Warning: The beginning of this chapter is a high T, and there is talk of sex throughout. I have increased the rating from K+ to T, but I thought I'd say something here in case you didn't notice.


Ty Lee's hands clench against the back of Azula's head as Azula's lips close over her nipple and her hand works between her legs. Her heel trails down Azula's spine. She likes to curl around Azula when they have sex, and despite how it restricts her range of movement, Azula loves it. She loves the way it amplifies the small, jerking movements she pulls from her wife's body. She loves the way Ty Lee always seems to want her closer.

At eight years old, Shinzei is finally starting to reach the age where she gives her parents some alone time again, and while raising her has brought Azula and Ty Lee together, Azula has missed the consistent physical intimacy, the way Ty Lee's bare body feels against hers as they fall asleep. Their lives are not only about each other anymore, but it is nice to have a few moments that are. Discovering the new stretch lines and wrinkles, the way Ty Lee's body is softer in some places than it was before, how her curves are shaped differently than Azula remembers them, has been like a breath of fresh air.

Azula is just about to slide her lips over the swell of Ty Lee's breast to her hip when she hears the absolute worst sound she can possibly imagine hearing in this moment.

"Mother?"

Ty Lee yelps and pushes away from Azula, who grits her teeth as a heel catches the back of her head. Ty Lee pulls her knees up to her chin, her cheeks growing crimson as she looks down at their daughter.

"Shinzei," she squeaks. "I thought you were asleep."

"What are you doing?" Shinzei asks as though she did not hear Ty Lee's question.

"We're hugging," Ty Lee lies without missing a beat, because though Azula has bested kings and generals she apparently cannot handle an eight-year-old.

"Why don't you have any clothes on?"

"Because it's warmer that way," Ty Lee replies, a little less smoothly this time.

"But it's burning up outside," Shinzei points out.

"Listen, Shinzei," Ty Lee stammers, her expression distorted into a pained grimace. "Sometimes, when you're married, you like to hug your husband or wife without any clothes on because you love them and it makes you feel… closer to them. But, okay, why aren't you in bed?"

"Why aren—I woke up." Shinzei rubs her eyes, as if to emphasize the point, though Azula knows that is not her intention, because her daughter rarely uses body language. In one hand, she is holding a battered stuffed koala sheep that Azula has always hated, but Shinzei cannot fall asleep without it. "I had a bad dream." She climbs onto the bed, completely oblivious to what she has interrupted.

Ty Lee squeezes Azula's knee and then climbs off the bed to retrieve their robes. After she has pulled hers over her shoulders and tied the cord around her waist, she leans toward Shinzei. "What did you dream about?"

"I was at the market," Shinzei answers. Her voice is completely devoid of emotion, like she is reading from the war manifestos that Azula used to love at that age, but the tears glistening at the corner of her eyes betray what she is feeling. "They were laughing at me."

Shinzei has had recurring dreams about the marketplace since she was young. After her third meltdown in those streets, she and Azula do not join Ty Lee when she accompanies Zuko. Not going there anymore often feels like a relief to Azula, but when she remembers her daughter's screams and sobs, she feels incredibly guilty from deriving any pleasure from the result of Shinzei's pain.

"Why were they laughing?" Ty Lee asks, although she and Azula both know the answer.

"Why were they laughing?" Shinzei repeats. "There were too many colors and I couldn't concentrate." She begins to rock back and forth, and Azula frowns. Shinzei's recurring nightmares might seem tamer than the ones she had as a child, but they clearly cause just about as much distress.

"It's okay, it's okay," Ty Lee rushes to assure their daughter, reaching toward her and then pulling away. "Do you want to sleep here tonight?"

Shinzei nods. She climbs up onto the bed, still clutching the koala sheep's ear in one of her fists, and curls up between her mothers. Ty Lee shoots Azula an apologetic smile, which is completely unnecessary because Azula knows what it feels like to be dismissed and sent back into her room to lie alone in bed terrified after a paralyzing nightmare.

When they have all made themselves comfortable and the room is still, Shinzei pokes her small hand out from under the covers and latches it on to Ty Lee's fingers. Azula hears an audible gasp, and when she lifts her head off the pillow to look at her wife over Shinzei's body, she is beaming, her eyes welling with tears.

Azula loves everything about her daughter, cannot imagine loving her any more, no matter how much she was like Azula wanted her to be, but it is difficult not to wish she was capable of being a little more affectionate when, on the rare occasions that Shinzei does initiate physical contract, Azula sees how much it means to her wife.

She leans over, careful not to bump Shinzei, and presses a kiss to the corner of Ty Lee's mouth. "Maybe tomorrow," she whispers.

Ty Lee nods but, as she wipes a tear from her cheek with the back of her free hand, Azula gets the impression that Ty Lee does not care anymore. The interruption has been worth it.

It is not until the next morning, when they are getting dressed and Shinzei has left for breakfast, that Azula begins to panic.

"She saw us, Ty Lee, she saw us. What if she never gets over it? What if it completely mess her up? Why didn't we put something in front of the door in case—"

"Azula," Ty Lee interrupts, her voice low and soothing. She takes Azula's wrists and draws circles on them with her thumbs. "She is completely fine. She doesn't even know what she walked into."

"But she's going to figure it out someday," Azula argues. "And when she does, she's never going to forget it."

"Azula, kids walk in on their parents having sex all the time, okay?" Ty Lee assures her. "It's a normal part of childhood. It's not the same as… what happened to you."

Azula juts her lip out into an adorable pout, but when Ty Lee touches her palm to her wife's cheek, she leans into it. "How do you know?"

"Because I walked in on my parents," Ty Lee explains. "More than once. So did all my sisters. You'd think they would have learned. But I'm okay. My sisters are okay."

"You're okay?" Azula snorts. "You fell for a mental patient."

"I fell for you long before that," Ty Lee answers. "Now, are you okay? Do you want to go down to breakfast? Shinzei will be there. You can see exactly how not scarred for life she is."

"No, wait, Ty Lee—" Azula breaks off as her wife tugs her toward the door of their bedroom. She bites her lip, and Ty Lee stops and tilts her head to the side. "What are we going to tell her when she… when she realizes we weren't hugging?"

"What? That's what my parents told me?" Ty Lee folds her arms in mock offense, but her smile fades when she realizes that Azula is not joking. She takes a step forward to close the gap between them and grasps Azula's forearms. "We'll tell her it's something you do as an adult with the person you love when you want to feel closer to them. It won't be a big deal. I'm telling you, this isn't going to damage her. It'll just be another weird childhood memory she barely ever thinks about."

Azula clenches her teeth, but then she nods. "Okay," she whispers, her voice harsh with uncertainty.

Ty Lee smiles cautiously. "You're an amazing mother, Azula. You know that right?"

"Why?" Azula asks in confused disbelief.

"Because of how much you care about her," Ty Lee answers. She wraps her arms around Azula's neck and holds her, their bodies touching. After a moment, she feels a hesitant hand come to rest on the small of her back. "And you're an amazing wife because of how much you care about me."

"Of course I care about you," Azula mutters. "You took care of me for years. You saw me at my worst and you're still here. And I love you." She does not say those words very often, but she has been trying to say them more, especially because Shinzei is the way that she is, because her expressions of love and appreciation are so muted. Ty Lee knows that they love her, but Azula wants her to hear it from someone.

Ty Lee cups Azula's face between her palms and kisses her so softly Azula barely feels it. "I love you too. Let's get breakfast, okay? You'll see. Everything will be fine."


A/N: Surprise bitch. Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me.

In all seriousness though, someone should take out-going 1Ls aside and warn them about how easy it is to accidentally over-commit to about five different things as a 2L. It's been a little rough.

Believe it or not, this idea started off as a really goofy chapter, and then, well... I'm planning on about ten chapters for this, so we are getting close to the end!