Korra was pretty sure no one else slept like Mako. He lay on his stomach, a pillow clutched underneath him like someone might take it from him. Yet his face was relaxed, almost boyish, his unusually long eyelashes fanned out over his cheeks, his thick eyebrows slightly raised as if something in his dream had surprised him.

Tentatively, she reached out a hand to his bare shoulder and traced the lines of his muscles, the gentle curve where his deltoid melted into his shoulder blade, the ridges of his upper ribs the sharp cleft of his spine. They were both fit, but where her body was lush and abundant, his was taut and lean, his skin stretched over his bones and muscles like there wasn't any to spare. Its surface was cool underneath her hand, but a pool of warmth began where the sheet covered him right above the line of his shorts. But no, she didn't want to wake him just yet. His breathing was quiet, just barely punctuating the silence of the room, washed in the half-light of an overcast dawn. She wasn't naturally an early riser, so this was a rare opportunity to just observe.

In the end it was thirst that drove her out of bed. Between the alcohol and the sobbing, she was spent of moisture, and she wanted to be rid of the unpleasantness in her mouth before he woke up.

The saffron robe she used yesterday was draped over a chair. She threw it on over her tank top and underwear, hiking the fabric up over the sash so that she wouldn't trip. This was one of the robes Pema had given the boys on Air Temple Island, but she had never actually seen Mako wear it. It was simple monk garb, durable, nothing fancy, but he had run his calloused fingers gingerly over the careful hand-worked stitches like they were butterfly wings that would fall apart if he rubbed too hard.

The little kitchen was dark, and she felt her way to the sink, turning it on cold and drinking directly from the faucet. She swished water in her mouth and spat it out twice before fumbling in the cupboard for a mug and taking long drinks that soothed her scratchy throat.

While she stood there, a light appeared down the hallway as a door opened, and she saw Bolin's stocky silhouette take shape, a bag slung over one shoulder and Pabu on the other.

"Hey," she whispered, not wanting to take him by surprise.

"Hey yourself," he whispered back. "This is a little early for you, no?"

"A little." She smiled. "I couldn't get back to sleep."

"You doing ok?" he asked. "Last night, I thought I heard…"

She waved him off. "I'm fine now."

"Is Mako…you know…you need me to tell him what for, or…?" He pounded a meaty fist into his other hand and gave the side eye to Mako's bedroom door.

She nearly choked on her water as she stifled a laugh. "No," she said, trying to recover. "Mako's been a good boy. I've just been having a rotten week is all. Avatar stuff. I just had to, you know, get it out."

"Well, you know who to come to."

"I sure do." She opened her arms, and he hugged her around the waist while she stuck her chin into the shoulder that was not supporting a fire ferret.

"For what it's worth," he said, clapping her on the back just hard enough and pulling away. "You're my favorite Avatar."

She didn't have a response for that, so she pinched his ear and just said, "Have a good practice." And with that he was out the door, and she was left to tiptoe back to Mako's room and watch him sleep some more.

His eyes cracked just a sliver when her weight caused the mattress to dip, and she froze, half hoping he would go back to sleep, half hoping he wouldn't. She couldn't decide.

"Morning," he groaned behind closed eyes, rolling over on his side to open up a place for her against his chest.

"Sorry," she whispered, settling her head on the pillow right next to him and tangling her legs with his.

"Why you wake?" His words were slurred with grogginess.

"Thirsty," she said.

"Oh." He was quiet for a long time, and she thought he had fallen asleep again. "Bolin leave?" he said, louder this time, making her jump just a little bit.

"Yeah."

"Ooohhh," he said, his eyes opening and lips turning up in a sultry grin. He shifted, and she could feel a hint of morning wood brushing up against her thigh. His face looked so stupid, sleepy and aroused all at the same time that she couldn't help but laugh at him and teasingly kick him away. He responded by rolling half on top of her, trapping her legs with his and pinning her head to the pillow with a kiss. His mouth was soft and slow, nipping at hers tenderly, his tongue poking out just slightly to touch her bottom lip, his hand reaching up behind her neck to tangle in her hair and cradle her head.

She let her hands run absently across the broad expanse of his back, her fingernails outlining the grooves and hollows she had memorized earlier. Breaking away from his mouth, she kissed his cheekbones, his eyes, the tip of his nose before pressing her forehead against his and inhaling deeply, feeling his breath begin to sync up with the rise and fall of her chest.

"You are, you know. You don't have to try," she said after a while.

"Hmmm?" His lips had traveled up to her hairline.

"What you said yesterday. You are what I need. You just are. You don't have to try so hard."

He kissed her mouth again sweetly, dryly. "That's nice of you to say, but it doesn't feel that way sometimes. It's like I can never find the right thing to say. I want to help. I want to make you feel…"

"Mako, I don't even know what I'm feeling half the time except confused and frustrated and sometimes angry. I'm not sure what's going on right now or when it's going to end, but sometimes I just need you to be there, to, you know, hold me down and keep me from going completely crazy."

"Judging by the newspaper, it looks like I failed at that at least once this week." She pinched him hard for that, using her toes to dig into the sensitive flesh of his calf, but there was a wicked smirk on her face, which was a good sign.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" she said as she lifted her head and pressed a warm, sucking kiss to his neck.

"Yeah, but you love me anyway." He relaxed his forehead against the pillow while she continued to nibble away at his collarbone, but his legs worked hers apart so that he could rest his hips between them and feel every curve and jut of her body against his.

Korra loved the feel of him on top of her. Oh, she liked tackling and pinning him to the bed or the floor or a practice mat or whatever too, but his gentle weight anchored her to the earth when she sometimes felt like she could spin off into oblivion. She could wrap her exhausted limbs around him and cling to him, reminding herself that she was flesh. Human. That she was allowed to be.

His arousal was pressed against the grooves of her hip, and she could feel hers building like an ache in her groin. She pulled his mouth to hers and let her lips and tongue move against his in slow, velvety waves, her hands skimming down his waist, gingerly touching the burn she had healed two days before. This was their last chance to be together for a while, so she decided to let him take his time. She wanted to feel everything, lock it away in memory for the times when she was alone.

She closed her eyes and moved her hips against his just a little while he cupped her face and breathed against her neck, sucking at her pulse point and moving down her sternum. She felt his hand find its way under her top to massage her right breast, and she threaded her fingers through his hair, trying hard not to push him downward. He would get there in time. Her feet came up around him to dance along his tense, muscled calves, and she sighed contentedly and helped him pull her shirt all the way off so he could take her hardened nipple in his mouth and trail his calloused palms down her sides, over her thighs, and into her underwear to cup her buttocks.

His hands were marvelous—strong, of course, rough in places and soft in others, his fingers long and unexpectedly slender. She loved the way they fit between hers, the way their hands found each other in the dark. And she loved the pressure of them on the small of her back, on her chest, at the nape of her neck when they kissed and touched each other. She loved how they found the lines of her underthings and slipped inside to feel her wet and tense, like they were doing now. With his left arm underneath her hips, he lifted her up, and she cocked her left leg to help him finish undressing her before sinking under him again as he kissed and massaged the underside of her breasts one more time before trailing wet kisses southward.

He buried his face in the hollow spot where her leg joined her pelvis, and she unfurled her body with a moan, stretching her legs out and curling her toes in anticipation of what was to come. When his mouth was on her, lips playing at the top and tongue teasingly darting inside, she realized how extra sensitive she was after their activities over the past few days and hissed through her teeth at the intensity of the contact. He took that as encouragement and pressed his mouth against her harder, gripping her hips and pulling her taut like a piece of rubber stretched to the point of snapping.

She placed her hands on his head and enjoyed the feeling of his mouth washing over her for a long time. But it wasn't quite enough. The tension was building, but she felt empty, weightless. "I need you in me," she whispered, pulling him upward by the hair and guiding his face to hers as he wiped his mouth and settled against the hollow of her body.

As it had before, the head of his penis entering her came with a gasp and the strange sensation of being stretched, both painful and glorious all at once. She reached down to grip his backside and urged him forward, guiding him into her as she reflexively undulated her hips and brought him home. They moved together rhythmically, slowly at first and then quickening, the heat and pressure building between them, gathering like a storm ready to break.

She needed him deeper, so she brought her legs up along his back, pulling her own thighs forward. He took the hint and lifted her lower half up, grabbing a pillow and putting it under her hips so that he could push back against her, falling harder against her, noises escaping their lips each time they made contact.

Korra desperately sought relief, sweat gathering at her hairline and gliding down her face. She bit his neck and shoulders, grabbed at every inch of skin she could find. "I'm close," she gasped, and he picked up the pace, slamming into her. And the colors burst behind her eyes, and she could hear her own voice calling out for him loudly and uncontrollably (good thing they were alone). His breathing was quickening also, and she felt him cling to her as she continued to jerk and thrust against him, digging with her nails and leaving marks in his pale flesh. And then he came in hot swells inside of her, reaching for her face and pressing his mouth feverisly against hers.

"Are you sure we can't just run away?" she whispered into his hair as they recovered, slowly. And he laughed breathlessly, kissing her bare shoulder and pulling out of her with a groan.

"There'd be a manhunt. I have a brother to take care of. You have, you know, a planet. I could only keep you to myself for so long before they'd come roast me alive."

"I'd never let them," she said, taking his face in her hands and kissing him gently.

Without realizing it, they fell asleep again, and she woke to find him sitting, dressed, on her side of the bed, setting a cup of tea on the table next her and reaching over to push the hair from her face.

"Back to the world today, love. I have to work later. I'll give you a ride home on the way."

She smiled, "But it's not on the way."

"It doesn't matter. Besides, I want to show you something first."

Korra tried to peek her head over Mako's shoulder to scan for landmarks that might tell her where they were going. The wind lashed the stray hairs that escaped from her helmet against her neck and shoulders, and she relished the feeling of the motorcycle vibrating and accelerating beneath them. It was different from riding a polar bear dog, wilder somehow, a new kind of thrill.

She was incognito again, wrapped up in Mako's grey coat, while he wore his beat cop uniform. He'd refused to say exactly where he was taking her, and her sense of direction failed her once they vanished into the winding side-streets and alleys that only a kid who'd spent half a lifetime mapping the most discreet path from one place to another could possibly know. Gradually, however, she noticed that the buildings were getting blockier and closer together, awnings looming over the narrow by-ways, laundry dangling out of windows and drunks rousing from their late-morning slumber at the roar of the machine speeding past.

It was when they reached the square that she remembered she'd seen this place before, just never during the day. Mako came to a stop and let down the kickstand by a curb. They kept their helmets on.

"This is Dragon Flats, isn't it," she stated, rather than asked. "This is…"

"Yeah," he said.

"It looks different."

"It is. I came by here on a call earlier in the week. I thought you might…"

"Yeah," she cut him off. And they stood by the bike and watched quietly.

The square was alive. On one side, scaffolds were being dismantled from the facades of apartment buildings, and on another, a team of earthbenders was resurfacing the street, working behind a crew that was laying new sewer pipe. It was still a poor neighborhood. Kids in bare feet and second-hand clothing were playing in a group, and adults were carting meager belongings into their dwellings. But unlike last time, there was no terror. Still, Mako kept them at a distance, knowing as only someone from this sort of place could know that his uniform might give some people the jitters.

"People are just starting to move back in," he explained. "I don't think it was Amon's intent for this neighborhood to get hid during the raids, but there was a lot of collateral damage. A lot of people were displaced."

"I doubt he cared," she returned bitterly.

"Ironically, being carted off to prison probably saved a lot of lives here. I doubt everyone moved back, but the neighborhood is getting back on its feet. It takes time, but things will heal."

In her head, she was reliving that night, her anger and her helplessness and you're our Avatar too.

"This was Tenzin," she said. "Tenzin made sure the Council devoted funds to…"

"And you made sure that he made sure. And besides that," he looked at her, willing her to meet his eyes, "They haven't forgotten. What you did that night…it meant something. I saw those people in jail, and it meant something."

"I failed," she said.

"But you tried. You saw an injustice and you tried to fix it. You can't always stop bad things from happening, Korra. You can't fix everyone's life, but it matters that you try. And sometimes it will make a real difference."

She stood there biting her lip, clenching and unclenching her fists restlessly. Mako kept standing there, his eyes scanning the square like he was searching for something. And then…

"There." He pointed at a group of kids, eight, maybe ten years old. One of them, a little girl, was in a short blue dress with a burlap sack wrapped around her waist. Her hair was gathered into three wolf tails, and she was squaring off against a group of boys and girls with her fists raised, and as she came at each of them, striking out in mock fury, they fell to the ground in histrionic fashion. One of them popped a head up and cried out, whining, "Now it's my turn to be the Avatar."

In spite of the lump forming in her throat, Korra snorted out a laugh. She put her hands on her hips and cocked an eye at him. "Did you pay those kids or something?"

"I wish I were that smart." He grabbed her hand and squeezed it before mounting the motorcycle again. "Come on," he said. "That's all I wanted you to see."

She straddled the seat and wrapped her arms securely around his waist, and as he kicked off from the curb, she leaned her helmet into his back and whispered, "Thanks."

At the ferry, she gave his coat back and then reached into her pocket and pulled out his apartment key. "In case you need this," she started.

He closed the hand that held the key with his own before pulling her in for a long kiss. "Yours," he said when he pulled away. "Some day, I want to be home for you. But until then, you come over whenever you want. Even if we're not there. You don't even have to tell me first."

She tightened her hold around his neck and closed her eyes.

"Just pick up your clothes," he said.

And she bit his ear, laughing.

It took a while for her to finally pull away from him, to unlatch from the last kiss and no just one more. But eventually, she turned toward the ferry and let it take her back to Tenzin and training. Back to apologizing and trying to do better and fucking up again and apologizing some more. Back to being the Avatar. It was all she ever thought she wanted, before she was truly aware of what it meant. And she still wanted it. But now she had something else she wanted too. And that something else would make the burdens easier to carry, the consequences less daunting to face.

Fin