A/N: Let's see how long it takes before you are all chasing me down with pitchforks. Hopefully, not at all, but I can never tell…I have such a way with fandoms. This will be a two-shot story.

Summary: Her skin was darker, and her eyes were blue. In spite of that, they cried the same tears, and felt the same things, lost in a limbo. The only difference was, Korra was young enough to fix her mistakes. Lin would make sure of that.

Between What Was, and What Could Be
Part 1

The spirits liked to make racket just as the sun was sinking behind the clouds. In the evening time, they came out from their homes in the vines, chirping along street corners, and playing along rooftops. They would skitter along the vines, and perch in the windows of anyone who might let them, begging cutely for food or attention. The children of Republic City took to the spirits with glee, while the adults shooed them away as if they were vermin.

Lin usually kept her window closed, but from the corner of her eye she could tell that it had been left open. Two little cat looking things perching upon her table, and a few other four legged creatures pattered around on the kitchen floor. When a small rabbit spirit peeped into the room, she glared murderous daggers into it, sending the small creature squeaking and fleeing away in fright.

She cursed to herself, tipping back the whiskey in her glass.

The taste was lackluster, the radio blared a dull pro-bending match that she wasn't even paying attention to. In front of her rested a small stack of work that she just didn't care about. Another day of keeping busy had waned into yet another cold night in Republic City. Maybe that was for the best. No news seemed to be good news. She wasn't out dealing with another calamity, relative peace had been established once more. It should be enjoyed.

To some extent, she did enjoy it.

Lin was a prideful sort of person – a Beifong trait.

Still, as accomplished as she was, even she had a few bad habits. Holding onto regret came at the top of her list. In times when she couldn't concentrate, her mind drifted to younger days. Days when she was closer to her family, and her friends. Days when at the drop of a hat she would find herself caught up in a whirlwind of questionable choices, and poor excuses for her failures.

As grim as those days were at times, they were the best of her life.

They were the days filled with the bickering of family, and a sense of love. Her bed was warm at night back then, and even though she never admitted it, she always thought she'd get married to Tenzin. She could have never settled for being a mere housewife though. That dream fizzled out ingloriously. Right along with the small hope that her sister would join the police academy, and that one day, they'd both be able to meet their fathers.

Dreams were like that...impossible, that's why they were dreams, and not futures.

Even though she had finally put back those old pieces of a broken past, it still left her longing for something. Anything at all, so that she could reach out for those old days once more. So that she could foolishly return to her youthful days.

"Dishes are done." A young woman called from inside of the small kitchen.

"Go home, Avatar…" Lin grumbled, dragged away from her thoughts. What if she had actually married Tenzin, and gave him many offspring? The mere idea put her in an even worse mood. "And close the window, those little creatures from the wilds are getting in."

"But why? You said I could crash here." Korra fired back as she sat down on the floor, crossing her legs. The spirits gathered around her. I wasn't an uncommon sight, but it still made Lin cringe. "I've been doing the chores too, so, can't I stay?"

"I said I would give you a place to stay while you patched things up with Asami." Lin told the dark skinned girl. "I never said you could move in permanently."

"Yeah, well by the looks of it, that's not happening." Korra said, visibly defeated. "I just don't get it."

Lin sighed, shooing away one of the little spirits that saw fit to sit on her paperwork. "What, exactly, don't you get?"

"Asami." Korra curled up into a tiny ball. "She's so…hard to understand now. It wasn't like this when we were in the spirit world."

"But it is now?" Lin asked quietly, a harsh edge in her voice.

Korra sighed. "Yeah…"

"Care to tell me what happened?" Lin asked as she leaned forward, elbows on her knees.

"Nothing happened." Korra groused, her teeth biting into her words as her throat clenched up tightly.

A bold faced lie at best. Lin knew without question, but said nothing to it. Korra was trying not to cry, but her emotions teetered on that sharp edge. Sadness and rage mingling.

Ignorance was the better part of valor, in this case. "People grow up, and they grow a part." Lin shrugged, downing the rest of the liquid in her glass. Resting her elbow on the back of the settee, she gave Korra an apprising look. "You still haven't talked to Tenzin yet, have you?"

"Why would I?" Korra shook her head. "All he's going to do is lecture me."

"That old goat just likes his traditions, that's all. It has nothing to do with you, kid." It was late, and while she wasn't happy to share her space with someone as boisterous as Korra, even she had to admit she pitied the girl. "Get some sleep." She sighed while picking herself up off of couch. "Tomorrow's a new day."

…

It started a few weeks ago, after a trip to the spirit world ended and life returned to normal. Asami was a goal driven woman, and Korra, she was still stuck in the same old routine. Lin couldn't blame the girl. Everyone got stuck in a rut sometimes, even the avatar. Being stuck in the same place though, sometimes meant being left behind, as Lin knew all too well. It was the price you paid for keeping a chip on your shoulder, and Korra always seemed to have a problem with somebody about something.

She wasn't surprised to find out that all of Korra's usual problems waited for the girl upon her return. It didn't help that Asami had her own personal interests that took up most of her time. What seemed like a budding relationship soon ended between the two women. Now they weren't even speaking to each other. Tenzin, for all of the heart the man could have, found himself dumbfounded by Korra's actions.

She shunned herself away in Lin's apartment, and hadn't been to Air Temple Island in those long fourteen days. The children were worried, the adults were uneasy, and team avatar sat at a low boil. The slightest thing could cause a rift between all of them. So, Tenzin was lost, and when he had no one else to turn to, he looked to Lin.

"I just don't know what to do." He proclaimed as he made a nuisance of himself. "She won't answer my calls, or anyone's for that matter."

"Would you even know what to say to her if you did happen to reach her?" Lin asked none too nicely, aggravated for having her workday disturbed.

"Well...I..." He quieted himself as he realized no word came easily to him. "I would think of something."

He never assumed that Korra might be a lesbian, and even though that didn't exactly bother him, he was out of his element. The mere thought left him speechless, and his babble went unheard and unheeded. It became clear even to Lin that he wanted to help blindly. No person with a broken heart would want to hear that. The aging woman knew how unhelpful his words could be first hand, she'd experienced them herself once upon a time.

"Not good enough, Tenzin." With that, her eyes returned to her paperwork. "If you want to help Korra, you'll do so by keeping quiet. Air bender ideology isn't going to help her right now." No... it would require the rock solid foundation of earth bending, but she wasn't about to tell Tenzin that. It wouldn't mollify him in the slightest. "I'll make sure no one kidnaps her, don't worry."

In truth, she liked seeing him squirm a little bit. Stuck under the pressure of his own training for a bit. That's why she tolerated that Korra had seemed to have taken residence in her living room, even while everyone else tip-toed around the facts.

"She belongs on the island." Tenzin blustered, knowing he was inside of the safety of Lin's office. "I really think some time to meditate and focused training could help her right now." Pacing around the area rug like it was some kind of racetrack, he frowned deeply with every step. "She should immerse herself into rigorous study."

"Now that's rich. Say that to her and you'll go flying out the nearest window." Lin told him, not particularly surprised that he'd come to that conclusion, wrong as it might have been. "Your funeral though, if you want to go sticking your nose into it."

"You're the last person I thought I'd hear that from. She's staying at your apartment." Tenzin pressed as his hand came up to run his fingers along his beard. "You tell me then, how is Korra doing?"

"I don't know." She told him, getting the feeling that tossing him out on his ass might actually be a good idea. "I don't ask. It's not my problem."

"Lin…"

Setting down her pen, she rested her cheek in her palm. "My best guess, she wants to be left alone."

Tenzin wasn't happy to hear that. "I haven't seen her this depressed since she was stuck brooding in that wheelchair. She pushed us away then too, and if I didn't know any better I…" He cut himself off and shook his head, he didn't want to think about it.

"I doubt she'll go sneaking away from Republic City." Lin told him. Seeing his distressed did nothing for the headache starting to form. "The subject is sensitive, not to mention entirely out of her league."

"I beg your pardon?" His confusion was painfully evident.

"Think about it rationally." Lin told him, her fingers drumming upon her desk. "The girl hardly had a childhood, let alone the chance to be an average teenager. Now she's in her twenties experiencing heartbreak, and you expect her to bounce back like she was punched in the jaw." Lin shook her head at his naiveté. "We both know it doesn't work that way."

"She's the avatar." Tenzin refuted, imploring the obvious. "She isn't average, and she never will be. We need her, and I'd feel better about this whole fiasco if she put the matter behind her soon. I hate seeing her like this."

"No more than she hates feeling the way she does." Lin shrugged. "Listen, all I'm saying is that her life experience with these kinds of things have been squished down and condensed. Now that she's a young woman, you can hardly blame her."

"During times of strife, it's imperative that one such as Korra surrounds herself with others. That's the only way she'll learn to overcome adversity." The bald man stated without missing a beat. "I'm positive that with a little time, and plenty of training, she'll get over this."

"Personal opinion, don't play with fire." With that she lifted herself from her chair, and turned herself so that she could look out over Republic City. "I agree that something needs to be done, if only so that she stops freeloading in my apartment. That being said, I don't think you're capable of being any sort of support."

"Alright, then what would you suggest?" He asked, slumping down in a chair, giving the chief of police a discerning eye.

"I don't know, but I will think of something." She told him. "You can be sure of that."

….

Asami had been spending her two weeks very differently.

The cell door slammed behind her, and with it, a sense of foreboding entered the deep recesses of her heart. It was not the first time she'd been to this maximum security prison, and it would not be the last. Still, there was a coldness in her bones that she couldn't shake, memories that with every blink echoed in the back of her mind.

Her father's image, his words…ultimately, his regret and repentance.

She pushed away from the cell door, reminding herself that thinking about the dead didn't do her any good. Not when life moved on steadily, expecting her to move along with it. Others needed her, and, she needed them. To cope, to breathe, and to figure out what where exactly her place was in this convoluted life of hers. For all of her intellect, her faith had been shattered.

Fractured into tiny pieces, dust in the wake of every breath.

She ran her fingers through her hair, and made sure her shirt wasn't askew. Gathering her cloak she wrapped it tightly around herself. Fixing the lipstick that she smudged around her lips, she was just going through the motions.

If anyone asked…she wouldn't speak of it.

There was nothing more to say, really.

She visited Kuvira, would continue to do so, and if that fact somehow made her a lesser person, then that was someone else's problem. Not hers. She wouldn't carry the burden, not when she had so many of her own to carry by choice, and responsibility.

Republic City needed her, and she needed the distraction. Kuvira provided what Korra couldn't. That's all there was to it.

…

Lin felt compelled by this whole terrible situation. She would do a little digging and put the pieces together herself.

She knew a little something about dealing with heartbreak. She knew even more about cursing the very ground she stood on, as it reminded her of all of the little things she'd done wrong over the years. She was used to losing her temper, and biting back angry retorts. She was even more used to swallowing down emotion into the pit of her gut. Leaving it to fester until the words that flew out of her mouth were angry retorts. Mindless, hateful words, spewed in the heat of the moment.

…and she remembered what it was like to be young, and in love. How much she would have rather gotten kicked in the teeth, than lose to a woman like Pema.

Korra didn't want to talk about her problems? Fine, she didn't have too. Lin was the chief of police, she'd just have to investigate tactfully. Her training told her to start at square one; the cause of Korra's sadness.

Asami Saito.

She gave some thought to the beautiful and talented woman. She was a genius, a master of revolutionary vision. As most would call her, easy on the eyes. Her wealth and intellect only added to all of the good things about the woman. Giving more thought to the subject, she realized Asami frequented the maximum security prison. Lin ran into Asami almost every visiting day, thinking little of it at first.

Asami had visited her father often enough after she made amends with the man, and so seeing her in the prison was a common thing.

Asami's father was dead, it couldn't have been him. It never occurred to Lin to inquire who Asami was visiting, but a glance at the visitation log quickly changed that. Lin soon came to realize just who the woman took the time to visit, and the truth of the matter came as a shock.

"Kuvira!?" Lin barked as she slapped down a visitation list in front of Mako's nose. "What on earth is the meaning of this?"

The man took the paper in hand and shrugged. "We allow conjugal visits to those who are sentenced to life without parole. Look, I know you don't like her. I don't either, but Kuvira is entitled to her rights, same as everyone else."

"That's not what I'm asking." Lin pressed, her fingers coming up to the bridge of her nose out of frustration. Green eyes slid behind closed lids. "Why is Asami visiting a convict for that kind of thing?"

"I don't know, Chief." Mako sighed, his gloved hands coming to rest behind his head. "It's not exactly my business what Asami does in her spare time, or with who. I don't feel right asking." He had to admit, he felt bad for Korra though. "It's been happening for a while now. Since it's not against the law, there's nothing I can really do anyway."

"Damn it all." Lin growled under her breath. Strangely, she expected worse. Suddenly a lot of things that Lin didn't want to put together made a lot of sense. "How long has this been going on?"

"Dunno," he shrugged, "Korra found out about it though…that's why they broke up. I'm trying to keep my distance, I don't want either one of them to think I'm playing favorites. Besides, I really don't have much room to talk."

"You knew?" Lin felt an inexplicable rage bubbling from the pit of her gut. "You knew, and said nothing?"

Guilty, Mako shook his head. "How do you think Korra found out?" He got up and stormed across the room cup in hand to pour himself something to drink. "I told her, she blew fuse, and well...you get the picture."

"I thought Asami knew better than that." Lin sighed, suddenly feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. "Bedding a common criminal, it's disgusting. You should have intervened, told her not to go wasting her time with that filth."

"I don't condone it." Mako rebuked with a sigh. "I just don't know what to say about it. Asami seems happy, and as long as she is, who am I to judge?"

"What about Korra?" Lin asked.

"She'll…bounce back." Mako said slowly, sounding like he didn't fully believe himself as he said it. "She always does."

…

Monday, Wednesday, Friday...for three hours each of those days...love bloomed in the dank prison cell.

In a room that was not unlike a fortress, two women rested tangled up in the arms of one another. The grey sheets were rough against their skin, and the room itself was sparse, featuring only a toilet in the corner and a sink to go with it. Everything in the room lacked metal, and even the fixtures themselves were made of wood. Asami thought that it was in poor taste to leave a living space in such a state, where even the walls were an ugly emotionless tone.

An alarm rang out. Their time together was over for today. With a soft empty sigh, Asami lifted herself from the too small cot that she'd occupied for the past few hours.

"You'll be coming back on Wednesday?" The incarcerated metal bender asked, propping her head in the palm of her hand.

"So long as you behave." Asami told her, a small smile playing on her lips as she searched for her dress and panties that had been discarded long before. "I can't visit if you keep making trouble for the guards. Especially Mako, stop torturing the poor man would you? He's just doing his job."

"I have to get my fun around here somehow." Kuvira sighed, her eyes trailing up those long legs that had been tangled up with hers not moments ago, already missing the contact. "It's so dull around here, and they won't even let me out of my cell to roam in the common areas."

"There's metal in the common areas." Asami said with soft understanding. "You know, if you show that you've been on your best behavior, in a few years you may be allowed to keep a few items in the room. When that happens, I'll come in and decorate, make this feel more like home."

"I don't see the point in that." Kuvira said, as she stretched, her breast slipping out from under the covers. "We have better things to be doing during our three hours." To think of those hands roaming over her again did her mind good, and made the long nights of solitude a little more bearable. "Besides, a person like me doesn't get second chances. You're too faithful in the way the government works."

Asami sighed. "Justice is justice, that's just the way it goes." Once she was dressed, she sat back down on the edge of the bed. "I still think everyone should have a second chance, and that means you too. Maybe the legal system won't see it that way, but I do, and that's why I'm here."

"Because you pity me?" Kuvira laughed. "Save it for someone else."

"Why did you do it?" Asami murmured then. "Did you really think you could unite the world?"

"I had the money and military backing to give it a shot." Kuvira said as she sat up, knowing that sooner or later someone was going to open the cell do. She didn't want to be naked when they did. "If I had the power in my hands to do it, why not give it a go? The way I see it, I was no different than the other world leaders, some of them stoop pretty low. Lower than I ever did at least…why the sudden interest?"

"I've always been interested. World affairs are tricky little things." Asami told her then as the alarm went off once more. "I think your methods were misguided, but, I don't think you were wrong. The world should be unified. I just think that's more likely to happen because of our differences, not our similarities. A singular authority would never work. It was all doomed to fail from the start."

"You could be right about that." Kuvira shrugged with a dangerous little smirk. "Doesn't change the fact that I made it as far as I did in my plans. Goes to show you that no one is prepared for a hostile takeover. So what if it isn't me? Someone else will try to do what I did soon enough, and maybe they will succeed. My being locked up in here won't mean very much then."

By the time the guard opened the door, Kuvira was dressed in her prison garb once more. They shared one final kiss, a promise for later, and Asami wordlessly exited the cell that kept the tyrannical leader safely locked away.

She might have been dangerous, but Asami could hear the truth in her words, harsh as they were.

…

Lin knew that Korra couldn't keep going on like this. It was self destructive. Someone had to talk to the girl. Preferably, in a way that was unmitigated and brutally honest. Lin decided she would be the one to do it, but that didn't make it any easier on her. Some things just hurt, and, this situation was one of them.

Pain was inevitable.

Two glasses of whiskey in hand, she pushed the avatar's legs out of her way so that she had a place to sit. She settled herself in the space she made. "I couldn't give Tenzin what he needed, and that's just how it is." Lin said definitively, completely sure of that. "You can't give Asami what she needs right now. You may just have to swallow that fact that you might never be able to." Lin took a long, slow sip of her cooling drink.

"I don't want to think about it." Korra said from under her breath.

Lin heard it anyway, between the vexed sigh and the bitterness. She could feel the slow beating of Korra's heart, the tiredness, and she shrugged. "I didn't either, it doesn't change reality." She slid the drink she made for Korra closer to the girl. "Come on, drink. It'll make you feel better."

"I'm not so sure about that." Korra said as she sat up and took the drink in hand. A ball of ice sat squarely in the center. She'd never had booze unmixed before.

"It's the talking that helps." Lin said then, sipping on the beverage once more, and then refilling her glass with the bottle on the table. "Talking and drinking, they go hand in hand if you ask me."

Korra took a sniff of the strong liquid before tipping the glass to her lips, the taste was woodsy, and she wasn't sure she liked it. "Uh, yuck." She spluttered, coughing as her throat burned. "Why would anyone drink this stuff?"

Lin just raised an eyebrow, a small bit of humor laced there. "Keep drinking it, you'll find out."

"No..." Korra said as she put the glass down.

"Then talk, kid." Lin shrugged. "Either way, we deal with this tonight."