"Welcome to the Jasmine dragon, please take a-" Gold eyes scanned Zuko and Suki who were hand in hand in the door way of the tea shop, "Oh it's just you two."

"It's nice to see you too Lu Ten." Suki chuckled, reaching out to him and taking the ordering pad out of the pocket in his apron. "You boys sit and talk, I will take care of this."

"She is so bossy." Lu Ten growled at Zuko as Suki walked away, "I've always liked that about her."

"Well…" Zuko half shrugged, his hand going to the back of his head and fluffing his hair, "It's not without it's charm."

Lu Ten just laughed, motioning Zuko to a nearby table. They both sat down, Zuko watching as Suki and her white skirt flirted around the tea shop checking in with customers to see if there was anything they needed. "Are you pregnant yet?"

Lu Ten's question pulled him away from Suki, a frown on his face, "No?" He raised an eye brow, "We are not trying."

"See, that's not the way this works."

Zuko laughed at his comment, "How what works?"

"Well I turned out to be gay, so you have to have twice as many kids to make up for me."

Zuko rolled his eyes, his chin resting in his hand, "I don't see you holding these requirements to Azula."

"Nah, I don't expect Azula to ever have kids. So really you and Suki have to have three times as you should. So…" Zuko looked at his cousin with a smile as he calculated it in his head. "Seven kids."

"Seven?"

"Seven."

Zuko just rolled his eyes with a smile as Suki brought them both cups of tea.

"Lu Ten says we have to have seven kids." Zuko informed her. She let out a single laugh, walking away to another table. "See, I don't think she is going to be in favor of that."

His 36 year old cousin just laughed a little bit, "I guess I just want babies to play with."

"You know you and Kenton can always adopt." Zuko took a sip of his tea.

Lu Ten shrugged, pouting a little bit, "He's not in favor of the idea, he just wants another cat."

"Well cats are fun." Zuko shrugged.

Lu Ten just shook his head, "I guess." He sighed, "Things have just been…"

"Bad?"

"Not bad just…"

"It feels like you hit a stale mate, that your not moving forward or back, but just staying still and it confuses you cause you for so long were moving in one direction or another." Lu Ten narrowed his eyes at him, only drawing a smile from Zuko, "Am I right?"

"Well, well, well: Look at who is the expert on relationships now!"

Zuko just chuckled as he and his cousin caught up on things that were going on in their lives. Lu Ten ran the business side of Jasmine Dragon, letting Uncle Iroh having fun with his tea leaves. Zuko had worked as a waiter in the shop when he was in high school and college; Suki too as she was needed. Lu Ten served now, saying that it helped him relax and move away from the past.

Moving away from the past was a family tradition with the Kasais.

"How is your sister?" Lu Ten asked Zuko with a mournful tone.

"She's…" Zuko twisted his mouth a little bit, "She's Azula."

Lu Ten just smiled lightly, "I wish she would stop by more, I miss her."

Zuko blinked in surprised, pulling his head away a little bit, "Miss her?"

"Yeah, I miss Azula." Lu Ten laughed at when Zuko looked at him with a heavy frown.

"She has been too busy fucking Sokka these days to do much of anything."

"I can't blame her for that." Zuko just rolled his eyes, "What? Sokka is good looking."

"I guess so."

"Tell her stop by, ok? She can bring her big strong buck if she likes."

Zuko just shook his head, laughing a little bit. "I will tell her."

Sokka's blue motorcycle rolled down the street of large houses. It was one of one of the more affluent neighborhoods in town, and always made Sokka feel odd. He knew that he grew up in a place that was scarcely the size of some of these people's living rooms. They made him feel out of place. He had been in the Kasai mansion plenty of times as a child, but then that took him off guard each time.

Azula poked his back and pointed to one of the houses, making him pull into the drive way. He turned off the bike, Azula jumping off and removing her helmet. "Thanks again for this."

Sokka just shrugged, "I know that you wanted to come."

"I miss them." Azula smiled, running up to the house. Sokka followed after putting thier helmets under the seat. The door was open as soon as she got there, Lu Ten waiting for her. Azula just laughed, launching herself at her beloved cousin.

Lu Ten just laughed with her, hugging her close, "Oh I've missed you little Spark Plug!" He kissed the side of her heard with a smile.

"I've missed you too. I'm sorry that I've not been around more."

Lu Ten just motioned to Sokka, a smile on his face, "He keeping you busy?"

"Always!" She growled plafully, making Sokka blush.

She pulled away from him, Lu Ten inviting both of them inside. "Ken, they are here!"

Lu Ten husband, a kindly looking man looking a little older than Lu Ten with large green eyes and a hearty smile came into the room. "Hey, long time no see."

"Hey Kenton!" Azula hugged him too, Sokka blinking in surprise at the affection. She pulled away, smiling up at her cousin-in-law.

"How is your uterus?" He asked, total seriousness in his eyes.

It just made Azula giggle, "It's good. Sokka is making sure that I take good care of it."

Sokka frowned a little bit, feeling a little odd. Kenton always asked about their private parts, it was his profession after all, "A gay gynecologist." He scoffed, "Sounds like a bad joke."

"It's not a bad joke." Kenton sighed, his hands on his hips, "It's a GREAT joke!" He smiled brightly.

Lu Ten just laughed at his husband, reaching over and patting his back lovingly, "You will never get tired of that, will you?"

"Nope." Kenton smiled, raising an eye brow.

Lu Ten just smiled, looking at Azula and motioning her into the office. They both walked in there as Kenton took Sokka to the kitchen to get him something to eat. "So is there a reason you've not been coming by?" Lu Ten asked her as he closed the door, Azula sitting on the large red sofa in the room.

"I don't want to go over to the tea shop and I don't have a ride out here." She explained, crossing her legs in front of her as she sat there.

He sat in the chair across from her, "We could always come over to the apartment."

She rolled her eyes, "I don't even like to be there."

"I think that it's a mutual feeling; at least from Suki's point of view."

"Suki…" Azula groaned with a roll of her eyes, "I'm so sick of her." Lu Ten said nothing, but just looked across at his cousin. She looked back at him, a frown on her face, "She does make good tacos though." Lu Ten just laughed, his chin resting in his hand. "I know she is trying, I guess I just really want to go back to having my own place."

"I told you that you two could live here, we have plenty of room."

"Out here in the country? It would drive me insane." She scoffed, "And I would be stuck in the house all day since I can't drive."

"Since you don't wanna drive." He corrected.

"It's best I not drive."

"But you could."

"Well I could do a lot of things."

"But you won't."

Azula looked over at him, a frown on her face as Lu Ten smiled. He always had a way to see right though her, to know her better than she did, even better than Sokka sometimes. On one hand it freaked her out, knowing that someone had that same advanced intuition that she did. It was also so very comforting, knowing that she did not have to explain herself to him.

"I won't drive." She laughed a little bit.

Lu Ten just laughed as well, shaking his head lightly, "My mom called last week."

Azula's smile dropped, her eyes brows gathering, "What did she have to say?"

"I'm not sure, Kenton took the call."

Azula could not help but smile at this, "I'm sure that went over well."

"He behaved. I figured that he would yell at her and tell her to never try and contact me again."

"It's what I will do if I ever see her," Azula mumbled. No one had seen Lu Ten's mother, Iroh's ex wife in over 20 years. Lu ten was 15 when he came out and not everyone was as supportive of him as his father and aunt had been. His mother left, said that she could not deal with having a gay son. She had never said or done anything for her family since; save the divorce papers she had served to Iroh several years ago.

"I'm not really sure how I feel about it." He scratched the side of his head, "She found Jesus… or something."

It made Azula laugh a little bit, shaking her head, "Still… that is very bold of her to show up after all these years."

"I didn't tell my dad, I thought that it would be best not to."

"Agreed…." She shifted in her seat, a frown on her face, ""The other day I was out, and I saw a man who looked like... well..." She whispered, curling up a little bit in her seat, looking away.

"Like... him? The one who...?"

"Yeah... it wasn't him, though" She shook her head, "Even though Sokka was with me I got so scared…" her arms went around her waist as she hugged herself.

Lu Ten stood up, walking over to her and sitting on the sofa next to her. Like a little girl would do to her father Azula placed her head on Lu Ten's broad chest, her arms around his waist. He just kissed the top of her head as he held her, his hand stroking her cheek with a steady and loving motion. "You're safe Azula." He whispered to her after a few moments, his cheek laying on her head. "You have me, and Kenton, and Zuko, and Sokka. None of us will ever let you get hurt again, m'dear."

Azula sat up, brushing away her tears, "I know." She frowned a little bit, "Perhaps not Zuko, but the rest of you yes."

Lu Ten laughed, "I think you would be surprised how protective Zuko is of you."

Azula just rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

Lu Ten laughed, standing up and then helping her to do the same. "Lets go make sure Kenton hasn't driven Sokka insane yet."

"Sokka likes Kenton, you too, always has. He's just a bit..." She looked for the right word, "Uncomfortable."

"Which is why Kenton loves to mess with him." Lu Ten laughed, "Same with me."

"It's fun." Azula laughed, "I love messing with him myself so I understand."

He looked into her gold eyes, a smile on his face, "I'm happy for you." He asked, "I know that he is really good for you."

She nodded, looking up at him, "I'm lucky to have him."

"Not lucky, Azula. You deserve it." He reached out and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close. "You deserve nothing but the best Spark Plug."

"Hey Azula!" Sokka called out to her once he heard the office door open. "Have you seen these pictures?"

Azula walked to him, her arms crossed over her chest. "Of course I've seen them."

Sokka stood in front of a long wall that was covered with pictures in large frames. There were several images in each, the date and origin ranging greatly. He pointed to one picture in particular, "Zuko looks like such a dork!"

"Well Zuko is a dork." Azula laughed, resting her chin on his shoulder as she looked at the picture. "That was at the wedding." He just looked at her brother in the picture, a soft smile on his lips and pimples on his cheeks. He was in a suit with a red tie, his hair short on his head. Suki was standing next to him in a simple yellow dress, a large smile on her face.

"How old are they there?"

Azula thought about it for a second, "I was 12, so they are 13 and 14."

Sokka just laughed and pulled his phone out of his pocket, taking a picture of the image on the wall, "I will be bugging him about this forever."

Azula smiled and pointed to another picture of two small children standing by a pool with a teenager, "There's Zuko, Lu Ten and I as kids."

"Are you naked in that?" He raised his eye brow, smirking a bit.

"Yeah, but I'm two." She chuckled, "That's before things like that matter." She punched in him the arm playfully before pointing to another one, "That's me and Lu Ten at the wedding." Sokka had seen this one, but just frowned a little bit. She looked so sad, so broken in the picture. He hated himself that he had not been in their life at the time, that he had not been able to help her.

"I don't like that one as much." Sokka said with a sigh. He pointed at one of the larger ones, "This one is my favorite." It was a picture taken last Christmas. Iroh was sitting in the middle, Lu Ten to one side and Zuko to the other, Suki and Kenton sitting next to their respective mates. Azula and Sokka were seated on the floor in front of them all, his arms around her shoulders. They all had large smiles on their faces, which would usually look cheesy, but here it just looked like they were all happy to be there.

"Dad has that in the tea shop, you know." Lu Ten said as he joined them, "He loves telling people about us all, you know?"

"All of us?"

Lu Ten nodded, his arm going around Azula's shoulder, "All of us."

"Dose he always ride around on the bike?" Lu Ten asked his cousin as her boyfriend placed his helmet on.

"Yeah." Azula giggled, "Pretty cool, huh?"

"I guess cool works." He just chuckled, "People think different things are cool."

"Like you think gay gynecologists are cool?" She teased.

"Gay gynecologists are cool as hell I will have you know."

Azula just rolled her eyes, "We each have our own things."

"And don't you forget it." He just laughed, wrapping her arms around her again. She hugged him back, a smile on her face.

"I will come around more, I promise. He can have you over for dinner one night or something." She pulled away, a soft smile on her face.

"You mean Suki will have us over for dinner."

"Semantics."

Tu Len laughed and shook his head, Azula just walking away from him and towards Sokka on his awaiting bike. She placed the helmet on her head and got on, waving good bye as they pulled away, Sokka smiling over at Lu Ten.

They rode back to the aparmtnet, Azula's arms latched around Sokka's waist and her head on his back. She was thinking about what Lu Ten had told her, that she was safe, that they would never let anything happen to her. That the men in her life would make sure of it.

That is the real reason that she loved Sokka on this bike. She trusted him, she knew that he would never let anything happen to her. He would sooner die than let any harm befall to her. It was not just on the bike, but in every area of their lives. It's what made her love, and totally trust him.

Lu Ten and Kenton would always be there for her, to understand, to support and to love. They never questioned her or her feelings. She knew that they would protect her in any and every way possible, even if it was not in a physical way. It is what made her trust them.

The thought of her brother being as trustworthy as the other three made her frown. He had never been that close to her, and they would always argue. Often she thought he would be happier if she wasn't in his life. However, as she closed her eyes, her cheek on Sokka's back, she remembered what her life had been like before their father had gone to jail, when it was just the siblings and Ozai. She remembered only flashes of that time since it was so long ago. The one thing that she did remember was Zuko holding her in a closet as they hid from their father, his arms around her as he whispered: "I won't let him hurt you."

She supposed that was something.