PART ONE: LETTING GO


CHAPTER TWO:

"Are you okay?" Zuko asked, reaching out a hand to touch the bloody cut on Suki's hairline. He pulled back at the last instant, glancing at Sokka and then back at Suki.

"I'm fine. Come on, let's get this bitch deflated and back on her belly," Suki said, swinging her legs over the side of the carriage and dropping to the ground. She staggered a little and put her hand to her head as Sokka and Zuko dropped down beside her.

"Hey, you took a hard hit to the head," Sokka said, touching her shoulder. She glanced up at him and pulled a tight-lipped smile.

"I'm fine," she said and stalked past him, pulling a knife out of her belt and slashing at the balloon. Hot air immediately whooshed out of the hole and within a few seconds the whole thing started to sag. "We can sew it back up later, Zuko, but right now it's just going to cause a lot of problems if we don't deflate immediately. How you holding up, Aang?"

Aang nodded from his position at the edge of the courtyard. Sweat was breaking out over his skin as he held back the wind and snow. Sokka noticed the way the snow was hitting their little sphere of air and bouncing off of it; it was starting to pile up in a circle around their little pocket. The snowstorm was quickly turning into a blizzard.

"I'm fine, Suki. You guys wanna get that thing tied down though? This isn't exactly easy," Aang called.

"Right," Zuko said, coming up beside him and grabbing one of the snapped guide ropes. "Sokka?"

Sokka tore his gaze away from Suki, who was slicing another hole in the red balloon. He glanced at Zuko and nodded, grabbing another rope as the rest of the Acolytes came over to their side of the tipped carriage and grabbed ropes.

"On three," Sokka said. "One, two, three!"

Sokka pulled, his feet digging into the slick cobblestones. The carriage tilted, wobbled for a second and then crashed back onto its smooth bottom. Another window cracked, and another one shattered, raining glass onto the cobblestones. The balloon was still deflating, sagging across the top of the carriage and draping over the side. The blade of the knife clenched between her teeth, Suki climbed up onto one of the broken window sills and then went to work hacking away at the tangled ropes with one hand.

"Tie her back up!" she called to the others as the ropes fell to the ground.

Sokka , Zuko and the others grabbed the ropes and together they got carriage tied to the ground. Sokka double, then triple-knotted his rope, and then did the same for the others. He finished tying the last one and looked up to see the Acolytes dragging the slashed and deflated balloon toward Appa's barn across the courtyard. Suki was still dangling off the side of the carriage, having cut the balloon completely free.

Sokka stood up, watching as Zuko came over and held out his hands. Suki said something to him and laughed, then caught his shoulders in her hands. Zuko lifted her free of the carriage and slowly lowered her down to her feet, a worried expression on his face.

A strange, twisting feeling hit his guts as he stopped dead in his tracks. His rope-burned hand clenched up as a lump rose in his throat and threatened to choke him.

"Are you okay?" Zuko said, reaching up and pushing Suki's hair back. He still had one hand on her waist.

"Of course I am. I'm tougher than I look, you know," she said to him in a low voice.

Zuko smiled a little and said, "Trust me, I know."

Suki laughed and then blinked, as if startled. She glanced around, caught Sokka's eye for a moment and then flushed. Her hands dropped from Zuko's shoulders as she gestured to Aang, whose arms were shaking with the need to release the sphere of air keeping the winds back. "Come on!"

Shaking out of his thoughts, Sokka glanced around and gestured to the remaining Acolytes, some of whom were grabbing the luggage from the carriage and toting it toward the main house. "Get in! It's about to get windy again!"

The Acolytes didn't need any further prompting and disappeared back into the buildings they'd first come running from. Sokka jogged toward Aang and nodded at him.

Aang dropped the sphere and the wind came rushing back with a deathly cold blast that nearly swept them off of their feet. The glass in the windows rattled as it thundered past them, sweeping snow and ice into the open doorway. Aang was the last in, his orange robes swirling around him as he skidding to a stop in the hallway. Sokka grabbed the door and slammed it shut, throwing the lock home to keep the wind from grabbing it again.

He let out a breath as Aang wiped at the sweat on his tattooed brow and sagged against the wall. They all looked bedraggled, windswept and red-cheeked. Sokka was becoming more and more aware of the rope burn in his palms. He really wished he'd thought to put on gloves now, but he was in better shape than Suki. The blood on her forehead was starting to drip into her eyes.

"Come on, there's a fire going in the living room and better light. I'll patch you guys up. I'm the sure the kids are eager to see you, especially after watching all the excitement. We'll probably never get Bumi to bed now," Aang said, gesturing for the others to follow him. Sokka pushed off of the wall, standing back, watching as Suki and Zuko followed Aang, shoulder to shoulder. Zuko gestured for Suki to enter the room before him, and his hand lifted, resting on the small of her back for the briefest of moments.

Sokka's arms crossed as he stood in the hallway, biting down on the inside of his cheek. There wasn't a lot going through his mind at the moment, other than a growing suspicion that he didn't like in the least. The twisty feeling was still wrenching at his guts.

Something weird was going on. Something he hadn't seen coming.

His hand smashed into the wall and he followed the others into the living room to find Katara and Aang arguing again.

"The midwife said no healing until after the baby's born!" Aang said as Katara crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm better at it than you are!"

"Of course you are, but you don't need to disturb the baby. Please?"

"Katara, really, it's not that bad. Aang'll do just fine," Suki said kindly, sitting down on the floor in front of Katara's couch, pulling a squirming and giggling Kya into her lap. She cuddled her close and the little girl pointed to the cut on Suki's forehead.

"You got a boo-boo, Aunt Suki!"

"I took a little roll in the balloon, but I'll be okay. Your daddy's gonna heal me," Suki explained with more patience than Sokka had expected for someone who had nearly went over the side of a cliff.

"I'm gonna be a healer too! Once I'm old enough."

"I know! And you're gonna be the cutest little Waterbender I've ever seen!" Suki said as she tickled the little girl. Kya let out a belly laugh and wrapped her arms around Suki's neck as Aang bent water from a sweating pitcher on the side table and sent it, glowing, over the cut on Suki's forehead. Suki let out a sigh and relaxed into the cool relief of the healing water.

Sokka, still standing in the doorway, watched as Zuko crouched down in front of Katara, who was still looking unhappy at having her healing powers rejected. Bumi was chattering away to Zuko and clinging to his back like a lemur-bat. Zuko hitched Bumi into a more comfortable position and then took Katara's hand and kissed it.

"You look beautiful, Katara. Motherhood always becomes you," he said formally.

"Right. I'm as big as Appa, my feet are so swollen that none of my shoes fit and I have to pee every five minutes. I don't feel beautiful. Plus, that one," she said pointedly glaring at Aang who was perched beside her on the couch, still healing Suki, "seems to think I can't do anything for myself."

"Don't play the sympathy card with Zuko," Aang said and met Zuko's amused gaze. "He already knows the healers put you on bed rest. For your own good. It's the only way they could make sure you'd slow down."

"Keep it up and you'll be sleeping on the couch. For your own good," Katara mumbled, making Zuko and Suki chuckle.

"Listen to him, Katara," Zuko said, reaching out and patting her expansive stomach. "I know you well enough to know you hate being mothered."

"It's usually the other way around," Sokka piped up, making Suki turn toward him. She smiled a little and quickly looked back at Aang.

"Healers make terrible patients, I've heard," Zuko said and stood, Bumi still clinging to his back.

"Oh sure, gang up on the pregnant lady," she muttered and sank back against the pillows, arms crossed over her chest. She sighed and then glanced at Suki and then Zuko. "You guys came here together?"

Sokka didn't miss the way Zuko's face went red, or the way Suki's smile tightened a little. They glanced at one another and then over at Sokka, then quickly away.

"Uh… Yeah."

"Actually, we met at Red Sand Island. I stopped for the night because of the weather and we just happened to run into each other," Zuko said quickly as Suki nodded in agreement.

"Saved me a pricey boat ride with some shady-looking pirate-types," Suki, another smile flashing across her face as the healing water bathed her face in blue light. "Of course, Zuko nearly got us killed on the way in."

"I keep telling you that you're going to crash that thing one of these days," Aang said. "Sky bison is the only way to travel by air. Everything else is just a death trap. I'm not surprised you nearly ended up in Yue Bay!"

"Actually, Suki was driving this time," Zuko said, swinging Bumi around to the front. The child squirmed and he put him down and he started bouncing off of the walls again, reenacting the war balloon's wild tumble across the courtyard.

"I insisted," she said with a lazy grin, letting Kya crawl out of her lap and curl up next to her. Her little thumb tucked into her mouth and she sucked on it, her eyelids drooping closed. Sokka had never seen a child who could fall asleep as fast and as easily as Kya could. "So, is Toph here yet?"

Sokka flinched and glanced out the window. It was getting darker outside, and the wind was howling like a wild beast, snow making little hissing noises as it slapped the glass. It was piling up already; soon the whole island would be covered and if the temperature kept falling, the ferries to and from the island would stop for fear of ice in the bay. Winters in Republic City could be just as nasty as in the two Poles. The storms were certainly more unpredictable.

"Not yet," Katara said, glancing at the window too. A worried expression crossed her face as she shifted in place on the couch. "I hope she doesn't get snowed in somewhere. I really want her here for the birth."

"When do you think you'll go into labor?" Suki asked, gesturing toward Katara's belly.

"I don't know. Could be a week from today, could be within the next minute. I was early with Bumi, and late with Kya. Maybe this one will do me the courtesy of arriving on time?"

"I love punctuality in a baby," Suki said with another easy grin and then glanced up at Aang, who withdrew the water and peered at the cut on her forehead. "How does it look?"

"It's healing closed. I don't think it'll scar either."

"What about her skull?" Zuko asked as Suki picked up Kya, cradling the dozing child against her chest as she got to her feet. She rapped on her other temple with her knuckles.

"Tough nut to crack. I feel better already," she said and pushed Zuko toward Aang. "Your turn."

"Sit," Aang commanded the Fire Lord, who obeyed with a roll of his eyes.

"Is she asleep?" Katara asked Suki as Aang got more water and went to work on Zuko's cut palm. Sokka tucked his fingers into his palms, hiding the rope burns. Suki glanced at Kya's little face and then nodded. "Could you put her bed for me? Sokka? Help Suki, would you?"

Katara caught his gaze and gave him an encouraging nod. He nearly groaned. Great. His sister was trying to play matchmaker. Again.

"Sure," he said shortly and gestured for Suki to follow him. She hesitated, glancing down at her feet for a second, and then took a deep breath and followed him out the door and into the hallway. Sokka glanced back and saw Zuko watching them with a closed expression on his blue-lit face.

Suki followed him down the hallway, humming lightly to Kya, rubbing her back as they climbed the stairs. He could feel Suki's gaze on his back. The air was filled with tension, but he wasn't exactly sure of its origin.

All of the things he'd imagined himself doing or saying when he saw her had evaporated like steam. He'd thought their reunion would be warm and friendly, full of hugs, maybe a passionate kiss or two. He'd even thought that it would be awkward at first. Awkward he could handle.

What he hadn't anticipated was that Suki would barely be able to meet his gaze.

Or that she would be sleeping with Zuko.