AN: hello again my darlings!
Holy crap, I can't believe I wrote all this today! O.o
My wrist is getting better with each passing day :D thank you all for the concern :3
(dw, I took breaks inbetween while I wrote this :P )
I want to thank the Guest reader and MEfan who mentioned I should give Korra Naga as a present (I had been thinking about it, but I nearly forgot it O.o) so thank you for helping me remember!
I'm so very CLOSE to the Christmas chapter now! AHHHHHHH!
I will thank everybody properly who gave me idea's for the gifts in the next chapter :D
Songs used in creation of this chapter.
Ed Sheeran - Photograph (also the song Korra sings for Asami)
Polina Gagarina - a Million Voices (song that Opal is singing)
Maraaya - Here For You
Thank you all! For everything! Love you guys! And girls!
Please let me know what you thought of this chapter! And also, when you reach the part where Korra sings, I advice you to listen to the song she sings,
while you're reading :)
*bows and salutes*
Chapter 9
It was the 24th of December. The day before Christmas. People still rushed to stores to buy some presents at the worst possible time of the year. All shops and stores were crowded to the point that people were bumping against one another. Fighting over certain presents because it was the last one.
Korra and her family were happy they had done their shopping a few days prior and were spending the days before Christmas with each other. Asami helped Senna in the kitchen since Korra had been kicked out by her mother. She caught her daughter constantly sneaking one of the appetizers in her mouth. She knew her husband and her daughter were the same when it came to that, so she ended up asking Asami to help her instead.
Senna was a patient teacher and helped her daughter in law where she needed help. Surely she got the hang of it and the two women had the time of their life in the kitchen. When both Korra and Tonraq peeked their head in the kitchen, they were quickly shooed out again by Senna and the vixen.
The two whined that they were hungry and Senna responded with a 'you two are always hungry!' before throwing them a bag of seal jerky their way. Needless to say, father and daughter ended up rolling around the living room floor, playfully fighting over who would get the first handful from the bag.
The two were on the ground, Korra on top, when the sound of a bag being ripped open pulled their attention away from what they were doing. Bolin and Opal stood a few feet away from the two, the green eyed young man munched happily on a piece of jerky while Opal grinned at the two of them.
"You two are hopeless…" she said with a grin and pulled out a jerky piece as well. "Hello Tonraq, ready to get eat my dirt?"
The grown man smirked up at her. "Ha! This year won't be like last year!"
Both Southerners got up, Tonraq hurried to the wii followed by Opal, who had given the bag of jerky to Korra.
She snickered and munched happily on the seal snack, sharing it with her friend. "Mako not with you two?" she asked Bolin who shook his head.
"He'll be here later, which is good."
Korra raised a confused eyebrow. "Why's that?"
"More food for me!" he said with a huge grin and shoved another jerky in his mouth.
Korra laughed and headed to the couch. Her father and Opal were already in a heated race. Korra recognized Opals character Yoshi and Bowser was her fathers. Bolin snuck off to the kitchen and surprised Asami with a bone crushing hug from behind. "Asamiiiiii!" he lifted her up in the air which made Senna chuckle.
"Careful Bolin, I'll still be needing her in here…" she smiled warmly at them both. "Where's Opal?"
"She's crushing Tonraq on the wii." He said with a grin and slowly put Asami back on her feet. Said woman turned around and gave him a hug in return.
"Good to see you Bo. Say I'm wrong but you're in the kitchen for a reason hmn?" a playful smile showed on her lips when Bolin folded his hands together and nodded franticly. His big green puppy dog eyes became all sparkly.
Asami couldn't help but laugh at the beef young man. He was so incredibly sweet and caring. She smiled at him and turned around. "I'll make you some hot chocolate and add some whipped cream to it but only if you leave us to our work. Deal?"
If Bolins smile would become even bigger, his head would probably split in two. "Deal! Woohooo!" he cheered happily and quickly left the kitchen to join the others in the living room.
Senna giggled softly. "You know how to handle him well. Mostly when I'm in the kitchen, I can't get him to leave. No matter how I try."
Asami held a bar of chocolate in her hand. "Power of persuasion… and chocolate milk with whipped cream will get you somewhere too." She added with a wink before they continued to work again. Asami put some milk on the stove and added a few bars of chocolate in it. Stirring it patiently with a wooden spoon until the white substance became a light shade of brown and gradually turned darker.
She divided the liquid over six cups and then added the whipped cream on top of that. She put all the cups, except for one, on a tray. "You join the others dear, I can handle the rest from here." Senna said and smiled warmly at the younger woman.
Asami nodded and left the kitchen. She was welcomed by everybody with a loud cheer. Bolin being the loudest of them all. She gave all the others first and Bolin was practically drooling by the time Asami reached him his cup of chocolate deliciousness. He used a spoon to eat the whipped cream first before he sipped from the hot substance.
"So good… oh Spirits…" Bolin slowly drifted off into his chocolately world and everybody laughed from his reaction.
Opal and Tonraq were still busy racing and both were trying to force the other off the road. Both were also cheating by trying to tickle the other. Bolin had no time to defend his damsel since Asami had made him his third cup of chocolate milk already. He was al huddled up in the corner of the couch, sipping his drink happily and singing a soft song about chocolate.
Korra and Asami were cuddling in the opposite corner of the couch. The engineer had her arms wrapped around Korra's waist who was sitting with her back against Asami's chest. She sat comfortably between the legs of her girlfriend as they watched the others. They heard the doorbell and Senna told Tonraq to open the door. Korra raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Normally Korra would be told to open the door. She shrugged it off when her father disappeared into the hallway, opened the front door and greeted the young officer.
"Korra! Close your eyes! I got a surprise for you!" Senna yelled from the kitchen and she rolled her eyes. Oh dear… now what… Korra smirked in thought and closed her eyes. She noticed people shuffling around, soft whispers and some kind fan girl squeal that unmistakably belonged to Bolin.
"Can I open them yet?" she asked, her eyes still shut when out of the blue something licked her face. She flinched and backed off against Asami at first, her eyes shot open wide. She gasped in surprise at what she saw before her. Her father had the biggest smirk plastered on his face that she had ever seen. In his hands he held a puppy. Not just any puppy. A polar beer dog puppy. It was whining and squirming to get out of Tonraq's grip.
She couldn't believe her eyes and her breath was caught in her throat. Tonraq put the puppy on Korra's lap. It immediately reached up to Korra's face, licking it a few times more and it seemed to snap the young woman from her daze. "Oh my Spirits!" she tenderly took hold onto the animal and held it up so their faces were not even an inch apart. She laughed up at the young animal, tears of happiness freely streamed down her cheeks. The puppy licked her face and poked its nose against Korra's.
Everybody gathered around and smiled, even Senna came from the kitchen to look at her daughter. "We knew you really wanted one but due to their rarity you never had a chance to adopt one… we found this little one not far from where we live. Poachers had killed her mother… we were able to capture them and they are awaiting trial as we speak." She smiled and kneeled down in front of her daughter, she tenderly stroke the puppy's head. "We immediately though of you."
"W-what… H-happened to t-the… m-mother?" she asked in between her sobs.
Both Senna and Tonraq smiled sadly. "We honored her by burning her body and scattered the ashes over the tundra. We made the poachers watch. The insults they yelled at us, is not something I'll be repeating. I can proudly say that your mother shut one up with a firm punch. It was very impressive." He grinned and patted his wife's shoulder.
Korra looked in shock from one parent to the other and back. "Wow mom… remember not to piss you off ever again… heh…"
"Yes well… I love animals. The Polar bear dogs are rare enough as they are, we don't need a bunch of brainless idiots to mindlessly kill them for their beautiful pelt. I know our people have hunted them down as well many years back, but they would use every aspect of the dead animal. Up until the bones, brains and organs. Everything was used." She kissed the head of the puppy and happily licked Senna's face lovingly once. "But we'd never kill a mother that had a nest of puppies."
The puppy, which was actually the size of a full grown bull dog already, was cuddled, patted and held by everybody. Opal happily took pictures of everybody with Korra's new pet. Mako had been pulled into the surprise as well. Korra's parents had asked him if the puppy could stay with him for a few days and he happily obliged. He could be stiff sometimes, but when it came to animals, he instantly became a fan girl when a young animal was held before him.
He had brought all the items that Tonraq and Senna had bought for the little fur ball. Korra put the puppy on its bed when dinner was ready and everybody had to sit at the table. Korra made the little ball of fluff sit on its behind within a few seconds. She chuckled and kissed the puppy's head lovingly before she walked over to the table.
"How will you call her?" her father asked.
Korra looked over to her new pet and smiled happily. "Naga…" she turned her gaze back to her father and nodded. "Yes, Naga."
Tonraq nodded approvingly. "Sounds like a perfect name. I'm sure she'll have an amazing life with the two of you." He smiled genuine at Korra who settled next to Asami at the table.
Senna, with great help from Asami, had prepared an amazing dinner for them all. There were many different dishes from every nation. Roasted arctic hen, Five flavor soup, grilled fish, dumpling with all kinds of filling, vegetable wraps, noodle soup and the buns and bread were spread in little baskets all over the table.
Korra, her father and Bolin ate like their life was depending on it. The other four shook their head at the trio's table manners. They all enjoyed alcoholic beverages along with their meals. One drank wine while the other would drink a beer or just plain juice. Needless to say, everybody was stuffed and Korra had never been happier she had bought a dishwasher when she decided to move in her place.
After the table had been cleaned and the dishwasher was doing the dishes, everybody sat down on the big couch. Naga was laying on her back, snoring peacefully. They all chatted away the hours. Tonraq told about how things were going in the South. He had received many orders for hand made furniture and would be completely booked till July next year. He blamed Korra for that since she apparently couldn't keep quiet about the amazing furniture from the South.
Eventually, a few hours later, Korra walked over to the Christmas tree and took a few presents from under the beautifully decorated tree. She handed one to Bolin and Opal who looked slightly confused. "Weren't we gonna open those tomorrow?" Opal asked confused.
"Nope, I want you two to open those now…" she smiled and cuddled against Asami. Her arms lovingly around the waist of her partner.
Opal and Bolin both opened their presents. Bolin's contained a toolbox filled with different, high quality, tools and an envelope. Opal's contained a laptop that had an envelope glued to the box that contained the laptop. They looked confused from one another and then to Korra. "What…" they both started.
"Just open the envelopes, you'll see." She was hardly able to contain her excitement.
Both Opal and Bolin opened the envelopes. Their eyes grew wide in shock when they laid eyes upon the pieces of paper inside. At the upper left corner, there was a logo of A&K Garage present.
"You will both receive a salary from our company. We start at a thousand Yuans the first month, if all goes well, you will both receive a raise." She turned to Opal. "I want you to do the administration of our company, it's why you got a laptop along with your contract." Opal looked back at Korra, her eyes filled with tears. She was unable to speak. Korra smiled and turned to Bolin who had tears stream shamelessly down his face. "You'll be working along with Asami in the garage Bo… with two mechanics… business will be blooming."
"W… we… i-it's… this i-is…" Opal stuttered, still unable to form a proper sentence. Instead, she wrapped her arms around her friend and held onto her tightly. Bolin joined in and pulled Asami in the hug as well. All four of them hugged each other tightly until Bolin and Opal pulled back, still dazed and slightly shocked from what just happened. Neither of them needed any more encouragement, they signed their contracts without a second thought and handed them back to Korra.
The evening went on and they were in the middle of some sing along game. Mako, Bolin, Opal and even Tonraq sang a song. Opal was down to the last part of her song.
When I look around at these faces
I can see the stars in the sky
We will sing, we will shine!
The rest all joined in on the chorus.
(When you hear our voices call)
(You won't be lonely anymore)
(A million voices!)
(Singing out, singing out, oh)
(Singing out, singing out, oh)
(Singing out, singing out, oh)
(Singing out, singing out, oh)
(Singing out, singing out, oh)
(Singing out, singing out, oh)
(A million voices!
Everybody clapped when Opal finished and said woman did a polite bow to her audience. She handed the microphone over to Korra who stood up and took her place before her friends and family.
"Well! This is awkward!" she started, a faint blush present on her face. "I want to dedicate this song to a very special lady… who came in my life totally unexpected… I'm more then happy that she did…" she gestured to Asami to join her.
The engineer blinked surprised but got up nonetheless. She smiled lovingly at her girlfriend who wrapped an arm around her waist. "Should I be scared?" she asked playfully. Korra chuckled and shook her head.
The Southerner looked over at Mako who was master of the audio. He smiled and clicked on the play button. It started with a guitar, slow and Korra swayed her hips gently with the rhythm of the music. Asami joined in without thinking, her own arms around Korra's waist. It's then when she started to sing.
Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes.
But it's the only thing that I know
When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive.
We keep this love in a photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Hearts are never broken
And time's forever frozen still…
Asami listened to the lyrics of the song and held her breath while doing so. Tears glistered in her eyes when Korra started on the chorus.
So you can keep me
Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans
Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet
You won't ever be alone, wait for me to come home…
She couldn't do anything else but smile. A tear escaped and made its way over her pale cheek. Her heart swelled with love for this woman that she hardly knew for more then two weeks. She thought it couldn't get any better until Korra started again. She gestured to her parents who then got up and joined the couple. Arms of both Senna and Tonraq were lovingly wrapped around them when Korra continued.
Loving can heal, loving can mend your soul
And it's the only thing that I know, know
I sweat it will get easier
Remember that with every piece of you
Hm, and it's the only thing we take with us when we die
Hm, we keep this love in this photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Hearts were never broken
And time's forever frozen still…
She now cried shamelessly. Before she had met Korra, the weeks she had spend alone on the streets. How she had missed the love of her parents. Her mother that died at such a young age. She never realized how much she missed it all. Senna stood closest to the heiress, next to Korra and Asami buried her face in the crook of Senna's neck. Tears shimmered in three pair of Sapphire colored eyes and Korra kept going, her voice cracked slightly as she continued the song.
So you can keep me
Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans
Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet
You won't ever be alone,
And if you hurt me
That's okay baby, only words bleed
Inside these pages you just hold me
And I won't ever let you go
Wait for me to come home
Wait for me to come home
Wait for me to come home
Wait for me to come home
Korra's eyes couldn't contain the tears no more and they slid down her face. Her heart seemed to call out for Asami's as she sang. The love it contained for the other woman couldn't possibly be written down on paper, not even with an ocean of ink or a forest full of trees. She wasn't finished just yet and even while her voice was unstable, she continued the song till the very end.
You can fit me
Inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen
Next to your heartbeat where I should be
Keep it deep within your soul
And if you hurt me
Well, that's okay baby, only words bleed
Inside these pages you just hold me
And I won't ever let you go
When I'm away, I will remember how I kissed you
Under the lamppost back on Sixth street
Hearing you whisper through the phone
"Wait for me to come home"
When she finished, Korra looked at Asami who had pulled back to look right back at her. "I love you Sami… and I'm not afraid to show it to anyone…"
She wrapped her arms quickly around Korra's neck and lunged forward to kiss her girlfriend. Tonraq grinned and moved his head sideways once to tell his wife that they needed to move. They got back onto the couch and the two young women finally realized that they were making out in front of an audience. Korra was the first to pull back and the two moved back to the couch as well.
The two of them sat all cuddled up on the couch. Korra sat with her back against the armrest and Asami nuzzled her face against the tanned and warm neck of her girlfriend. While the rest started on a card game, the engineer kissed Korra's soft neck up till her ear. She brought her pink lips close enough so only the Southerner could hear her. "you've no idea how…" she stopped and swallowed hard. She took a deep breath before she continued. "You're the air that I breathe… the blood in my veins…" she slightly pulled back, emeralds locked with sapphires and she smiled lovingly at her girlfriend. "I love you so much…"
Their lips touched again, the kiss was slow and gentle. It didn't last long enough for either of them but they needed to pull back for the rest of the people there. They remained like this, arms wrapped around one another. Holding each other lovingly. Up until the moment they all headed to their indicated place to sleep.
Korra's parents moved back to the guestroom. Bolin, Opal and Mako crashed on the big couch and a cot that Mako had brought with him. Korra and Asami moved to their bedroom and Naga remained where she was. Happily drooling on her own doggy bed as she laid on her back, snoring peacefully.
