Gratitude

"Miss Avatar!"

Korra manages to suppress her urge to grimace at her nickname. She's never been fond of formalities, much less when they were directed at her.

The officer who addresses her is young, maybe in his early twenties. His face takes on a look of confusion as he realizes that it is none other than the Avatar that's standing there, in the midst of the Police Headquarters. She can't blame him though; this must be the first time she has entered the headquarters out of her own free will.

When she tells him who she's there to see, his eyes look about ready to pop out of his head. He's almost tripping over his own feet as he hurries to show her to the office of Chief of Police, Lin Bei Fong.

He knocks, awaiting his chief's approval before he opens it. He enters and close the door lightly behind him, and Korra can hear him announcing her arrival.

Korra nervously wrings her hands as she waits for the officer to wave her in.

"Let her in."

A second after Lin's voice carries out to her, the officer exits the room and ushers her in. He closes the door after her quickly, effectively shutting her inside a room whose only other occupant up until recently despised her.

"Um, hey there, Chief," Korra starts nervously as she comes to a stop a few feet away from her desk, trying to read the Chief's reaction to her being there, in her office of all places.

"Korra," she nods, acknowledging her presence. "What brings you here?"

One of her eyebrows lifts up in a curious arc, and Korra swallows inaudibly – at least she hopes she does. Here comes the hard part.

Crap. She hadn't formulated what she wanted to say beforehand. Stupid, stupid, stupid. And now the Chief of Police were looking at her intently, piercing her with her green eyes.

"I, um, just wanted to, um..." Korra starts, then falters as she regrets her phrasing. "You know, the other day at the arena when Amon showed up, and the Wolfbats won and the Equalists zapped everybody, and then Amon took away the Wolfbats' bending, and–"

"Korra," Lin silences her with nothing but her name.

She stands up, and Korra watches her with a rising edginess as the Chief walks around her desk, coming to a stop in front of it. She leans against it and crosses her arms as she gives Korra a 'get-to-the-point-please' kind of look.

The young Avatar can't help but swallow – again. Lin's piercing stare is intensified by a tenfold this close, with only a couple of feet between them. For some reason, her closeness makes her jumpy, and causes her heart to start thumping inside her chest.

It's weird, she thinks, because they've stood closer to each other than this. But she was angry back then, too angry to notice any of the confusing reactions of her body.

"Korra," her name sounds like an explosion coming from the lips of the woman in front of her, and Korra jumps a little as the topic of her thoughts startles her out of her reverie. "You were saying?"

"Oh, that's right, I was saying something, wasn't I?" she grins stupidly, but then shuts up as she realizes how stupid she sounds. Why is she always so dumbstruck around Lin?

The Chief only rolls her eyes at her comment.

"Anyway, so I was going after Amon and his goons, and so did you, and we totally kicked their asses–"

"Korra," Lin draws out her name in an impatient tone, although a smirk plays on her lips at the memory of their fight.

"Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is..." Korra halted, mentally bracing herself before continuing. She'd never been good with serious stuff like this. "Thanks for saving my life back there. More than once, in fact."

In front of her, Lin blinks.

"I... I wasn't thinking, I just went after him, no plans or anything. If it hadn't been for you, I… I'd..." the thought of dying is enough to render the young Water Tribe girl speechless as her she tries to visualize what she's hinting at.

Korra doesn't realize she's shaking before the hand of Lin Bei Fong comes to rest on her shoulder. Korra looks up to see Lin wearing a soft expression, so unlike her usual frown of distastefulness.

"I told you, don't mention it, kid."

Her voice is calming, soothing her anxiety and high-strung emotions. Korra's clenched fists slowly unfold, but the ominous truth still hangs in the air. If Lin Bei Fong had not been there, then Korra wouldn't stand where she did now.

Staring at the ground, Korra inwardly curses herself for her stupidity.

"Korra," for the umpteenth time, her name falls from the Chief's lips and Korra's gazes into her eyes hesitantly

"Don't beat yourself up over this, okay?" upon receiving nothing but an insecure expression in response, Lin sighs and moves forward.

Korra hadn't realized before how close Lin had been after she had moved to put her hand on her shoulder, but the Chief of Police barely had to take two steps to reach her.

Arms enveloped her, pulling her close in a comforting hug that Korra hadn't known since she arrived in Republic City all those weeks ago. The level of comfort is almost the same as if it had been her mother hugging her, but it lacks the maternal feel. It is another kind of affection, but Korra is unsure of what kind exactly.

Letting go of these bewildering thoughts, Korra reaches around Lin, clutching her tightly as she burrows her head in the crook of her neck, and lets the events of the past few days wash over her.

A quiet sob racks through her body, and she feels Lin tighten her arms ever so slightly. She doesn't make cooing sounds or whisper comforting nonsense about everything being alright. She just holds her, her hold strong and comforting as Korra cries, tears wetting the front of her police uniform.

A whisper, so muffled that Lin almost fails to hear it:

"Thank you."

Author's note: Yes, I know I should be working on the next chapter for The Road Not Taken and/or Distorted Shadows. But I just couldn't help myself after this week's episode! If you haven't already, you should go watch episode 6 immediately.

You may have noticed that there are the slightest hint of Korralin/Linnora/KorraxLin/whatever-you-wanna-call-it. I swear, they're my OTP (at least as far as the Avatar universe is concerned). Pfft, who needs Tenzin anyway?

Haha, just kidding, who else would teach Korra airbending!