Zuko watched as Katara slept curled up next to him. The strap on her nightgown had slipped down her shoulder, and her hair was loose about her pillow. He pulled away a few strands of hair that stuck to her lips. She deserved the rest. Outside their door, he could hear three little giggling voices, and Zuko realized that yes, everything had been worth it. Late nights, getting beat up, staring at gruesome photos, meeting with Mai, letting his uncle rage at him, getting that free pass to do what needed to be done.
It was all worth it.
"You know," Katara said sleepily, her eyes still closed, "it's very creepy when you do that."
Zuko chuckled. "I like watching you sleep."
He kissed her forehead as three tiny knocks came at the door.
"Mommy, are you awake?" Ira whispered loudly.
"Stay in bed," Zuko said to her. "I'll take care of the kids."
The past two weeks had been a flurry of activity at the office. Once the hate had coiled tightly enough, it was a pretty routine process to investigate Smiling Aang for tax fraud. All properties he owned were a matter of public record. To go through the properties and calculate the tax, check records—that was relatively simple. Getting around the red tape, however, that would be the real work. They'd find out for sure just how deep Aang's influence ran. So far, the red tape had been easy enough to cut, and they'd managed to find out Aang owned $2,000 in back taxes on a total of three properties. But they weren't done yet. Zuko wanted that number to go as high as possible. He wanted that number to be so high that you could purchase the city of Chicago with it.
Swinging his legs over the bed, Zuko shuffled to the door. The children were waiting for him, large eyes and smiling faces staring up into their father's face.
"Come on, kids," Zuko said, closing the door behind him and ushering them down the hall. "Let's let mom get a little more sleep. I'll cook you breakfast today."
"Dad!" Kurzu whined, rolling himself against the wall.
"Hey, what did you think I did before I met your mother?"
"Gramma Ursa says you ate at restaurants a lot," Khan offered.
"I'll let you put sugar in your cereal."
The children laughed and raced to the kitchen, Zuko following close behind. Now that there was a serious plan and some stability in the office despite its hectic look, Zuko wasn't working so early and staying so late. It was amazing all the little things you missed when you were home for a few extra hours. Like the sight of his wife sleeping, or that the children were her alarm. He hadn't known that each place at the breakfast table was carefully negotiated each morning, or that Ira was certainly in charge of the others. Somehow, she managed to know everything that was going on, and was prone to reciting this with surprising accuracy.
Zuko had always known Khan was the more laid back of the three, but in his bright blue eyes, there was a cunningness that reminded Zuko of Sokka. For better or worse, Zuko hadn't decided yet. Kuruk didn't even notice that Khan was eating from both their bowls of cereal as he compared little circles and marshmallows. A bit of shame kicked him in the gut. This wasn't something the mob was taking away from him; it was something he'd turned his own back on in his blind pursuit for justice. The children hardly missed their mother; they got to see her every morning. They missed their father. It was something Zuko had denied them.
It was a bitter reminder of his own childhood. Aside from the fear and the dread, his father was a mystery to him. Even though that had been a saving grace for him, Zuko didn't want that for his own children. He wanted them to be loved and cared for. He wanted them to know he would always be there to love and protect them. When Katara came downstairs, her blue robe tied firmly around her waist, Zuko knew he could never give this up for the greater good.
No matter how selfish it might be.
.O.
"So, we go for Smiling Aang, put him away, and then who's next?"
Xin Fu stood in front of a map of the Chicagoland area—the city and its neighboring suburbs, extending even into Indiana a bit—in the room provided for Operation Soap Bubbles. The map had been divided up into four territories. In red was The Governor's area, in yellow, Smiling Aang's. Black was used to code the dead space that The Moustache's territory would become. It sat between Smiling Aang and The Governor, though clearly closer to The Governor's red. That would be why Mai said her father had more of a claim to the area than Aang. There was a gap between Aang and Haru that was left white: unclaimed for now, though Aang was reportedly looking to push in, instigating this whole conflict in the first place. Further to the north were the Bei Fongs in green. Here, the gap was larger than anywhere else. Though Aang's territory was closest to the Bei Fongs, there was still no reason for them to get involved.
Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "We've already got Haru out of the way. Now we're focusing on Aang. The longer we can put him away the better, because I assure you, The Governor will go after him the moment he steps out of jail. We don't want a full-fledged mob war."
Zuko looked at the map. Honestly, it was a collective effort by nearly every detective in The Pit. Boundaries had been derived from information gathered over the years from various sources—witness statements in other, unrelated crimes, the criminal element, a few 'underground' resources—and while it was likely far from accurate, it was the best they could do. It gave them a decent picture to go on.
"Sir! I just got word that two distilleries were found in properties belonging to Gyatso," FBI agent Shin yelled, barging into the room.
Idle chatter stopped as everyone gave Shin their undivided attention. The middle-aged man shuffled papers in his hands as he walked to their map. A few pushpins had been used to designate important buildings; for the moment, white pins indicated the houses of the gang leaders, and blue pins indicated buildings belonging to Smiling Aang. But no one had considered anything belonging to Gyatso, Aang's elderly father. They weren't even sure he was still active. Nothing had been heard from the man in years. They'd all assumed he went quietly into retirement, handing everything over to Aang.
"Are you serious?" one of the other detectives asked. "The guy's what? Ninety-five? Are we going to throw that old man in prison?"
Shin waved this away. When he found what he was looking for in his papers, he began tracing streets on the map in the blue colored area, and when he found the proper address, he gave a satisfied laugh, marking the place with a red push pin.
"Here," Shin said, pointing, "is the first distillery. Right along the lakefront in neutral territory, but close to the Bei Fongs. He's shipping in booze on Lake Michigan. Got to be getting it from Canada, the fuckers—"
"Language," Xin Fu warned, wrinkling his nose.
"Right. So, we know there's a casino in Aang's name just a few miles from this first distillery, and we can safely assume that his father's supplying the place with hootch. We can send in some officers, do a raid, find out just what he's got stocked up there. Arrest them."
"Arrest an old man?" that concerned detective asked.
Zuko laughed bitterly. He couldn't believe it. Two weeks they'd been planning this thing, versus the months Zuko had been fighting this war on his own. Two weeks, and the breaks start coming left and right.
"What kind of source do you have?" Zuko looked at Shin, still unbelieving.
"Get this. A dirty cop in the central precinct? Well, his wife finds out where he's been getting this extra money from, and she threatens to divorce him and take the kids back to her mother's. Guy gets all weepy, says she's the love of his life and he's doing it for her."
A few chuckles went up, two of Zuko's detective acting out the scene in melodramatic gestures. The one playing the wife mimed slapping the husband. His take on the situation was a little different. Not quite something to be laughed about. Shame kicked him in the shin this time. He wasn't sure Katara would threaten divorce if she ever found out about his meeting with Mai, but she would definitely want time away from him. Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't regret meeting with Mai, but he could potentially regret what could happen because of it.
"Anyway," Shin continued, "Guy says he'll come clean. Offers up documents. Documents, fellas, we got a copy of the deed and everything."
"Why does he have a copy of the deed?" Zuko asked, his suspicious voice cutting through the cheering.
"Well…" Shin shrugged. "Can't say that I know. I figured he stole it. The guy's a dirty cop."
"He'd be a dead cop." Xin Fu quickly cought onto Zuko's meaning. "Sharp eye, kid," he said, turning to Zuko.
"You're not so slow either, old badger. But the way I see it, this cop's got some connections in property, clerk's office, or something where he'd have access to make a copy or it wasn't a cop at all. It was either The Governor or The Mustache. If the Bei Fongs and Aang can hook up, why not those two?"
The room went silent, all mirth draining out. Shin sighed, rolling up the papers and stuffing them in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Zuko tried to tease out potential outcomes. The story being true was the most straightforward. The cop had a change of heart, deciding his family was more important than money, and wanted to change his ways. They should still investigate the cop, just to be on the safe side, make sure he wasn't being put up to it by anyone else. If there was another unholy alliance forming in the city… Well, Haru would be in jail soon enough, and his men might get absorbed by The Governor. They'd get low ranking positions because Zuko couldn't see such a careful man allowing people who'd so recently been his enemies close to his person.
Zuko wasn't sure how he felt about the middle option, though. Whomever Gyatso bought the property from, could, of course, be innocent. Money had a way of opening all doors, and from pictures he'd seen of Gyatso, he cut a striking, trustworthy figure, even in his later years. But why would the cop be involved in that? A relative, perhaps, or an old friend? In that case, things could have been done under the table, and the original landowner could go down, too. At the least, they'd take a hit to their reputation. But if it was an underhanded dealing, why would there be a paper trail that so easily led back to Gyatso?
"Let's try to clear out one of those options right now," Xin Fu said. "Shin, do you have a name for this officer?"
Shin shuffled and cleared his throat. "Smith, sir."
Several curses rolled through the room as detectives and FBI agents began gathering papers and making themselves more comfortable. They would be in this for the long haul.
"Did you pick up the documents in person?" Xin Fu asked, moving to take a seat.
Zuko watched Shin's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed thickly. With shaking hands, Shin dug out his handkerchief and wiped at the sweat along his brow.
"Well, sir, Agent Gow only phoned me from the boarding house. Said a kid—"
"Did you just pull these guys out of the Academy and slap a badge on them?" Zuko asked irately, turning to Xin Fu. "We're potentially prosecuting one of the biggest cases this nation has seen and you send me…damned amateurs? Do you want this city to fall?"
Xin Fu held up his hand, but it did little to quell Zuko's anger. Pacing, Zuko let his mind run free, try desperately to find ways that this wasn't a setup. Turning over a new leaf did not include letting a kid run papers for you. That just reeked of shady dealings. Zuko stopped and regarded Shin again. That an FBI agent could let something so big, so important, slip by without comment… Zuko closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He would not become paranoid. He would not start to suspect everyone around him. It was an oversight from a junior officer.
"You and Gow will be assigned to the office," Zuko said, addressing Shin. "I'll have other members of this team investigate your 'Officer Smith,' and this kid. You and Gow will both be interviewed—"
"Sir, it was an honest mistake—"
"In the meantime," Zuko said, standing and grabbing his jacket, "We will look into Gyatso. He could be an important link in this case. I won't throw out the idea that this tip could put us on the right track just because you're incompetent."
Ugh, I'm trying to end this thing. I really am. It was supposed to be a short fic, but I'm having quite a bit of fun with it. I've got an Azula one shot in this 'verse, but I'm not too sure about it :/ We'll see. In any event, I'm trying to wind things down, here. Certainly not intending to go over 10 chapters. We'll see how well that goes, too.