready to deliver stony silence while he tries to find the words to express his relief. She’s expecting that so much, in fact, that she’s already answering before she processes that it isn’t his ringtone or his name on the screen.
“Hi!”
“Athena? Good, you’re awake. Is there, uh…any chance you’re ready to come back to work a day early? There’s kind of been a murder, and the suspect isn’t saying much.”
“There’s ‘kind of’ been a murder?” she asks incredulously, throwing her head back in a silent display of agony.
“I mean, there’s definitely been a murder. So, what do you say?”
Athena sighs and gets to her feet, flinching as they protest holding her upright after twelve hours of travel and another twelve of sleep. “I’m on my way,” she says.
Junie is peeking out at her sadly from under the pile of blankets.
Shrugging helplessly, Athena shuffles her way out of her travel clothes and into a fresh set of work clothes instead while Mr. Wright chatters in her ear about the few case details he has so far. “OK, sounds good. I’ll meet you there.”
“Sorry. Duty calls,” she tells Junie sadly, leaning down and kissing any part of her face that’s visible outside the blankets because it’s a guaranteed way to get her giggling. It works, as always, and the sound of her helpless laughter has Athena smiling, too. “I guess you’ll probably be gone when I get back, huh?”
Junie shakes her head. “Kinda thought I’d stay a few extra days, if that’s OK. I, um.” She ducks her face further under the blanket, like there’s anything in the world that can hide the fact that she’s blushing. “I got really used to being with you. I think, if I went back to my place now, it wouldn’t feel much like home.”
“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Athena admits, and if she’s a few minutes later than anticipated because she had to climb back into bed to kiss her girlfriend, that’s just what Mr. Wright gets for dragging her back to work before she’s even unpacked.