It was early when Sokka stirred and he groaned loudly as the hangover from hell assaulted his brain the second he was conscious. He tried rolling over to smother his head in the pillows of his bed, only to realize he was firmly glued to something soft and incredibly warm.

Smiling, he leaned over and kissed the warm bundle on the back of her neck, causing her to moan softly in her sleep.

He froze.

That wasn't his girlfriend's moan.

Oh fuck.

The memories—and there were a lot of them—of the previous night suddenly flooded back into his consciousness. The devastating discovery, the heartache, the drinking, the fighting, more drinking, more fighting...the oddly comforting camaraderie that he had shared with Azula.

And the drunken sex.

He definitely remembered the drunken sex.

How the hell they had broken the fridge was better left in the still foggy part of his mind.

Paying damages would be a nightmare.

Suddenly, his phone began to ring and Sokka swore and climbed out of the twisted sheets before he dug around on the floor for the device. Finding it, he blanched when he saw the caller ID, but he answered it all the same.

He wouldn't be a coward twice.

"Hello?" He said coolly, though his voice cracked only slightly in pain at the end.

"Can we talk?"

"I think everything that needed to be said was said already." He had gotten the message loud and clear when he had walked in on her the other day.

"You never gave me the chance to explain!" Her voice sounded pained and upset, but Sokka didn't really give a damn anymore.

"I'm pretty sure fucktoy number one thousand was the one who cutoff your chance to speak to me!"

"I was saying goodbye to him!"

"Well if that's how you say goodbye, then I would love to know how you said hello! Did you suck him off more enthusiastically?"

"Sok-"

"YOU FUCKING LYING BITCH!"

Now the emotion was starting to seep out of the blanketing fog of his amazing post-sex euphoria. He had bottled it up—and possibly unleashed some of it on Azula last night if his sore body meant anything—and now he was ready to dump it out.

"I LOVED YOU! I TRUSTED YOU!"

"I can't help my urg-"

"I MEAN HONESTLY! FAMILY?! WHAT THE HELL WOMAN!?"

"I'm on my hands and knees here Sokkie! Plea-"

"OH GREAT, SO YOU'RE SAYING GOODBYE TO FUCKBOY AGAIN RIGHT? OR IS IT GOOD MORNING THIS TIME!?"

"Sokka-"

She was crying, he was sobbing, and neither had reached a conclusion. In short it was a messy break-up call that looked only to get worse.

Until the phone was gently taken from him.

"Hello." Azula's cool voice said simply as she stood beside Sokka, her unashamed nudity reminding him both that he was stark nude as well and that there had definitely been at least a physical reason for their little romp last night.

"Who-"

"I don't much care to know who you are or what you're currently doing to whoever the hell it is you're, well doing, but I must digress that you are indeed a whore and that Sokka no longer needs you in his life."

"..."

"That being said, I'm going to enthusiastically fuck the man you should have treated better and you may return to your sloppy breakfast."

"..."

"Just food for thought by the way, has he ever broken both headboards, the bed-frame, and all four bedposts while fucking you? No? Just me? Oh my!"

Azula was grinning while Sokka stared at her in wonder. He could only imagine what his ex was thinking judging by her unmoving silence on the other end of the line.

"Fuck off bitch." Azula said and abruptly ended the call on what suspiciously sounded like a pained shriek.

Azula had been cool and collected throughout the entire call, her voice very much the same as it had been when she had verbally tormented Sokka and his friends throughout their high school years. Her tone at the end of the phone call however had been full of emotion, the kind that showed she wasn't wearing a mask over her thoughts and feelings, but was speaking from the heart.

"Y-you..."

"Yes, you're welcome." Azula said, briefly appearing to be her old self again before her eyes dropped to the floor and she seemed to shrink in upon herself. She moved away from him and began to hunt for her clothes.

She had barely bent over to grab her bra before Sokka tackled her into the bed, kissing her heavily. Azula returned it fiercely and without the drunken cloud from the previous night, Sokka was very much aware of the feelings coursing through him.

There was a lot of lust and desire, but he felt something he had thought would never return to him after Yue. He had fooled himself to believe it was there with Suki and he had lied to himself about it concerning his most recent girlfriend, but with Azula it was bright and undeniable.

There was the wondrous sensation of boyish attraction. The story-like feeling that rarely was seen and hardly ever experienced. It was amazing.

"This is crazy," Azula breathed out as she nipped his shoulder, causing him to shudder heavily.

"I know," Sokka agreed as they fell off the bed and rolled into the wall, cracking it slightly as Azula shoved him into it.

"I didn't think you'd take me up on the offer when I said I was going to fuck you."

"Can't let you think I'm not interested," Sokka told her as he touched her, causing a delicious spark to run up her spine and cause her body to shake everywhere.

"I think everyone in this building knows you're interested." She smiled seductively and grabbed him. Sokka didn't really remember the actual feeling of shoving her through the wall and into the closet, but somehow they ended up in the small closet with plaster dust all over their bodies.

"I hope they can handle round two," Sokka told her.

"I hope this room can handle round two."

"Damn." Sokka said as they exited the hotel many hours later. It was almost evening and both he and Azula were starving.

"All in all, the damages weren't that bad." Azula said as she blushed lightly—whether it was due to his hand around hers or their recent activities, he did not know—while eying the bill in Sokka's other hand.

"Huh? Oh I don't care about that," Sokka said with a dismissive wave, "I'm talking about the alcohol bill." He moved the paper closer to her face so she could see the smaller piece of paper stapled to the mass of papers in his hand.

Azula felt her face blanch as she red the information on the sheet. "That has to be wrong..."

"I know! I could have sworn we drank more."

Azula glanced at him in startled surprise, there had been a lot of drinks on that tab.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Deciding to let it go, the two talked about random things until they found themselves at a diner that apparently served both the best steaks in the region and the largest. Growling hungrily, they decided that this place would indeed meet their needs.

"So," Sokka said as they waited at their table, orders already taken and drinks on the way, "why were those guys after you last night?"

Azula seemed to withdraw in on herself briefly as she stared at the table. Sokka waited patiently and she seemed to appreciate it, for she gave him a brief smile before grimacing.

"It's been a rough...well...it's just been hard...financially since...um..." Azula was obviously having a hard time saying what she was trying to say and Sokka quickly deduced the destination of the conversation.

"He's still in prison last I heard..." Sokka said softly.

"I know."

"Zuko-"

"He told me I could die for all he cared," Azula said simply, yet the hurt—however well she thought she hid it—was still there, barely, in the depths of her eyes as she said those words.

It was no secret that Azula had been cruel to her brother. Zuko had obviously given no quarter when everything had changed at the end of their senior year. With Ozai in prison and Zuko being the eldest, he had assumed control of his father's company and become the head of the Yan household. Many had thought it wise to send Azula to an insane asylum—he had certainly not complained at the time—in an effort to fix the damage that her father had done to her mind.

Now that he thought about it, no one had ever asked Zuko about Azula in years. It had just become a subject better left buried like his father's life sentence.

"I...I want to..."

"Can we leave?" Azula asked, her mood souring as she stared at all the happy patrons around them. "I think I lost my appetite..."

"Sure."

The waiter arrived a few minutes later with their drinks only to find the table empty.

"It's just...been a hard time you know?" Azula said, her pain covered and her resolve strengthened by the drink in her hand. They had been talking for several hours now and Sokka had been able to piece together most of her story through the numerous re-tellings and what he could remember from their conversations the other night.

The asylum had been hell, that much was clear. Dark rooms, drugged food, screaming, and a host of other things had only increased her madness until she had finally broke.

Azula had broke while already broken.

The shell of the once former terror had lived on in that hellhole until she was admitted full sanity and released, almost ten years after she had been admitted. The nightmare didn't end there, because not only was she burdened with the weight of the horrors in the asylum, she also had to find a way to live on her own. Zuko had sent her from the doorstep of his home, making it clear that she was still insane to him, no matter what the doctors had said.

She had been wandering ever since, cut off from everything.

"I can't believe he...he would do that."

Sokka had known Zuko to be mean—the feud he had briefly had with Aang was testament to that—but he had never seen him be cruel.

This was possibly even worse than being cruel.

It was being a monster.

"I can." Azula said simply while she took another strong swallow from her bottle.

Sokka, deciding words wouldn't help much at the moment, chose to lightly kiss the back of her neck in a comforting—as opposed to a sensual—way while massaging her shoulders gently. They had been out on the dock for awhile and Azula had tensed up a lot while sitting beside him.

"This feels nice," Azula said softly as she made small noises that Sokka tried to ignore for the moment. Her body heated up and she shifted so that she was in his lap rather than sitting on the deck beside him.

"Just enjoy it, no talking." He told her softly while he continued his ministrations to her shoulders, back, and neck. His hands quickly worked the tension and stress out of her and his gentle kisses warmed her sullen mood up.

"What are we Sokka?" Azula said after Sokka had stopped his massage and simply held her protectively. He knew neither of them had consumed that much alcohol, so this had to be an honest question rather than just some drunken rambling.

"I...I honesty don't know." He admitted, unsure as to what he now considered himself when it came to the raven haired beauty in his arms.

"What do you think of me?" She asked, twisting slightly to stare up at him with her yellow eyes.

If someone had asked him a few years ago what he thought about Azula, he would have said he thought her insane and dangerous. If they had asked him a few weeks ago, he would have probably told them she was a demented tormentor. If they had asked him this morning, he would have responded with a rather lewd comment.

But if they asked him right now?

"I think you're a terribly misunderstood woman that did some bad things, but I also think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever had the pleasure of spending time with." Everything he said was true, he hadn't lied. The thought of saying the last part would have made him gag only a few days ago, but now it made his heart beat faster.

"I think you're a nicer, kinder, man than I ever gave you credit for all those years ago...but I also think you're..."

Azula, not exactly one for words of endearment, chose to instead lean up and capture Sokka's mouth with her own.

He groaned into her mouth as she purposely grinded against his lap and before he knew it his jacket had fallen off his shoulders and the rest of their clothes seemed to be ready to join it.

"Here?" Sokka asked, stunned.

He and Suki had certainly been rather wild in high school, but even they had never done something so promiscuous as having rambunctious sex out in an open public place.

"Here." Azula purred and then her head moved and Sokka suddenly didn't give a damn about the location they were in.

He only gave a damn about Azula.

"I was wondering something," Azula said as she and Sokka lay together in bed hours later, their bodies glistening in a thin layer of sweat.

"Hm?" He said as he kissed her neck in a post-glow show of affection. They had only broken a few pieces of furniture in their new hotel room, but he was still tired enough to stop for the night.

Well...maybe just a break.

"Do you want me to go with you to the reunion, or is this our final night?" She tried to say it calmly, but Sokka could tell she was nervous and afraid of his answer. In truth, he hadn't even thought of the reunion since he had discovered his ex cheating on him.

"Do you..." He rolled over so he was smothering her, "honestly..." He nipped her ear and felt her shudder pleasantly."Think..." She leaned up and they kissed softly for a brief moment before parting so that their faces were only centimeters apart, "I would want to end this?"

The hope in her eyes made him ache painfully. He was determined to break Zuko's jaw if he saw him at the reunion.

"No." Her voice was small and vulnerable as she fought back the tears.

"You're mine Azula and I don't plan on leaving you behind." The words would have been alien to him just such a short time ago. Now they felt not only right, but destined. He just knew it somehow.

"Fuck S-Sokka..." Azula whimpered as the tears came. Not one for such emotion, she shoved herself up into him again and kissed him fiercely. Though it had barely been thirty minutes, they soon found themselves heating back up for round seven.

A short break indeed.

"Attention passengers, we will be landing in Republic City in approximately fifteen minutes, please fasten your seat belts and make sure your trays are in their upright positions, thank you."

Sokka groggily woke up as the attendant turned off her microphone. Azula, snuggled tight to his side, groaned as well and removed her headphones to glare at the open window beside her which showed a marvelous view of the vast city growing all the larger below them.

"Can the plane turn around? I'm far too comfortable to move," She complained as she grumpily burrowed her head deeper into his chest.

"I don't think the other passengers would take to that too kindly," Sokka said with a grin as he wrapped his arm around her in a way that was comfortable to him, but also comforting to her.

"Fuck them."

"That's quite a mouth you have," Sokka teased while using his other hand to fasten both of their seat belts individually.

"You would know."

Sokka winced as an older woman behind them gasped in shock while a younger man a few seats ahead turned around to give Sokka a congratulatory wink.

He definitely would have to keep Azula from saying anything to Katara while half-awake.

Oh shit.

Katara.

He really had to stop drinking, it was starting to inhibit him from properly planning ahead...

Then again.

"Miss, I need four of your strongest drinks please," Sokka told a passing attendant suddenly.

"Of course sir," She said, thinking Sokka was just nervous about the landing and hurried to get his request before the liquor cabinet was locked up.

"I'm not doubling up right before we go out in public," Azula said as she slowly began to wake up—bitterly—and began to prepare herself for the landing and the upcoming chaos of the airport.

"They're not for you. They're for me."

"Why?" Azula asked as she felt an unidentifiable sense of dread seep into her.

"My sister and Aang are waiting for us down there..." Sokka said as he felt Azula tense up so tight that he feared she was having a heart attack.

"..."

"..."

"Tell that woman to get me the same when she comes back."

"Where are they?" Katara demanded as she stood in the waiting area outside of the international gate. Sokka should have landed by now.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon honey," Aang told her comfortingly as he waited beside her. He had a gut feeling that his brother-in-law and his girlfriend would be arriving any minute. He had told his wife this many times, she just hadn't listened to him.

He hadn't told her that his gut was also saying that they were about to have trouble. He didn't understand it, but he trusted his instincts.

And his instincts told him to run for the hills.

"There they are!" Katara cried as she saw her brother exit the gate with a woman on his arm. The relief Aang should have been feeling never came, only a growing sense of dread as he saw Sokka's nervous behavior and slow stride towards them.

Katara, incredibly animated in her waving and hollering, decided she could wait no longer and ran towards the duo. As if he needed further evidence that something was wrong, Sokka and his date slowed down to the point that they had basically stopped moving.

Aang felt his stomach freeze once he finally recognized the woman whose hand Sokka was gripping tight with his own. She had changed a bit with age, but her sharp features were still there.

Oh fuck.

Katara froze in stunned horror as she recognized the woman a milisecond later.

Oh fuck.