Ch 1

Korra was never one to accept gifts well, after all, when I gave her that cupcake and rose she barely showed acknowledgment to them. And Tarrlok's gifts had almost gone completely unnoticed, except by the kids of course, who were playing in the car when I walked onto the property.

"Hi Bolin!" Ikki squealed as she floated herself out of the satomobile and placed herself lightly in front of me. "Are you here to see Korra?"

I kneeled down to her level, "Yeah Ikki, is she around?"

"Oh," her face dropped in thought, "I'm not sure, would you like me to find out?"

"That'd be nice, yes," I smiled at the young airbender, then quickly recoiled…

"DAD IS KORRA HERE!" Ikki screamed, using her airbending to amplify the waves. It made my ears hurt.

Tenzin stuck his head out of the main building, stone faced. He then disappeared. I figured that meant Korra was out, probably looking for Mako. I stood and kicked at the gravel ground a bit. Why did she have to like Mako instead of me.

"She just stepped into a shower" Tenzin's voice seemed to come from above me, sending a shiver down my spine. I looked up and he was mere inches in front of me, but about a head above me.

I took a slight step back so I could look him in the face when I responded to him, "O-okay, thank you sir. Um, do you… would you mind if I just played with the kids until she was done?"

"I don't see that as a problem so long as the children find it acceptable, children?" Tenzin looked at his offspring, glee spreading to their features.

"Yes! Yes! Bolin! Play with us!" Jinora exclaimed from the driver's seat.

"Bolin! Bolin get in! Be our getaway driver!" Ikki squeaked as she floated back into the passenger seat and airbended her sister onto her seat with her, leaving the driver's seat open. Meelo started to make idled engine noises.

"They seem to be alright with this arrangement, go ahead; have fun." Tenzin started to walk away.

"Wait! Can you…" I started to call out.

He didn't turn around, but instead interrupted me as he continued to walk back to the house, "I will tell Korra you are waiting on her."

"For her! Not on her!" I tried to call back, but he was too far away to hear me. I sighed and turned to the kids. "What am I being a getaway driver for anyway?"

The kids get me into their chase; they're a special tactics team for Chief Bei Fong and use their airbending from the shadows to disrupt Equalist meetings and training sessions. Of course, no one suspects that someone is behind these happenings, because the world only knows of Tenzin and Korra to be possible threats through airbending, because who would think the little children of the peaceful councilmen would wreak so much havoc? So I was the getaway driver, driving them swiftly through the city, and getting them from place to place without anyone noticing we were there or what had happened. Of course, in reality, we were all just sitting in the car, Meelo making engine and screeching tire noises, and the girls being enthusiastic, ducking inside the car, then randomly blasting air in different directions.

"Everyone down! The chi-blocker might have seen you!" All the kids duck down and I hunch into the steering wheel as Meelo makes more vroom vroom noises from the floor of the back seat. Suddenly someone touches my arm that was hanging over the side of the satomobile and I jump. "Ah! They've got me!" I scream, forgetting that we're in a game. I look to see what attacker has grabbed my arm, but it's only Korra, her blue eyes and smile beaming at me. She rests her crossed arms on the side of the car and lays her chin on them, making herself be directly at my height, only inches away from my face. I can feel the blood rush to my cheeks. "Oh, hi Korra…"

"Korra! You're gonna get us caught!" Meelo shouts, popping up from the back seat and wailing his hands in the air, "Are you trying to get us killed!"

Korra laughs lightly, and it warms my heart, "No Meelo, I wouldn't want that, but you've been out here for a long time, do you mind if Bolin and I have the car for a while?"

Ikki stands up, "Aw, do we have to? He's the best getaway driver we've had! He's so much better than Jinora!"

"Hey!" Jinora pipes in standing up as well. "Maybe the sun has gotten to your head… maybe we should go inside."

"But Jinora… you're no fun!" Meelo and Ikki say in unison.

I can't help but laugh, "Okay guys, how about you let Korra and I play in the car for a while and I promise I'll come back soon to be your getaway driver again?"

"Alright but you gotta pinky swear!" Meelo says, sticking his pinky in my face. I take it willingly, then in squeezing it, find his pinky to be oddly moist and let go quickly, making a slight grimace, that Korra of course catches, and she chuckles again.

"Okay, we'll see you soon Bolin," Jinora says as she herds her younger siblings back into the house.

"So what do you want to do?" I say, starting to open my door to get out, but Korra just closes it, walks around to the passenger side, and gets in the passenger seat, "Korra?"

"You said we were going to play in the car," Korra smiles, buckling her seat belt. This time I swear I see my blush's reflection on her face. "I mean," she clears her throat, "We could just drive around or something."

I rub the back of my neck with my hand, "Look, the thing is, I can't actually drive."

She looks at me baffled, "What do you mean?"

"I never had money for a satomobile, so I never saw the point in learning…"

She looks at me, and the corners of her mouth turn up in a smile, "It's okay, I don't know how to drive either, why don't we just pretend."

I perk up. She's willing to play with me? "Where do you want to go, m'lady?" I wiggle my eyebrows at her and pretend to shift the car into gear.

"How about a nice drive through the park?" She leans back in her seat.

"The park it is." I pretend to turn the wheel and drive over the bridge that goes over the stream. I point out things along the way, and she oohs and ahhs appropriately.

"This is really nice Bolin, thanks," she says as we 'drive' along the river.

"Korra, don't even mention it," I smile.

Eventually I pretend to park at the edge of the park, on the top of the hill that looks over the whole scene. "Isn't this a great view?" I glance sideways at Korra, and she's staring at me. "Korra, are you okay?"

She's biting her lip, but she looks away quickly. Only then does she answer, "I'm great, and yes, this is beautiful, you can even see the hobo in the bush" she lets out a giggle. Not a laugh, not a chuckle, but a giggle.

I feel daring. I yawn, and instead of retracting my arm, I let it fall around her shoulders. "You know that you can see the same stars here as you can from the Air Temple?" She doesn't shrug me off. Instead, she leans into me and lifts her head to the dark sky. When did it get to be night?

"You spend a lot of time at the Air Temple do you?"

I look at her even though her eyes are fixed on the stars, "Some, I'd like to spend more though, you see there's a girl that lives there… and she's… she's just really special."

Her head snaps to look at me, "Really? You still think that girl is special, even after all you two have been through?"

I turn away from her and breathe deeply in and out, "Yeah," I sigh, "Jinora's really special."

"Bolin!" Korra's fuming and her face has gone beet red, but I refuse to look directly at her; I can barely keep a straight face just seeing her with my peripheral vision. "She's just a child! How could you, you shouldn't be here! You should leave…" She starts to unbuckle her seatbelt but my hand stops her, and when she looks up, her eyes meet mine.

"Korra, calm down, I'm kidding," my hand lingers on hers, "You have to know the girl I'm talking about is you."

"Really, even after everything I've done? Even after how much I've hurt you? Even after Mako and I…" she lets her sentence die and instead chooses to stare deep into my eyes, I have to turn away from the intensity in hers.

"Really," I gulp, it's taking everything I have to force my words out without sounding eager or desperate, "I still think you're the one Kor…"

My sentence is halted when she grabs my chin and turns it so my lips meet hers. Her lips are so supple, so warm and moist. The kiss only lasts a few seconds, but it is a perfect few seconds, and when I open my eyes, she's staring at me, bashfully, her cheeks a deep crimson.

"Um…?" is all I can manage to let out.

She opens her mouth to say something, but instead Tenzin's is the voice we hear.

"They're WHAT!" His yell makes us both jump. Tenzin yelling? He soon appears at the door to the main building and is storming toward us, giving me a death stare. I freeze, and I swear I loose what little pigment I had to my skin. "You two are fooling around out here! On my property! In a car! In front of my children!" I can almost see steam coming out of his ears like in those old comics I have in my room. I realize he was directing his words and me, but it's Korra who answers.

"What!" She stands up, getting out of the car and walking around it to come between Tenzin and me.

When Tenzin is about to speak, Jinora runs frantically out the door, using her airbending to help quicken her propulsion towards them.

"Daddy! Daddy no!" She stops between Korra and Tenzin. "I don't know why you're upset, but all I meant was that they were fooling around with the car. Like playing with it, like Ikki, Meelo and I do. Don't be upset! Teenagers like to make believe too!" She hugs her dad tightly and his expression softens, but he's still glaring at me.

Though this time his question isn't directed at me, he maintains eye contact, "Korra, where were you in this 'make believe' scenario?"

"We were taking a drive through the park," she says quickly, but not too quickly to cause suspicion.

"Yeah," I find my voice, "I mean, yes, sir." I get out of the car and instead lean on the door. "We were watching the hobo fish, and scoffing at the protesters and everything."

Tenzin finally looks away from me and turns his head to Korra, "Well alright then." He turns and stalks away, as Jinora pesters him to tell her what he thought was going on.

Korra relaxes into the side of the car and finds my hand, intertwining her fingers with mine. "So…" she says, looking down at my hand.

"So?"

She looks up at me and smiles, "You're welcome back on the island anytime you want."

I hug her, and I can feel her melt into my embrace. Her heat spreads through me, and I can feel those all-too-familiar butterflies exploring my stomach again. I release her, and she looks up at me.

"Thanks, I'll hold you too that," I say as my thumb grazes her chin. I look up at the sky and back at the house. "It's getting pretty dark though; you should probably head in and I should get back to Mako."

She follows my glance to the house and rubs her arm, "Yeah, you're probably right."

We stand there awkwardly for a minute, me shuffling my feet, her rubbing her arm refusing to make eye contact with me.

I sigh, "Well, I guess I should be going," my thumb indicates towards the ferry that is about to dock for the last trip to the mainland. "I'll see you tomorrow at practice."

All of a sudden, she puts her hand on my shoulder and uses it to leverage herself up to kiss me again on my lips. The same feelings spread over me and I'm speechless, the butterflies swirling frantically within my stomach. And again, all too soon, our lips separate.

Before I can break free of the daze she left me in, Korra's halfway to the main building calling back to me, "Yep! I'll see you tomorrow! Goodnight!"

I turn my head and watch her go back into the house and close the door behind her, still in half a daze. Only at the ferry's last warning horn do I break out of my stupor and run frantically towards it, back to the mainland, and away from my love, but just for the night.