"Hgnh." Korra choked as Asami tugged a little too harshly on the stiff button of her blouse. Her lips played between a grin and a pout as she curled her fingers around Asami's.

"Well you could save yourself the trouble of getting strangled if you did this yourself."

"Yeah but my hand is all weighed down by this big heavy ring on my finger," She thumbed at the jewel giving it an appreciative look down between them. She never imagined she'd ever be privy anything this beautiful, aside from Asami herself of course. The Water Tribe girl's grin won out pitching up she brought her lips parallel to her fiancée's, "and I like having you dress me, kinda reminds me of our first date." her expression softened, watching Asami blush and bite her lip, Korra saw one of her great ideas pooling amongst the jade. Her fingers lingering on the button she had just sealed shut as if she were contemplating popping it. She took a breath and yanked Korra's police cap over her head.

"Hey! You-" Korra ripped the hat from her head and used the same strong arm to scoop behind the heiress' back, peppering her cheek and neck with kisses.

"Korra! Stop you'll crumple your things!" her complaints gave way to her laughter, balancing herself and tracing her fingers along the taut hairline at the back of Korra's neck. She let her thumb tease the stub that her short hair could be tied into. Her breath skipped as her hard hands gripped onto Asami's lithe hips.

"You started it," Korra countered softly, half smile at its full power and cerulean eyes etched with lust. Asami gulped, feeling the silk necklace dance over her throat. The Rookie officer pressed

her onto her desk, lips skating over red and into alabaster, hand lifting her thigh around her waist as her teeth nipped below silk.

"Korra…" Asami began, partially as a warning, only it came out sounding like encouragement. Thats exactly how Korra took it, hands finding their way through silk and onto skin.

There was a reason this couldn't happen right now, Asami was sure of it, but this was shrinking with every second. The band snapped, she gave in and pulled Korra's mouth to hers.

That reason came knocking on the door and sent a judder through them both. Korra hopped back checking her uniform cheeks howling red while Asami clapped her hands over her mouth to keep back her laughter. The officer huffed as she took deep calming breaths and tucked in her shirt, unable to shirk her smirk. The knock came again, as did the voices of their friends floating through the wall.

"I'm just staying if we can teleport straight into their apartment why do we even bother with knocking?"

"Because it's rude bro, this is their home they could be doing…stuff,"

"Mako!" Opal chided, Asami snorted loudly. Korra fixed her hat and held out her hand which she took. She had a hand on the door handle when Asami turned her and ran a thumb over her lips.

"You've got some…"

"So?" She let her rub until she was content, "I love you."

"We can hear you!" Korra yanked the door to the three buffoons on the other side only to be buffeted by an immediate hug from Bolin.

"Congratulations Korra!"

"Bolin! Can't breathe!" She wheezed before he let her feet touch the squeaking floorboards again.

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"Oh you're such a puppy Bolin," Asami stepped forward to hug him too, lighter this time.

"I'm not a puppy." he grumbled, "I'll mess you up." he stepped back scratching the back of his head, bashfully until he froze, dark green eyes popping out of his head before clapping his big hand over his girlish shriek.

"What is it Lassie? Is Timmy stuck down the well?" Opal laughed, freezing too after she followed his gaze to the blue around Asami's neck.

The CEO touched the stone she had begun committing to memory two hours ago. Her free hand reached instinctively for Korra who took it without any eye contact.

"We're engaged." Asami bounced her eyes to all three of them before finding the will to speak, suddenly captured in a four way hug. With her free arm Korra grabbed Mako's cuff and pulled him into the group hug too.

"Okay now we're all hugging. I'm not ironing this suit again Bolin ease up." They unlatched, chuckling at Bolin slapped the back of Mako's cap to fall forward which he snatched back and flipped back in a second before flipping his brother the bird. Remembering where he was, he pocketed his hands and nodded towards the girls. "Congrats. Hum. Yeah. Well done. Nice that." he pointed to Asami's necklace and then down to Korra's ring, "That too."

"I didn't even see that!" Bolin squealed snatching Korra's hand a mooning hungrily over the jewel before waving it madly in front of Opal.

"Yeah I'm attached to that hand Bolin."

"So much emotion and I'm not even five foot in your apartment yet! I mean last week we thought you were dead and-" Korra flinched and Opal nudged him, Mako detective that he was decided to change the subject.

"Food? I was told there would be food."

"Asami won't let me see it." Korra chagrinned jokingly narrowing her eyes.

"And the engagement you have to tell us how you did it? And where!" Opal interjected.

"Ok we'll eat and talk, Korra's parents are coming soon and…we kind of have to give them a different story, for now…" Asami drew off, the weight of having all these new secrets suddenly standing on her chest. Korra's parents were teleporters, or at least one of them was, and Korra was one too, and her father had planned their daughter's death and was an enemy spy for a malevolent racist organisation hellbent on destroying her kind. And perhaps one of her kind had murdered Asami's mother, but she couldn't know that for sure because the video is still unwatched on her laptop.

Her breath skipped as she returned her attention to her reality. Celebration, engagement. specialised food. Collecting herself she lifted the lids off the palettes on the kitchen one by one.

"Thought I'd prepare you for your career in Law Enforcement!"

"Bagels, pizza and donuts?" Mako laughed.

"Marry me." Korra whispered.

"Taken." Asami chimed back accepting her grateful cheek kiss.

"Why couldn't the other's come?" she asked miraculously already halfway through a slice of meat feast.

"Jinora and Kai are still on a school trip and Varrick says, and I quote 'the law and I have never been simpatico' as I recall, something about gliding experiments and unpaid city damages. Lin could never make anything stick." He slapped a reassuring hand between Korra's shoulder blades, "Sorry kid."

"I'm one year younger than you Eyebrows"

"Who told you my-Bolin!"

"So how did you crazy kids get engaged?" Bolin let out a nervous laugh, sliding way over to the other side of the kitchen island from his brother giving Korra and Asami another puppy-dog pleading look. Korra shrugged with a mouthful of pizza, somehow still managing to smile and play with the heiress' fingers.

"You mean how did I agree to marry Miss Strong and Silent over here?" She grinned at Korra's blushing face and her free hand pulling her hat over her eyes.

Asami fished into her pocket and pulled out the post-it she'd carefully folded there, turning it in her hands before flipping it open for the others to see. She went on to describe her morning, watching Korra grow redder and redder.

"I feel like there should be more to this coffee shop huh?"

"Shut up Mako it's a beautiful story!" Bolin damn near blubbered.

"Actually there is." Asami spun her head, instinct telling her that this part should remain the secret she had been keeping for almost a year, and then she remembered, they were back on track. Korra had been the last to know about her own abilities. "When I travelled back in time for the first time, that's where I landed. Six months before we started dating, I kissed Asami without knowing how early I was…I was so scared and she took care of me like she usually does. Till I figured out what I was doing I came straight back here."

The heiress slipped her arm over her shoulder and pulled her against her side. Reaching for her right hand to run her thumb over Korra's ring.

"This was my mother's." News to Korra, she could think of nothing else other than to steal a chaste thankful kiss in front of their friends. Words just didn't seem like enough. Mako cleared his throat as they touched their foreheads affectionately together, Korra's hat tilting back and threatening to fall off.

"Speaking of Parents, what are we going to tell yours? Like what do they know about," he gestured to all of them, "this." Asami pursed her lips, not trusting herself to answer so she let Korra.

"They know we're together, not what I can do. Or that teleporters exist."

"Ooh when did you tell them? How? What's the coming out story?"

"Bolin!" Opal chided

"They took it well it's okay." Asami laughed.

"A little too well if you ask me." Korra grumbled reaching for another slice.

"I think it was cute."

"What woman? I'm on the edge of my seat!"

"We took them out to dinner, nothing strange I get invited me to lots of family functions before so they couldn't have suspected anything. We'd just ordered drinks when Korra grabbed my hand and squeezed like hell and she got that look on her face…the one where she's preparing to jump into an abyss."

"I was worried okay?"

"We are familiar with that look," Mako mused. Korra pouted.

"I said 'Mom, Dad there's something Asami and I need to tell you,' I put our hands on the table and then I said-"

"AsamiandIaredatingandmeantforeachotherandtotallyinlove!"

"Asami!"

"You blurted it out! If they weren't used to you I can imagine they would have called an exorcist."

"What did they do?"

"Oh God," Korra sighed, rubbing the back of her neck habitually, yet she was unable to stop the proud smirk pulling on her lips, "My dad handed my mom a twenty."

"They bet you were dating? That's excellent!"

"They bet that we would tell them then, apparently it's a bet they've been making for years."

"Senna beats Tonraq 90 times out of 100."

"What can I say? It's a mother's intuition," They whirled to spot Korra's mother hanging her coat on the hat rack and Tonraq closing the door behind them.

"You really have to get someone to look at that," the tall man in the low ceilinged apartment commented as he forcibly clicked the door shut.

"Hello to you too." Korra smiled marching over to her parents and being caught in her third crushing hug of the day. Asami kept her back to them for the moment, running her thumbs over the note in her and and briefly kissing her fingers to the pendant for good luck before turning, hoping desperately to keep the guilt from her face. She turned and the Water Tribe members in the room seized in combined shock and anticipation from the sigil around the heiress' neck. Korra didn't say anything, she stepped around to get a better view.

Tonraq rolled his eyes, fished his hand into his pocket and slapped twenty yuan into his wife's open hand.

"Oh come on Mom!"

Pocketing the cash Senna proceeded with her gushing and embracing Asami into the family, all the while Opal, Bolin and Mako were hooting with laughter from the kitchenette.

XXX

They made a show of driving to the ceremony, piling into the back of Asami's Satomobiles Mako and Bolin tried desperately to not look uncomfortable in a vehicle neither of them had sat in for over a year.

Senna sat in front with Asami, prying as many details out of her future daughter in law as she could about the proposal. Asami kept getting distracted however, her eyes catching Korra pressed against her father's giant side, Tonraq was smirking down at her, when he put his arm over her shoulders she didn't shrug away.

If she didn't have to keep watching the road she could have sworn those blue eyes were glittering with tears. Korra felt acceptance in such incapacitating waves she had no choice but to rest her cheek on her father's shoulder and enjoy the moment while she still had it.

Asami thought about how much she loved this family. Her family.

Korra was sat with the other recruits, Asami could hardly recognise her if not for the scar the creeped up above her collar the back of her neck. Senna took the handkerchief that she offered gratefully, as well as the hand that she didn't.

"I'm a mess," she whispered shaking her head.

"Five yuan says she trips up the stairs." Asami whispered back and Senna laughed, squeezing the heiress' fingers.

"You'll do just fine here." Asami smiled at her nervously, an act that became more genuine each moment that Senna's bright blue eyes smiled up at her, "You're on."

Asami hadn't realised how much the police officers of the Republic City Police Force could drink until the veterans of the force were breaking in the rookies that evening. Mako alongside the other captains made a special effort to let them know that one particular cadet had just gotten engaged. Asami smiled as she listened to her fiancee drawl that as a Water Tribe gal she could hold her liquor better than any city slicker here, this was of course before she sat beside Mako to tell him something new and interesting about his eyebrows, but spent a good two minutes trying to put her seat belt on from her bar stool.

Perhaps it was the three glasses of wine, but despite herself, Asami felt her mask slipping. This was disconcerting to the heiress, being that her own tastes in alcoholic beverages could have her drinking scotch old enough to buy its own scotch without breaking into a sweat. She watched Korra undo her shirt buttons, the first thing her eyes spotted were those puckered pale scars that littered her collar bone and the guilt flittered up from her heart into her eyes. She snatched a gaze away, landing on Senna's without thinking.

"I just need some air." She breathed, twisting and rushing out of the front entrance to the pub. The tears began to flow, her long fingers catching them before anyone she knew would see. The cold air helped sober her, but she was thrown off complete recovery by Senna's soft voice.

"Asami what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Senna it's nothing. It was just…hot in there."

"Honey," Asami closed her eyes and listened to the glory of something she hadn't heard for near ten years, that motherly concern. That ardent unconditional caring, it broke her and she sobbed into her hand. "You know you can tell us anything." Asami felt Korra's mother wrap her arms around her, "Tonraq and I will always be there for you Asami, you've been through so much. Say whatever you need to and I promise I'll understand."

Asami choked out a sob and gripped Senna's jacket.

"I can't."

"You don't have to sweetie. Just between us."

"I know what you are. You and Tonraq." The heiress' heart seized as she felt Senna tense, "I know what Korra is, and I'm her Familiar too." She pulled away, looking her in the eyes and taking a step back. "My father he planned…"

"We know."

"You know? You know what he did to Korra."

"It happened all at once." Senna admitted, "We tried to get her out of harms way but your father was one step ahead of us, even after we had him in custody."

Asami took stock of their position, Senna was still holding her arms, she hadn't shied away from her touch, she hadn't even started screaming.

"Why did you trust me?" The CEO felt a warm hand on her cheek.

"I knew you were in love with Korra when I saw you with her that day."

The chaos of that painful day was a minute by minute log that Asami couldn't erase from her mind even if she tried. No one could get in touch with Korra's parents.

Every breath was a sob waiting to happen, all the time Korra was in the O.R. Asami had been holding it. All she could think was I can't lose her too. She paced the letters into the waiting room floor for the hours she was there. A doctor emerged, plucking gloves from fingers and searching the room for Senna or Tonraq.

"Is she okay? Can I see her."

"She's stable, anything else I can only share with fami-"

"Don't you dare say family. My family has donated six wings to this hospital and more equipment than went in the Hubble telescope. Or does the Sato name mean nothing inscribed on the board of directors plaque in the reception of this hospital!" Asami was finding she had quite a knack for screaming at people through blinding tears "Korra is my person. She's the only person I have left and I am the only person here for her. I need to be there for her right now so you tell me everything you have on that chart and let me in that room or so help me God I know how to break your spine in enough places it would be possible for you to actually go fuck yourself!"

The Doctor evaluated his choices for a second and spent the rest of the silence working his lips around words in front of this terrifying and vulnerable girl.

The balance tipped towards the latter when she stepped inside that room, she barely made it to the bedside as she hovered her hand considering where it was acceptable to touch without her completely shattering. Laid on her side, bangs covering her eyes, Asami thought she looked like she was 90% bandage. She kneeled on the bedside chair, hovering her fingers over fresh stitches she felt it was best to just slip her fingers through her chocolate locks, stroking aimlessly, unable to form strong enough sentences that she wanted Korra to hear. She listened to the steady reassuring peep of the heart rate monitor.

Asami didn't hear Senna appear behind her, the mother crushed her urge to rip the spawn of Sato away from her daughter until she waited, and she listened. Asami's lips were almost touching Korra's forehead now, and her hand stroking soothingly over her ear and refusing to stop.

"…And you pushed that kid down into that hole and made him sit there while we built that sandcastle around his head…We haven't made a castle in so long I bet you've gotten sloppy…That's the only thing I want you to worry about, I can hire a tutor to cover your classes and they'll be so smart you can come back and make Mr Goldfarb look like a total idiot when you're all okay. Please be okay Korra, I need you to be okay."

Back in the present Senna rubbed her hands up Asami's arms to bring her out of her own head.

"You've been a part of this family since you were eight years old. It doesn't matter that you met us under a ruse or a scandal, every moment you've ever spent with us has been genuine."

"If I'd have paid attention I could have caught him. I could have saved her so much pain."

"She's okay now. It would have been so much worse if you weren't there to guide her. If there is anyone who deserves her; it's you Asami."

Asami pawed the hair out of her eyes and wiped the mascara from her cheeks. She had one last question eating her, and while she felt relief knowing that when she tells Korra about her father she has Senna to support her, it would kill her not to ask it. She accepted her hug gratefully, calming her breathing and holding onto the only mother figure she had left. When she let go she looked down, scared, suddenly feeling small.

"Do you know what happened to my mother?"