"Oh... oh man, Suki... I'm... really, really, I'm so sorry."

"Eh, it could be worse. Not, you know, a lot, but..." Suki tried to laugh, but the situation was a little bit grim. The schooner had been fine as long as the seas had been relatively smooth and they kept some distance between themselves and the shore, but between the storm and the rocks, it didn't stand a chance; it had been knocked to pieces. The two of them had strapped what they could to their backs, and hoped for the best. They were granted a piece of schooner that took them to some kind of shore, and they then concentrated on not freezing to death. It seemed like ages before there was enough light to evaluate their situation.

Near as Sokka could tell, they were on one of the islands neighboring the Southern Air Temple.

"This isn't good, Suki. There's no one here."

"That's fine. More for us, right?" Suki couldn't bear to see Sokka hopeless. "You're not going to give up on me now, right?" She found herself able to smile, for him.

"But no one even knows we left, not for sure. The chances of being discovered..."

"...Are at least a little better than you think. I worried what Katara might do if I didn't leave a note, so I told her where we were going. If she knows us at all, she sent help the minute she read it." That got a weak smile out of him. "Now come on. Air Nomads ate, right? And Momo survived here on his own, and you've seen what he can put away."

"But we're nowhere near the temple. And it should only be accessible by airbending."

"All the better. Momo hasn't gotten to this stuff yet." It was getting easier to put on a brave face. The happiness that they were still alive against the odds was taking over. "We managed to save some of our food and supplies, and we have each other. It's very nearly a perfect vacation. In fact, sleeping bag guy, I'd almost think you planned all this."

"Suki..." It was getting useless to fight her. "Come on, I'm pretty good at thinking up ridiculous things, but I'm not that good."

Suki kissed him. "Sure you are."

It wasn't long before they were back to racing each other up cliffs, though the island was showing few signs of doing them any nourishment-related favors time soon. Regardless of whether they were going to survive this, they had both just decided that being miserable about it was a bit pointless. They made games out of everything, playing at survival. It was becoming increasingly clear their resources were not going to last, but that was no reason to be depressed. The important thing was to be the first one to discover another source of berries or collect the most firewood.

Holding each other close, to "survive the night," Sokka took one of those breaths that meant they were going to be having one of those talks.

"Suki," he hadn't thought past that part, and it took him a few seconds to continue. "About Yue."

"Relax, Sokka. If we die and run across her in the spirit world, I'll say you and I are just friends."

"What? No... that's not..." He tried to gather himself again. "You're... amazing." The word wasn't enough. Sokka wanted to find some way of saying that he loved who she was, who he was when he was with her, that they were equals. He wanted to spend every day with her, forever, and he was so grateful for every day they'd had. So he added, "Really amazing."

Suki smiled in that incredible, knowing way that meant to Sokka she understood everything. "You're not breaking up with me, are you?"

"Never." They treasured the moment in an utterly comprehending silence until Sokka felt compelled to continue. "You're so different from her."

Suki had tried to be jealous of Yue, during that first awkward talk where Sokka explained things, but the truth was, she'd found Sokka kind of charmingly improved since the first time she'd met him. It gave a sort of haunted past facet to his personality that she found a little irresistible and made her appreciate all the more the way she could make him grin like an idiot by simply showing up. Frankly, she sort of owed the girl. That didn't have to mean she was going to let a chance like this slip by. "Really? Is that supposed to be flattering? Let's see, what do I know... Is it that she was gorgeous and selfless and kind? An amazing kisser?"

"And engaged. And tragic. And... yeah, she was all those things too, but so are you. So's my sister, even!"

Suki looked at him strangely.

"What... Aang... I talked to... the other things though!" Sokka tried to focus. "The point is, you... race me up trees. You come with me on totally stupid adventures that get us shipwrecked in kind of terrible places. You help me take on war balloons. We're a team. And I love that. I love... you." He said it a sort of hesitating way that suggested he was a little afraid Suki would make him sleep in the cold again.

Suki grinned that idiot grin they both sort of saved for each other, and Sokka mirrored it. "Likewise. Now, are we just saying this now because we're pretty sure we're gonna die?"

"Maybe a little? But I'm not taking it back if we get out of this alive."

"Good. I wasn't going to let you."

"Are... you actually going to say it to me? I mean, I actually said the words, and not to be picky, but..."

"I love you, Sokka."

The next morning was the first where starvation was starting to feel a little more imminent than usual, so they decided to ignore it and make plans for their homecoming.

"Okay, next time? None of this secret stuff. I'm going to talk to people and get us some reliable transportation that we can operate. I'll help invent it if I have to." Sokka was already sketching ideas in the dirt... or just scribbling; it was difficult to say for sure either way.

"I think I'll study up and pick somewhere warm and full of food for next time."

"Nuh-uh. You got to pick this one! I wanna pick next time."

"But you did! That's why we're here, remember?"

"We never made it to the South Pole, so it doesn't count."

"Okay, fine, as long as it's full of food." They shared one of those idiot grin moments, now that they knew what they were really saying, before Sokka squinted into the horizon.

"Is that Appa?"

"Are we at hallucinations already? I would've thought we had more time."

"Would you look? I think that's Appa. Throw some more wood on the fire."

And just that simply, their rescuers were bearing down on them.