So, ch19. I figured it would generate a good response, but you guys surprised me, per usual. Major thanks to all my reviewers… BAAVIRA IS BACK! Without further ado (say it with me now) onward!


When Su had learned of Baatar's visit to Kuvira once the family brunch had been converted to dinner plans, she felt unable to complain or say anything against it. Her husband had pointed out that Baatar had respected her wishes during the post-verdict celebrations, and that they could hardly tell their grown son he was not allowed to visit whomever he pleased. Baatar's assets were newly unfrozen, and with the debts paid –and his four years of significant monetary gain effectively erased—she felt delicate to strain a newly healed relationship with complaints about his continued visits to Kuvira.

When he joined the family for dinner, however, Su had known this visit had been different from the others.

Baatar had always been a serious child and had grown into a serious young man, his fallback expression either pensive or sober. To see him enter the room with a new bounce in his step and a delighted glow to his face was warming to her as a parent, especially after seeing him miserable for so long, but a second appraisal raised suspicions. The twins were slightly congratulatory, referring to his victory in tones laced with suggestion, and Opal had whispered something to him when she hugged him in greeting. He had exchanged looks with Huan, who went so far as to crack a smile at their nonverbal communication, and when her husband asked how the visit had gone, Baatar had reddened slightly before giving his answer. Su had asked Lin after the fact, but her sister was cagey; "Junior was just pathetically happy to be the first person to tell Kuvira he was acquitted," she had said. "The kid's a romantic idiot."

Su had never been able to tolerate being kept in the dark, and when she saw slight discoloration at the corner of Baatar's jaw she resolved to get to the bottom of it. She tried not to think of the stiff way he had held his neck or the giddy way he had addressed them immediately upon his arrival.

"Dear, you're setting yourself up for another headache," her husband warned her. "If Junior wants to be with a war criminal before her acquittal, that's his headache."

"You honestly think she'll be acquitted?" Su had demanded, allowing her husband to pull her in for a calming hug. "I need to see what she has to say about that visit," she said, more to herself.

Kuvira looked up at the sound of the door opening, and the way her expression rapidly changed from hopeful delight to guarded wariness stirred something in Su's chest that she couldn't name. "Suyin," Kuvira said formally, standing. "This is a surprise."

"Don't bother getting up on my account," Su said frostily, her eyes cold. "It's been established time and time again how little you respect this family."

"What's this about?" Kuvira said, gesturing to the chair opposite her own as she sat again. "I thought you'd be happy; he's practically a free man again."

Su ignored the seat. "What did you say to Junior when he visited you after the verdict?"

The question caught Kuvira off guard, and Su watched the young woman's face closely. "I told him the truth," Kuvira said after some time.

"Which is what, exactly?"

"I told him I love him," Kuvira said, crossing her arms over her chest. "To be fair, he said it first, but he always has been the more expressive of the two of us."

"There isn't an 'us' anymore," Su said firmly. "You both need to learn how to move on. He's got his whole life ahead of him. If you really loved him, you wouldn't drag him down by extracting promises of his loyalty—"

"Suyin, please," Kuvira said, the hurt visible in her eyes. "I'm not asking you to believe me for matters of politics, but do you really think I'm trying to keep Baatar from moving on? He has zero foresight on the issue, and I've been trying to tell him to focus on more important things. You saw us, back in Zaofu," she added, her voice low.

"Yes, you were all too eager to turn him against his own family, so you could have an engineer to handle your projects," Su said, but her voice was less certain.

"He wanted to come with me," Kuvira said firmly. "I told him what I planned to do, because I had to tell someone. And after he asked me to stay, he asked if I would need an engineer on board." Her eyes went unfocused, and Su could tell she was reliving the moment. "All those times you pushed us together after my shifts ended, or when you made sure I had an extra ticket to give away for our dance recitals... Suyin, don't pretend you didn't know what you were doing. If I hadn't ruined everything, you would have been happy for us to be a couple."

"That's neither here nor there," Suyin said. "How do I make him forget you, if you really want to help?"

"I don't know," Kuvira confessed, "but you of all people ought to know it's not that simple. After all, you could see that we were devoted to one another, if not already in love, before I even realized how I felt about him." Neither of them spoke.

"What does your sentence look like it will be?" Su said at last.

"It depends on the trial," Kuvira said. "Keisai has warned me that the death penalty is a real possibility."

Su nodded, unsure what to say. "Very well," she said, not knowing how to conclude the visit, but as the locks clicked shut behind her she paused in the hallway, a curious tightness in her throat as the meaning of what Kuvira said finally weighed on her mind in its entirety.

oOo

After Korra had relayed the information she had learned from Tenzin, Keisai had been quick to brief Kuvira and Baatar and had promptly called Lin to ask her about the possibility of certain documentation of a meeting between the world leaders being leaked. "I need this, chief," he had said. "This isn't even about my reputation anymore, this is about showing that prick you people call your president that he's completely awful—"

"Sorry kid," Lin had said. "A leak just won't happen. I can confirm the meeting between the world leaders for you, and I can get you a transcript, but if there was talk of a bill attainder like you're hoping, I certainly don't remember it."

"Talk isn't enough, I need drafts," Keisai had insisted. "I need hard evidence showing that this case was decided before we even stepped foot into the courtroom and I need to expose them in front of the world. Isn't there something I can do? Withholding information is a punishable offense in a case of—"

"This isn't the Fire Nation, kid," Lin said gently. "I know you're frustrated, but I can't charge the president with noncompliance when I don't even know if such a bill was drafted."

Getting the transcript proved simple enough with Lin's help, but the lawyer was unsatisfied. General Iroh was late in his return from the Earth Kingdom relief effort, despite Korra's recent arrival in the city, and contacting him proved ineffective. Keisai resolved to wait for contact from Iroh before taking the decidedly more desperate measure of bullying his way into the legislature archives, and was on a walk to clear his head after countless roadblocks in his quest to amass necessary evidence when he saw Meilin.

Her profile was well-cut and her features sharply distinctive, and even though her memorable blue eyes were obscured by heavy lids as she focused on the work and tea in front of her, he recognized her as he passed the window of the café. Keisai paused, walking past the window a second time to see that the young lawyer was seated alone at a table. He paused for a moment before turning on his heel and striding in, shrugging off his coat and making his way to her spot. "Mind if I cut in for a minute?" he asked, leaning down.

She arched a brow. "Yes."

"Meilin, I know you're upset that Zhang threw the case. You don't need to take it out on me," he said. "I hope that after this trial is over, you and I can start fresh?"

She surprised him with a disarming smile that reached her eyes, and as he brought his hand down to the chair to lean his weight against it, he missed the back and stumbled. "I know I come across as rather unfriendly," she said, "but that's less about the nature of our employment and more about the fact that-" her voice hardened, the moment lost- "my gender, age, and profession leads ambitious young attorneys like yourself to think it acceptable to shower me with unwanted attention."

Keisai's face reddened slightly, and he glanced down. "I take none of those things into account when assessing you as a courtroom opponent," he said after an awkward pause. "I consider you a rival during the trial, but just another person I'd like to get to know outside of court. I know my behavior after the verdict implies otherwise, but I hope you'll let me prove it to you."

"You're doing a poor job of it right now," Meilin said. "If you'll be kind enough to excuse yourself, I'd appreciate it.. I have a lot to get through for Kuvira's trial."

"Likewise," he said. "Have a good afternoon, Meilin." She didn't respond, but as he glanced back before the door swung closed, he could have sworn that she smiled.

oOo

Baatar paused before making his way to Kuvira's cell door. The guards kept their faces impassive, leading him to suspect Lin had warned the men to remain professional or suffer the consequences. Under different circumstances, he would have been irritable under their scrutiny, or at the very least self-conscious. However, his recent reconciliation with Kuvira had left him in a sort of happy daze for far longer than he'd anticipated, even if the moment had been interrupted by the lawyer's sudden arrival. They had talked an embarrassingly small amount, he realized; the entire visit had disappeared in tight breathing and low voices and rushed exchanges that said precious little beyond what they both already knew. All of that hardly mattered, though. The fact that he could finally speak freely with her was more than he could have hoped for, after little more than a year since the military failure.

More importantly, he said to himself as the door opened to admit him, she loved him. And she finally knew that her feelings were reciprocated.

"I thought Keisai was going to visit," Kuvira said, smiling and standing to greet him. "Don't tell him I said this, but I'm glad it's you instead."

"I'm glad to hear it," Baatar said, his expression mirroring hers. "May I..?"

She quirked a brow. "No, you may not. For whatever reason, there hasn't been anything new about us in the tabloids for the past couple of weeks, and I intend to keep it that way."

He took her hands in his own. "Believe it or not, I don't just come by to make up for a year's worth of lost time," he said. "Can we sit? I've been thinking, and there's something we're long overdue on discussing."

"Certainly," she said, sitting on the cot and tugging him down beside her. "Do I have reason to worry about the topic?"

Baatar squeezed her hand reassuringly. "No, I just think we glossed over it in the past, and it's time for us to be frank with one another about it. When you fired on the warehouse—"

Kuvira winced, withdrawing her hand. "Do we have to discuss this?"

"We do." He turned her face back to his with a finger under her chin, his gaze intent. "Don't look so worried, Kuvira. I already told you, I don't care about that anymore."

"And I don't understand why," she said quietly.

"I'm going to try to fix that," he said, undeterred. "It wasn't only because of your responsibilities as the Great Uniter, was it? You didn't want the children of our country to suffer the way you suffered. You couldn't justify abandoning our people to save one man—"

"Baatar, stop trying to make me feel better," she said. "I think we both know by now that the United Republic wasn't like the other states. The country was flourishing –it still is, even after the damages—without us. It never needed us. It wasn't justifiable, like all of our work within the empire."

He nodded. "And we could have kept the empire if you had just given up the city. Instead, we ended up abandoning it against our will."

"Exactly." She looked at him sharply. "Then why bring up my delusions of being the mother of the empire? You know that wasn't really a factor when we planned our campaign to take the city."

Baatar smiled, reaching for her hand again. "You tell me."

"I suppose.." She paused, a smile at the corners of her mouth. "Oh, I see. You're guiding my thought process—"

He nodded. "Go on."

"—you always were good at that," she said with a smile, "and that brings us to the real reason. Fine, I'll say it out loud. Three years of unconditional respect from the world leaders, international recognition, the praise and love of our people, and the support of our army made me lose sight of why we left Zaofu in the first place."

He nodded again. "It was never just you, I was as much to blame."

"I think I left a piece of myself in every state," Kuvira said slowly. "I've turned it over in my head innumerable times, ever since the first day Keisai reprimanded for still calling the country the 'empire.' But that's what it became to me, do you see? Everything was mine to command, to control, to protect." She smiled, but there was a bitter edge to her voice when she spoke. "What I had in terms of acumen and intellectual maturity, I severely lacked in terms of emotional maturity." She raised her eyes to his. "I honestly thought I had no choice, Baatar. In that moment, it was more about the end goal I had become so fixated on and achieving it, collateral damage be damned. I can never forgive myself for that."

"You'd be better off trying to," he said, stroking along the ridges of her knuckles, "because I already have. I should have realized when you became someone else. The Kuvira I proposed to was the most inspirational woman in the world to me… back then, we were concerned with bringing stability to the country, not a power grab under the pretext of a dubious annexation that was resolved decades ago."

"You were in the inner circle," she reminded him. "You were too close to really be able to see what was happening. No, we're both colossal screw-ups, there's no getting around it. That's why instead of putting the final touches on wedding plans, I'm stuck in a cell waiting to see what punishment the world will choose for me."

"You didn't need to surrender, Kuvira."

"I know," she said softly. "But I already thought I had lost you, and Avatar Korra and I came to an understanding in the spirit world. She had already told me to call off the army. How could I refuse a punishment when she had just saved my life? She should have let me die."

"I can never thank her enough for doing the opposite," he said, an involuntary shudder passing through him as he shoved away the idea of a life without her. "I needed answers, and if nothing else I think I would have been unable to go on if you had died without giving me a chance to say goodbye."

"You may well get a chance to say goodbye before my death," she observed drily. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Of course," Baatar said, casting around for anything new to say. "So...two weeks til the day."

She scowled. "Two weeks from today was the date I had in mind for the wedding, but that's obviously no longer a thing."

He sighed. "I mean, it could have been..."

"I know it could have been!" Kuvira pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaling slowly. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, Baatar. I just don't want to talk about what could have been anymore. We're different people now than we were when we got engaged, and I recognize that."

"Yes," he agreed, "we are. I love you all the same, even though you're not the person you were when we started this whole…."

"Partnership?"

"I was going to say relationship," he said smiling. "You're as unromantic as ever, so at least that's a constant. But I just need more time, that's all-"

"I'm nervous that we won't get it," she said, voicing their shared fear.

He tugged her to his chest, one hand at the curve of her back and the other in her hair, experiencing the old thrill as he saw once again how well she fit against him. "Everything will be fine."

"Calculate the probability of that," she said quietly. "Take into account the fact that I said I'd take whatever punishment the world has to offer, factor in the Northern Water Tribe precedent for conspiracy and aggression, add the amount of resentment world leaders justifiably hold against me, and the outcome for war criminals like me." She tipped her head back. "It's your area of expertise, do the math."

"I can't calculate something that can't be boiled down to numbers without me assigning arbitrary values," Baatar said gently. "Kuvira, please. You said you were prepared to wait for as long as you had to."

"In the moment, yes, but I forgot how impractical that would be for you," she said. "Fine, let's say I don't end up on death row. What if I'm put away for life? Or twenty years? What would you do, wait for me to get out when you could be moving on? I love you too much to be so selfish."

"Can we forget about the future for a little while?" he entreated. "If these end up my last bits of proper time with you, I don't want to waste them arguing about this."

"Fine," she said, curling her fingers around his arms. "Get it off my mind."

"How?"

"Distract me."

Her lips were parted slightly, her breath coming in little puffs close enough to his face to elicit a visceral reaction, and Baatar sighed. "It's not right, Kuvira. I doubt I'd be able to stop-"

She was confused for a minute before she caught his meaning and laughed, a delighted sound that made the blood rush to his face. "I didn't mean sex, Baatar. I meant literally any other topic besides my trial. Tell me about your work, or tell me about the new job with the Future Industries contract. What was it, something about introducing the magna-trains to the United Republic?"

He grimaced. "The empire was a beacon of progress. It's slipping back into the Dark Ages, and I'm stuck helping the country built on stolen land surpass it." He sighed. "I know we've established that we were wrong to try taking back the republic, but it makes me a bit sick to see the role I'm playing now."

"I know," she agreed. "But if nothing else, I've learned that there are more important things than the empire. You, and your family's happiness, for example. Don't make them miserable by violating the terms of your acquittal."

"Or you," he reminded her, his lips brushing her temple. "I have four years of service, but a lifetime after that. I won't ruin it before it's even begun."

Kuvira's expression tightened. "Don't get ahead of yourself. Let's see if I'm spared execution, first. Keisai did explain it to you, didn't he?"

"In the simplest possible terms," he conceded. "Please, can't we pretend it doesn't matter right now? Can we behave like a normal couple, at least for a little while?" Her murmured protestations had little effect as he continued his ministrations, starting from her hair and cheek and working his way down.

"If… we were… a normal couple," Kuvira said between kisses, "then I wouldn't have blown up the warehouse." She held up a hand, prompting him to stop. "I would have told you to go with Korra, tracked you down after sending Xi to negotiate the surrender in your stead, and married you on the date we decided or immediately upon finding you, whichever would have come first." She frowned, her face contorted into her old endearing scowl and her eyes cat-like as she rehashed that day's events in her mind. "What a logistical nightmare, taking you with her everywhere. With our resources, I could have tracked you down in weeks. I thought you could tell when someone was bluffing, Baatar."

"I can!" he protested. "You've seen me conduct interrogations, or negotiate—"

"I know, which is why it makes that whole encounter even worse," she said with a smile. "Why did you fold when it mattered most? You could've called her out, but instead you told me to turn back when we were on the precipice of victory-"

"I couldn't risk losing you!" he blurted out, his words hanging in the air of the newly silent cell long after he'd spoken them. "After Mom and the twins conducted that assassination attempt... Kuvira, you have no idea how scared I was for you." She looked stricken, and was quiet as she nodded for him to continue. "I know you're capable of holding it together, but I remember what you said the night after we took Zaofu. I remember your face, after you came back to my tent and told me what Mom had tried to do."

"Oh."

She didn't say anything else, and he hugged her tightly as he remembered the break in her voice when she delivered the news of the attempt on her life, as if she were merely informing him of impromptu dinner plans. He remembered the way she had held back her tears after his grandmother, Lin, and Bolin had freed the rest of his family from captivity, and Su had fought her with the intent to kill etched into the soft lines of her face. He had comforted her then, pretending he couldn't see the tear that spilled over or hear the quaver in her voice as she told him that there was no hope of ever repairing her relationship with Su once their work was done. "I couldn't lose you," he said again, his voice strained. "Not after two close calls just weeks before that day."

"I'm sorry," she said at last, her lips brushing his scar. "I'm sorry," she repeated, kissing away his anxiety. He allowed her to push him back on the cot with his legs still over the side, one of her hands in his hair while the other was braced on his chest. "I always told you not to worry about me," she said, her face over his. "You knew there would be baggage, being involved with the Great Uniter. You're horribly insubordinate."

He tugged her down, her weight atop him lighter than he remembered and her bones frighteningly palpable beneath skin and muscle. "I loved the Great Uniter the way any proper armyman loves his country," he said, his fingers following the curve of her back. "I just didn't think there would be such a small distinction between that role and the woman I wanted to marry." He initiated a kiss this time, snaking his fingers into her hair and letting out a disgruntled noise when she pulled back. "What?"

"Wanted?"

"You're the realistic one," he pointed out. "For a long time, I wished I could hate you. I tried to hate you, just so I could get over the idea that we'd never go back to how it was."

Kuvira patted his cheek a bit more firmly than necessary. "That hurt," she said. "Do you still wish you hated me?"

"Of course not, you know I love you," he said, grinning. "It's like you said, we'll decide where to go from here after your trial." She smiled in response, closing the gap between them again and raking her fingers through his hair, lifting his head off the thin mattress to better meet him. His hands found the hem of her shirt, and as he reacquainted himself with the taste of her mouth and the feel of her skin, he didn't hear the door open.

"Oh. Um, hey," Korra said as she entered, causing Kuvira to knock the wind out of him as she shoved herself to sitting. "Is this a bad time?" the avatar said apologetically. "I can come back later..."

"Avatar Korra, I'm so sorry," Kuvira said, slapping his hand away as he attempted to drape an arm around her waist, her cheeks blazing with embarrassment. "I didn't expect to see you until the trial was underway."

"Yeah... well, here I am," Korra said, sitting down. "So, when did... this... happen?" She gestured vaguely at the two of them, a poorly concealed smirk on her face.

"None of your business," Kuvira said firmly, her voice professional. "However, I do appreciate the visit. What brings you here?"

"You probably know already," Korra said. "Keisai told you about Hotah?"

"Yes," Kuvira said, her eyes flitting to Baatar for a moment before she returned her focus to Korra. "I can't say I'm surprised."

"Well, I'm going to try and persuade him right before the trial," the avatar said determinedly. "Last time he had a chat with my polar bear dog, he turned out to be a lot more willing to share political secrets. Maybe when it's time for them to decide the verdict, Naga and I can pay him another visit."

"For goodness' sake, the man has accepted bribes for years," Baatar said in disgust. "Surely his support can be bought in some way—"

"No, we need to do this right," Korra said. "I'm not going to let anyone question the wisdom of letting you live later down the road for something as stupid as stooping to that level."

"I agree," Kuvira said, nodding. "Avatar Korra, I am touched by your concern, but I think you're dealing with a hopeless case. Unless you know of a way to get Keisai's hands on a drafted bill of attainder, I doubt there's anything you can do."

Korra snapped alert. "A what?"

"An act of a legislature declaring her guilty of some crime, resulting in punishment without a judicial trial," Baatar said. Kuvira smiled at him, her eyes softening, while Korra looked surprised. "What?" he demanded. "Kuvira wasn't the only person in charge of governmental affairs. I thought that was established in court."

"Anyway," Korra said, barreling on, "I think I might be able to help, then. Tenzin has been a councilman for years, he's bound to know a way to get into whatever documents we need-"

"I doubt he'll be willing to help, and I don't think it's appropriate to ask him at all," Kuvira said, her commanding tone creeping back into her voice. "I fired at him and his children, Korra. No self-respecting parent would want to help someone who harmed..." She trailed off, her voice becoming confused and her words sounding thick.

Baatar put his arm around her, catching her hands in one of his own when she tried to shove him away. She rarely showed it, but the subject of parents had always been a difficult one for her. "I agree," he said, his voice neutral, "but I'll defer to your judgment if you really think it would help, Korra."

Understanding flickered across Korra's face. "Look, I know you feel bad about it, and you should. But it could be your only shot, because Raiko doesn't have to give Keisai what he needs. He made him wait months for an interview! He's probably been trying to get in on some of that legal documentation ever since I told him what the tribunal and Raiko were up to. Just let me do what I think is right."

"Why are you asking me for my approval?" Kuvira demanded, lifting her head from Baatar's shoulder and standing. "I owe you my life, and Baatar's; that's a debt I can never repay. You're the avatar. There's no one in the world more powerful, you can do whatever you wish-"

"Except that's not right," Korra said, also rising to her feet. "Being the most powerful bender in the world -or commander, or engineer- doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want and make everyone deal with it. You know part of the reason why I want to help? I see a lot of myself in you. And it terrifies me, because if I didn't have loving parents, and an incredible mentor in Tenzin, and Bolin and the kids, and Mako," she added, her eyes softening, "and of course Asami, I can't say I wouldn't have gone a similar route that you did." She smiled smugly. "But it would have been worse, because of the avatar state and all."

Kuvira was speechless. "I think…" She cleared her throat. "I think you're being a bit harsh on yourself, Avatar."

"She does have a similar manner of tying people to chairs," Baatar deadpanned, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "Of course with Korra, it was for an interrogation—"

Kuvira slapped him, her face red, and he laughed. "That was never a regular occurrence." She straightened, a picture of decorum. "I suppose it doesn't matter if I disapprove or not. I could say I don't trust your judgment, but then I wouldn't have trusted your judgment if you had told me you would save me from a spirit blast and risk ending the avatar cycle to do so a year ago." She inclined her head. "You will always have my utmost respect and gratitude, avatar."

"Hey, we're kind of even now," Korra said kindly. "You saved my dad, remember?" Baatar glanced at Korra as Kuvira's eyes focused on the ground, and he could have sworn the avatar winked at him. "I'm going to make sure you get a fair trial, and Hotah and Raiko will just have to deal with it."

"Korra, wait," Kuvira said as the avatar reached for the door. "Thank you."

"Still think I'm not relevant anymore?" Korra teased, and the door slammed shut behind her.

"Why is she so magnanimous towards me?" Kuvira grumbled. "I don't think I've ever felt more unworthy in my entire life-"

"I suppose I'm not doing my job well enough, then," Baatar said, encircling her in his arms. "See, even the most powerful world figure thinks you shouldn't accept whatever sentence they want to give you. Now will you listen to me? Stop worrying about something beyond your control. I know you hate being in this position, but can you just accept it?"

Kuvira sighed in exasperation. "No. But I'll pretend to."

"I'll take it," he said closing his eyes as she pushed him back down to the cot, helping however he could to make pretending easier for her, at least for a little while.


A/N: KORRA MY CHILD. Ugh, her little smirks MY BABYYYYY. I might not ship Korvira, but in a different life those two could have been friends. Legit think if Korra hadn't been poisoned, she would have happily accepted Kuvira's help in getting the country back on track. Also, LOL Baavira can't get a room even when they have a room. Give up, guys. Someone will always interrupt. You're doomed.