A/N Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows. It means so much to see people enjoying this story.

Chapter 3 - Korra

I rushed. I rushed before I realized why I was rushing. All week it happened. I was wiping the counters a little too impatiently, putting the dishes in the washer without caring if they clashed together on the rinse cycle. I was paranoid someone was going to notice but no one did. If they did they didn't say anything. It was the end of the week and it had taken me too long to get all the leftover food prepared and ready for Bolin to take to the shelter. It was usually my favorite job and now it had been pushed to second place. I took the steps two at a time wondering if she had already left. I tried in vain to catch my breath as I turn the corner into the hallway.

I must have some luck today because I wasn't the only one who was late. Well, I wasn't really late because I was finished work and didn't really have anywhere else to be other than bed. Yet, it felt like I had to be here. Like my day couldn't find its end until I had seen her face again.

She stood at her doorstep, hunched slightly over the door locking it tight and turning the handle three times to check. Three, that seemed to be her number. The number of times she checks the door. The number of times she said my name. Some people say good things come in threes but some also say bad things come in threes. I wonder which one she will be. She must have heard my ragged breath or smelled the stench of desperation that seemed to follow me recently.

"Good morning," I spoke from a little too far. Even my speech had gotten impatient.

For the first time she seemed tired. The smile wasn't right. Something was off. The folder she carried was overflowing with scraps of paper poking out each side. Every morning the folder seemed to vary in thickness, physical proof that everyday didn't weigh the same.

"Mornin," she sighed.

Maybe to anyone else she would look fine but I knew different. She wore a coat that was too heavy for the summer. She wore it like a protective skin. I hadn't seen it before: a sturdy looking black thing with black fur on the collar and her hair was stuck in the back between the coat and her body.

"Are you feeling okay?" Maybe she wasn't quite over that flu.

"Yeah, I'm good." She locked the door, putting her keys in her purse.

The hallway was quiet and lies seemed to reverberate more than truths. She shuffled past me quickly before I could think.

"Have you had breakfast?" I called.

She seemed to freeze for a moment before turning around. I held up the brown paper bag that was my own breakfast but it felt like she needed it more. Her eyes linked to the bag and she seemed to understand.

"Uh… I can't take your food but thanks for the offer," she replied politely.

I moved closer, holding it out at arm's length. "Come on. I do this for my friends all the time." She seemed to waver slightly. "You can't get by on coffee alone." Yet her coffee seemed to be missing this morning. Sometimes I could tell she had been in the hall just by the lingering smell of a heavy black roast.

"I don't usually eat breakfast," she professed, as if it were a secret.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Also one of my favorites. "Right, I'm not taking no for an answer."

I stood straight, trying to seem a little taller. Asami still towered at least half a head over me and I thrust the bag forward towards her free hand.

"What is it?" She questioned tentatively taking it. Maybe in a move to get rid of me quicker.

"Feel free to throw it in the trash if you want to. No hard feelings, but it is one of my specialties and you'll have to try it to find out." I grinned, glad to have won some small battle.

"Are you always this pushy with your neighbors?" She questioned, taking the effort to smirk.

I was being too pushy. It was too obvious. Stupid Korra, gonna scare her off. "Uh…" I looked for an escape, feeling the heat climb into my face under her gaze. "Just the ones I pass at six am." I was acutely aware of my empty hands, hanging heavy and lifeless against my frame. I ran a hand through my short hair, letting it rest on my neck.

Perhaps it was the morning waning on her ability to fight me. In a matter as meaningless as breakfast but I felt like she perked up.

"Thank you." She returned the smile.

She grasped tightly on the bag, her knuckles turning a shade whiter.

"If you like it there's more where that came from."

She left without another word and I could hear the sound of her fading footsteps all the way to my door. I was hopeful that she wouldn't throw it in the trash as soon as she got out the door. That she would take it to her office or wherever she worked and she would open it and be reminded of me. That in that one moment her only thought would be me. Perhaps it was selfish of me to want to be thought of like that by someone I hardly knew. She was probably really important and had a thousand things on her mind but they were my thoughts, so I allowed myself to be selfish.

A/N Thanks for reading.