Quick A/N: Yes, yes, I know, it's been ages since I've updated last and I have nothing to blame but real life taking up a lot of my time. But here I am with the last interlude before the next whirlwind of a case, and I hope you guys will enjoy it. Soulfulbard, this one is for you—and I promise that you guys will all see Varrick really soon. :)

Thank you to Soulfulbard, ThatNekoHacker and kubosz for your reviews, ThatNekoHacker, The Crisscross Writer and soulninjareaper97 for your favorites, and The Crisscross Writer, soulninjareaper97 and ThatNekoHacker for your follows. I appreciate it.

Please enjoy this next chapter of Illogically Logical.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Cover Credits go to Hopiamanipopcorn from deviantART.

Interlude: Exceeding Expectations

"I refuse to believe that you're trying to coerce the latest object of your affections into attending an activity this mundane, Dr. Lieng. Surely you have a better idea on how to spend the evening—don't girls usually want to go to dinner and see a mover?"

Bolin, refusing to let Asami tarnish his bad mood, merely buttoned his coat again so that it was even and combed back his hair again, frowning at the rebellious sprig of black hair that stuck out. "First off," he said mildly, "her name's Hamira and she told me herself that she wants to go. Not every girl is the hearts and flowers type. And probending isn't mundane."

Asami rolled her eyes and sat back down in her armchair, smirking. It was a welcome change from her constant pacing around the room, which she'd been doing ever since Beifong had called them to say that Song's trial had been dismissed and he was officially reinstated into the force. Bolin had been forced to deal with mutterings about the chief's mental state since two o'clock yesterday afternoon, and to get some peace he'd snuck out to Asoka's for lunch, which had been where he'd encountered Hamira Femi: a girl his age looking for a good time. He'd suggested the next probending match, and she'd happily agreed, saying that she'd call him if her plans would change.

Now, though, it was fifteen minutes past when they'd agreed to meet, and Bolin's stomach felt like it'd spawned an army of satanic bumbleflies. It'd been a long time since he'd gone on a date—a real date, because the one with Jaida and his one night stand with a girl in Capital City when he'd been on leave didn't count. Was he really ready for this? What if he experienced a trauma trigger? What would he do then?

"You'll be fine," Asami suddenly said, demonstrating her knack for reading people's minds just as Bolin started to chew his thumbnail nervously. "Honestly, Bolin, you're acting like an unpopular teenager trying to get a date with the homecoming queen. Stop acting so nervous."

Despite himself, he snorted. "Thanks, Asami. Any more stellar advice from the peanut gallery?"

"Yes. Stop biting your fingernails, the appearance of your nailbeds is driving me up a metaphorical and soon to be physical wall."

Before he could retort to that, the phone in the kitchen rang, and he nearly tripped over the rug in his haste to answer it. Amidst Asami's snickers, he picked up the phone, shot his roommate a dirty glare, and replied in what was hopefully a steady voice, "Hello?"

"Hi, Bolin, it's Hamira."

"Hey, Hamira," he answered, a smile forming on his lips as he thought of the green-eyed voluptuous beauty that had agreed to be his date tonight. "How're you doin', doll?"

"I'm doing okay, you?"

"I'm doing great—I'm really excited to see you tonight."

"Yeah, about that…uh, it's just that, well…I think I'm going to have to take a rain check for tonight."

Bolin's stomach dropped to his knees in disappointment. "Oh. Oh, uh, how come?" He respected that she'd called to let him know ahead of time instead of jilting him, but it still hurt that after all of her excitement at seeing the Red Sands Rabaroos play she was cancelling on him. "Do you have a prior commitment?"

"Yes, uh, my uncles are having their twentieth anniversary dinner tonight and I can't really skip out of it without dealing with verbal backlash from my family. I'm really sorry; I really did want to come."

"Hey, no sweat," Bolin assured her, not wanting her to feel bad. After all, she did have a genuine excuse for cancelling. "Maybe some other time?"

Hamira released a breathy laugh from the other end of the line. "Maybe some other time," she echoed before hanging up on him, leaving the dial tone ringing in his ears as he slowly replaced the telephone back in its proper place.

"So," Asami said from an inch behind him, and it took everything he had not to punch her once he whirled around in surprise, his heart racing. "Judging by the melancholy look in your eyes, your slumped shoulders and your slow movements, I'm going to take a leap here and say that Miss Hamira decided to cancel on you."

"She had a prior commitment," he refuted weakly, sinking into a kitchen chair. This sucked, and not just because his date had decided to take a rain check. Now he was in possession of two tickets to one of the most anticipated matches in probending history, and he would probably end up scalping them and spending the evening at home. "What am I supposed to do with these things now?" He slapped the slightly crumpled tickets onto the dining table, thinking of the money he'd wasted, and then a Raia-esque brainwave struck him so suddenly it was like he'd been hit by a brick.

Asami's green eyes narrowed just as his eyes widened and his lower lip pouted out. "No," she immediately said, shaking her head. "No, no, no—"

"Hey, Asami," Bolin said, trying to act suave as he leaned forward, his elbows pressing down on the table as a wide smirk blossomed on his face. "When was the last time you saw a probending match?"

"I cannot believe you talked me into this, Bolin."

Bolin shrugged, tossing a kernel of popcorn into his mouth as an influx of people poured into the stadium, fighting over seats and trying to catch glimpses of the teams doing warm-ups in their dugouts. He offered the box of popcorn to Asami, who refused it and she stuffed her hands in the pocket of her trench coat, looking as out of place as Bolin felt at the tenement house where they'd found TongXing. "You agreed to it, remember?"

"You begged me, remember?" was her sharp rebuttal, and with a look from him, she relaxed slightly, although she still appeared more than marginally uncomfortable. "I don't even really know how this sport works. Do they just attack each other until they fall into the water and the last one standing wins?"

He paused, trying to remember. "Driven down to the barest essentials, yeah," he allowed. "But if I remember correctly, you're supposed to gain as much territory as possible in three minutes flat. Or I guess you can drive the other team members over the edge of the ring."

She tapped her chin with her pointer finger, accepting this. "And is it a free-for-all brawl or are there rules? I'd hate for this sport to simply be an illogical debauchery of martial arts."

Bolin rolled his eyes. "Intentionally hitting the ref is illegal, and the benders aren't allowed to hit the roof of the arena with their bending. Stepping over the line without the ref's say-so and unnecessary roughness costs the player a one zone penalty. If you do any of that, you get a yellow fan, and if you break a rule three times, you get a red fan and you're out of the game."

"And since there are three rounds, I assume if the opposing teams win the first two rounds they battle it out in a tiebreaker."

"Got it in one," Bolin said, holding up his pointer finger. "The ref does a coin flip, and whichever team wins gets to choose the bender to duke it out—it's one on one, and you can only go against your element, and the winner of the one-on-one wins the round. They fight on a raised platform in the center of the ring."

Before Asami could ask any more questions, the lights in the arena began to dim, and a cheer rose up from the crowd as Shiro Shinobi stepped into the commentator's box. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he announced, practically firing his words into the microphone. Bolin, who hadn't seen a match in years, found himself leaning forward in excitement. "I'm Shiro Shinobi and I'm coming to you live from Republic City's Probending Arena, where after a year of waiting the Probending Championship is finally here. That's right, folks, tonight is the first set of matches in our single elimination sixteen team bracket. And I gotta tell ya—these are the most tenacious and talented bending trios this arena's ever seen."

Bolin snuck a glance at Asami, whose brows were furrowed as she stared at the lifts taking up the opposing teams on opposite sides of the playing field. Here we go, he thought to himself.

"In this corner," Shiro said, drawing out his words for suspense, "we have our rookie champions who've made it this far all on their own. They are ferocious and clever, the true rallied rage of the probending cage, the femme fatales of the ring—ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, Adi, Ula and Umi of…THE RED SANDS RABAROOS!"

The crowd was on its feet before Shiro had even finished speaking, applauding and whistling and stomping their feet as the lift ascended into the ring and three muscular women in their twenties stepped out, waving to the crowd. Umi, their waterbender, blew kisses to the audience while Adi, the firebending team captain, scrutinized her fingernails in an attempt to look blasé—although Bolin could tell that she was just as excited as her counterparts. Years of living with Mako had taught him how to look for emotion in people who didn't like to show it.

"And in this corner," Shiro said, raising his voice to be heard over the commotion of the crowd. They quieted, wanting to hear who he was going to announce next. "Make no mistakes, folks, this team is a real doozy! They're the true butterbee's knees in this competition, the slamming trio who've kicked the sorry butts of every team before them! Ladies and gentlemen, this team brings a new meaning to having a fiery temper: allow me to present to you, Chan, Jiron, and Hiro of…THE BAU LING BUZZARD WASPS!"

The Buzzard Wasps weren't as crowd-friendly as the Red Sands Rabaroos were, but the applause generated by the crowd was near deafening—Chan, Jiron and Hiro seemed to take it in stride, waving as they got into position on their separate sides.

A bell dinged from over into the commentator's box, and Chan immediately released a fire blast toward Ula, who raised an earth disk and kicked it to her opponent. Umi pulled up water from one of the metal grates and fired it directly at Jiron, who had to do a back flip to leap out of the way of danger before summoning a fire ball and sending it toward Adi.

Chan and Umi were in a fierce battle from what Bolin could see, and as the firebender blasted her with fire, Umi hastily created a water shield that blocked the blast but still sent her back a few feet.

"And Umi of the Rabaroos is the first one to feel the heat," Shiro declared, his statements rapid-firing to coexist with the speed of the game. "The two teams are wasting no time to try and knock each other out of the first zone!"

Umi, in retaliation with her cheeks bright red, attempted an uppercut on Jiron with a waterbending fist, which he instantly dodged with a nimble cartwheel. "Jiron shakes off Umi's attack with a "No thank you, ma'am," but she's not taking no for an answer! Oh, dang it, folks, with some help from Captain Adi, Jiron's sliding back, will he go into the next—oh, ouch, Ula's hit with a waterbending blast to the chest, but she's not out for the count just yet."

Hiro, who summoned a deluge of water from his grate, shot another blast of water at Ula's head, who got knocked backwards into the second zone. The crowd began to boo, and Bolin agreed with them. "Come on, ref!" he shouted, cupping his hands over his mouth to be heard over the commotion. "Since when was the chest part of the head? That's illegal!"

Adi spared a glance at her fallen teammate, who got back up shakily, looking ready to continue. This was met by a round of applause from the slightly disgruntled audience, and Asami leaned forward in her chair, looking interested.

"So," Bolin said, not looking away from the game, "are you interested yet, Asami?"

In response, Asami stood up and yelled at Shiro, "Come on! Do you even know what a hosing foul is? My dad doesn't even watch this game and he could've made a better call than that!"

Bolin tried not to smirk or tear his eyes away from the game, where Umi and Hiro were throwing blast after blast of water at each other while Jiron and Chan attempted to take down Adi and Ula. Each person was giving it their all, and the doctor wasn't sure what the outcome of the match would be. Jiron launched a disk and Chan jumped over him, sending out a fire blast. Umi flipped forward and launched her own water blast at the firebender, knocking him onto Jiron and sending them both back into the second zone. Adi, obviously invigorated by the change of events, sent a fire blast at Hiro's feet that tripped him into Jiron and Chan.

"And the Rabaroos get the green light and advance into Buzzard Wasp territory! I told you this was going to be a doozy, folks! I haven't seen a match like this since Toza was a part of the Boar-Q-Pines! Oh, no, looks like Jiron's in trouble, he's teetering over the drink! Nice water shot from Umi, and it pushes Jiron in! Well, he'll be back for the next round."

The Buzzard Wasps didn't take the loss of their teammate kindly, and they attacked with gusto. Adi and Ula dodged a water and fire attack, but Umi was pushed back. Just as the bell rang, Adi grabbed Umi's hand and pulled her forward out of the line of fire.

The utmost right sign of the scoreboard turned blue. "Round one goes to the Red Sands Rabaroos!" screamed Shiro, and the crowd went wild. Bolin whooped, and Asami applauded, saying that they actually deserved it. "The other team's strategy is off," she told him. "They keep on using earthbending attacks, but once Jiktun—"

"Jiron."

"Yes, him, once Jiron is out they don't have a strategy anymore. I get it, he's their captain, but still, they need to rely a bit more on their waterbender. Hiro, right?" At Bolin's nod, she continued. "His water attacks create a stream of propulsion that's more powerful than Jiron or Chan's attacks. It's a much better strategy, really."

Bolin's brows furrowed, because he'd never thought about it like that. Before he could ask her more questions, the bell rang again, and the Buzzard Wasps managed to push the Rabaroos into the second zone. Chan, Jiron and Hiro advanced, and Jiron directed a disk at Umi, who blocked it with her waterbending. Chan punched two fire blasts, which Adi blocked with her fire blasts. In the end, though, Jiron managed to make Umi trip into the second zone, while Chan and Hiro collaborated to push Adi and Ula into the second zone as well just as the bell signaled the end of the second round.

"The Buzzard Wasps looked buzzed out, and for good reason! They barely managed to hold onto their victory in that round, but it's still anyone's game right now, folks, as we're entering our third and final round. The question is: which of them wants this victory more?"

Apparently, both of them wanted it equally. Bolin watched, practically chewing his nails in his excitement. Asami was jumping up and down, screaming along with the crowd as the Buzzard Wasps gained more territory. It appeared that Adi's team was exhausted, even though the firebender was still going strong. Ula fought, but she was eventually knocked out of the ring and into the water by Jiron's earth disk.

"Ula's out, she's out of the ring, folks! The Rabaroos are down an earthbender, and it looks like the Buzzard Wasps are taking as much advantage of this as possible. Adi and Umi are giving it their all, but the Wasps are gaining territory quicker than the Fire Nation! Chan's teetering, but—oh, he's back, and—oh Spirits Adi is out of the ring! It looks like the hopes of the Rabaroos lie with their waterbender."

The waterbender in question looked ready to pee herself as she dodged the salvos of bending barrages, weaving and bobbing between fire blasts and earth disks from the opposite side. It looked like she was going to be overtaken the second that she was knocked back another zone.

"Come on, Rabaroos!" Bolin shouted, starting a chant. "Umi, Umi, Umi!"

Asami cupped her hands over her mouth and began shouting at Umi, "Come on! Angle yourself, you can still get a knockout! Come on, Umi! Let them get in front of you!"

"She's gaining territory now, folks, but with a few seconds left on the clock it might be time to say goodbye to the championship tournament—wait, what's going on? Umi is angling herself, she's gaining more ground, the Wasps are lined up and she's dodging them!" Shiro sounded as surprised as Bolin felt. "Look at her go, she's getting them lined up!"

"Jet propulsion, jet propulsion!" yelled Asami, jumping up and down. "Come on, Umi!"

And then, channeling the water from the grates, Umi knocked Chan, Jiron and Hiro out of the ring with a single blast of water a split second before the bell rang.

The arena was deadly silent, save for the splashes of the Buzzard Wasps. Even Shiro didn't know what to make of it, and apparently neither did the Rabaroos. Umi stared at her hands like she couldn't believe what she'd done.

Bolin decided to break the tension with a loud whoop, screaming, "Yeah, Umi, you did it!" The rest of the audience followed in his footsteps, yelling Umi's name and words of congratulations. Asami grinned at Umi, who jumped around the arena blowing kisses to the audience while beaming brightly enough to outshine the sun.

"She did it," she said to Bolin, clasping her hands together. "She actually did it."

"Like you had any doubt," Bolin replied, brushing the popcorn that he'd spilled off his lap and onto the floor. "You were cheering for her louder than her teammates."

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Shiro, finally getting his head back into the game, "with Umi pulling off the upset of the season with her incredible knockout, the match goes to the Red Sands Rabaroos!"

The crowd, which had fallen silent once Shiro had started talking again, once more began to scream and shout. Some of the die-hard Buzzard Wasps fans were booing, but they were quickly drowned out by the pleased yells of more than ninety percent of the arena. Bolin hugged Asami in pure euphoria, and although it seemed that she didn't know what to do at first, she eventually raised her arms and patted his back.

And in that moment, everything seemed perfect.

Of course, Bolin knew that the peace could never last.

They'd tried to get through the crowd once Bolin collected his winnings, but then there had been an emergency with one of the players in the Buzzard Wasps who needed his dislocated shoulder fixed. They couldn't ask any of the waterbenders because neither of them were healers, and, because of some cosmic disorder in the universe, Bolin had been the only one with a medical license in the entire arena.

This was how he found himself setting Jiron's shoulder in the team dugout while Asami offered the players more critiques than congratulations. Umi had hugged Asami for nearly thirty seconds straight while spitfiring thank-yous at her. The consulting detective appeared mildly uncomfortable during all of that, but managed to accept the compliment in the spirit that it was offered.

"Relax that shoulder for a while," Bolin ordered the young earthbender, who stared up at him sheepishly. "Put ice on it and I'll write you a prescription for hydromorphone in the morning if you need any pain medications. Chan and Hiro have my permission to fawn over you as much as they'd like."

"You need to stop relying on your earthbender so much," Asami was telling Adi and Chan, who were paying as much attention to her as if she was their drill sergeant. "I get it, he or she is an important player, but in the end, it's the waterbender that packs a really good knockout. I'd explain the physics of it to you but I don't want you to strain your funny little minds too much."

"Okay," Bolin declared, standing up and beginning to push Asami toward the door before the pro-benders twice her size could realize that she'd insulted them, "thank you all this was a lovely evening and I hope to do it again soon bye."

Luckily, it was much less crowded outside, so it was much easier for them to find a way home. Asami offered to flag down the Breeze, but Bolin waved her off. "I don't mind walking," he said, and the two of them set off down the sidewalk. Asami popped the collar of her trench coat up against the breeze, and Bolin stuffed his hands into his pockets. "So," he said mischievously, "what did you think of probending? Pretty sweet, right?"

Asami shrugged, appearing blasé again. "It was…an interesting and unforeseeable way to have spent my evening. And it did exceed my expectations, but…" She sighed, biting her lip as she searched for the perfect way to describe it. "Truth be told, I find the science of the sport quite fascinating. All of the statistical analysis, all of the strategy. It's very invigorating to watch from an analytical point of view. Other than that, though, it's really quite stupid. I feel like it's just an excuse for the people down there to beat the living daylights out of each other."

"Wow." Bolin rolled his eyes, playfully punching Asami on the shoulder. "Tell me how you really feel, then."

"I just did, Bolin, weren't you listening?"

He debated on telling her that it had been a rhetorical statement, but decided against it. After all, her response had been rhetorical too. "You know," he said instead as they turned a corner, "I wanted to be a probender, growing up. Me and Mako had it all planned, but…then I just lost interest in it. My earthbending was good enough to get me into a minor circuit, but I didn't want to do it for my entire life, y'know? And it wouldn't make me that much money anyways. So I enlisted, and became a doctor. Mako got more jobs—he works, like, quadruple shifts now at the power plant and at restaurants and other odd jobs. It all turned out okay, just not in the way that I expected."

Asami stared at Bolin like she didn't know what to make of him, and then her expression softened. "And do you think it's better this way?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you think it's better that you became a doctor and enlisted in the United Forces rather than just becoming a probender? Do you think you made the right decision?"

Bolin had to stop and think about it. If he'd joined the probending team, he could've lived an entirely different life. His relationship with Mako would be better, he'd get plenty of girls because probending was an admirable gig, and his bending would have improved tenfold. Who knew? Maybe it would've gone well for him. He could've been rich and famous.

But then he thought of Chouko, and Kimiri, and Yuhan, and all of the members of the Third Battalion that he'd grown so close to. He thought of the experience he'd gained as a doctor, the pride he felt when he'd received his promotion to a second lieutenant. He thought of things that had scarred him and ended up shaping him into the man he was today. If it hadn't been for him, then Takumi would've died numerous times and Hojo would've ended up court-martialed. Hell, if he hadn't been discharged from the army, he never would have even met Asami. They never would've become friends.

"Looking back on it now," he said once they arrived at 221B Baker Street, "I think I definitely made the right decision."

And now this string of interludes is finally complete. Soulfulbard, I hope I did your request justice. :) If there's anything else that you guys would like to see, I'll be sure to write it.

Like I said last time, the next thriller of a case is almost done, and it'll be coming soon to a website near you.

To be continued…

-Boa :)