Aang hadn't had a drink in over three years. It wasn't a recovery thing, he just hadn't had the time as of late. Still, weighing a bottle of scotch in his hands that he had stashed in the family box twenty one years ago, he couldn't help the welt of pride that it had survived. Along with the two others, aged 17 and 19 respectively, nestled in the box of bison baby toys, water tribe family heirlooms, his foster father's prayer necklace and recipe for fruit pies.

His son was graduating top of his military class. While they had disagreed about Bumi going into the army at all, knowing it was everything his son wanted he was looking forward to supporting him. He'd dreamed of sharing this bottle for years, and Korra was too, decades after.

He tucked it into a grocery bag and jumped expecting to find Katara still fussing over her hair loopies in their bedroom. Her pashmina was an ocean blue that made her eyes shine. After so long, they looked at him in the way that still made his stomach do backflips. When he jumped there however, it dropped completely into his toes.

Her left eye was sporting a bruise that was blackening every second, she was grappling with a man who had smashed through the window. He acted without a word, jumping, flipping soles of his feet parallel with the ceiling, taking the man's head in his hands and flinging him into the armoire. He shrieked and stumbled, as Aang turned and hovered his hands over his wife, still barely clinging to the bagged up liquor bottle. Katara gingerly touched her bruises with a calculating hand, swelling just starting to form. She worried briefly that she wouldn't have enough time to cover this before Bumi's ceremony.

"Katara Sweet-" Her eyes widened as whatever glass had survived the first dive through was knocked out by a second assassin.

"Aang!" He whirled jumping forward only to be shocked back, the pain howled through him, more acute and crushing that anything he had ever experienced.

"Leuten!" the man in the armoire snapped, but it was too late.

He felt like his larynx was being crushed, on his back, more than winded he knew he only had seconds of consciousness. He grabbed Katara's ankle and jumped her far away.

Her knees hit sand and her hands barely caught her weight before she ended up with a face full of dirt. Aang's last conscious memory was the ocean lapping at his loafers.

"Katara I don't know what's happening."

His heart palpitated, and he broke into a seizure. If he had the mind he would have been devastated at the noises Katara was making. Words no doubt but he couldn't hear them over the fire, and the ocean, the earth and the wind. He had the rest of his life with her, he wanted the rest of his life with her. They were so close to his happy ending. He convulsed and twitched, cool hands breaking his visage as the love of his life leaned down and kissed him.

Miles away, a baby came into this world, screaming like her life depended on it.

Korra tugged her head back so fast she thwacked it in the box wall. Wincing she looked down at Asami, her entire body slick with sweat. She tried not to grunt or move too much, scrunching her eyes shut and trying to still her heart and slow her breathing. Echoes of those bruises still lingered on her chest and in her mind. Somehow clinging the heiress closer to her made them feel less real.

She adjusted one arm to brush the hair away from her fiancee's sleeping face.

Asami woke to her fingers smoothing the curve of her ear, and tense strong arm clutching her to her chest. She felt the ache in her bones that came coupled with a short and terrible nap.

"Korra?"

"Don't." As if to illustrate her point, her aversion to discussing what had her petrified to the core, she pressed her lips lightly to Asami's forehead. She stretched against Korra gratefully, it was the only part of their morning routine she could do. Hips arching pressing into her before she realised the effect she was having on her. Korra's pupils were blown, flushed to her neck but somehow she couldn't bring herself to move either way. Asami became more and more susceptible to Korra's deep stare, while her eyes were locked the blue of iris' danced and shifted breathtakingly.

Asami smiled at her expression, no matter how much time had passed she loved the intense effect she could have on her. She could feel Korra's stomach tensing against her own as she struggled and failed to level breathing. She was thrown back in that instant to her first time with Korra, her expression was almost exactly the same, brows even, mouth slightly open, tasting the pheromones mingling in the air between them. This was coupled with the sinking idea; knowing they shouldn't be doing this, in a box with whoever just outside. Still, looking down between them Korra's skin was glistening in the hard light. Her scars and bruises were begging to be kissed better. Hell it was inevitable.

Asami took her own cue, working her hands on her dark bare skin, between her shoulder blades. She plucked at the clasp biting her lip as she watched Korra's heavy lidded eyes shut and she aimed her mouth under the heiress' jaw. The cool of her betrothal necklace tapped against her chin and the band on the edge of her mouth. Kissing it then was as sweet as the first time she had tied it on the heiress, rest of their lives, filled her head like a mantra, however short that may be. The thought was equally thrilling and devastating. Korra let her muscle memory take charge, clicking into that primal place and moving her trained hands to unclip the buttons of the heiresses shirt.

She couldn't help but become so enthralled by the perfect skin underneath the silk and satin, tugging it, bunching it aside to cup and bite the pert nipples underneath. As she bit Asami squirmed with delight and barely bit back her sigh, Korra reacted and she felt a loss until she straddled her, using her thumb and index finger to ride through the remaining buttons as she squashed any more of the heiresses noises with her demanding mouth.

The only sounds she could hear now, she could taste on her tongue, Asami's sigh, her voice, thin, wrapped around an endless stream of soul and love reverberating deep into the Water Tribe girl's own. To strangers these would sound like whimpers, to Korra they were the crescendoes of her time on this Earth. As was the deft scrape of manicured nails scoring her patched shoulder blades. The tiny pop she could sense as she kissed, and felt her breathing shift from her throat to though her nose.

Enjoying the penetrating kiss and her own hair being free'd by Korra pulling and flicking her scrunchie onto her own wrist. Raven locks falling down her back Asami adjusted them again, shirt falling away as she flipped Korra into the corner beneath the unplugged camera. Straddling and tugging at the jeans below her clumsily. Korra's hands thumbed at her nipples while she gave her kisses that might bruise, her bites certainly did. Asami took her head with both hands, catching her gaze and urging her to share without words, breath catching through her smudged open lips as Korra's hand slipping into her slacks at this awkward angle. Her own free hand tangled in ebony locks she pulled her down to silence the oncoming whimpers and take them in her own mouth.

They folded into the next position, seamlessly, knowing what would work best as Korra pressed her warm body flush against Asami, who's back came against the box cool wall. She barely registered the moan that escaped her and Korra laughed against her lips.

"Shush." she urged, her engineer retaliating by turning her head and biting Korra's ear lobe, she yelped and pushed her tighter into the wall in a mismatched shocked reciprocation. Despite herself she bit at Asami's neck harder, her hands found the flesh at the back of her ribs and pinched it between her fingers. Korra angled her hips and found a steady rhythm. Her lips over her ear, red tipped, her warm voice sent a shiver down the heiress' spine that almost sent her over the edge.

"I love you so much I can't stand it."

"What?" She could barely get out the word before Korra pressed deeper and curled her fingers against just the right spot.

Asami had to worry her lip, hard, to keep from crying out as waves gripped her. She felt Korra steady her against the wall and carded her fingers through her short hair. She tried her best to decipher what she was hearing, and what Korra might have experienced to go from zero to sixty like this. Uncurling her toes, and softening her grip Asami leaned her forehead against Korra's as she held her, carrying her down from her high, just enough so that she could open her eyes, and see the tears in Korra's.

"I never want to lose you."

"Then don't." Asami twirled her fingers through her chocolate locks at the base of her skull, "You have more control than you know Korra, and I don't mean about just your decisions. Everything will be okay, because you can make it that way. That's why you're more special than anyone else."

"It's almost never me doing those things. Not until it's too late."

"But you always figure it out. And if you can't well, that's just change, and that's what it means to be human."

"And then I get reincarnated as somebody else?" Asami could hear in her voice what that meant to her, why she was afraid of it, not only did it mean death, but it meant their separation. She could go into the next life completely oblivious to the people she knew in the last one, the people she loved. They could go on living without her, and what was worse she would never see them again.

"Of course you will. Maybe I will too. But until then, we have this." She raised her palm and knotted their fingers between their heads. Korra's gaze switched between this connection, and the Engineer's eyes. "I love you Korra." It went without saying, but she said it anyway, because she loved the way the Officer's lips twitched into that smug smirk whenever she heard it.

Without warning her eyes began to glow, Asami tried to yank her hand free to hold Korra's face but her grin only widened as her hand clenched.

"Wait." her voice sounded dense, it reminded the heiress of when there were three Korra's, speaking in unison through glowing mouths, "I'm controlling this." The colours switched, from cold icy blue to a soft green, almost reflective of Asami's own pale green eyes. Pitching down she kissed her, lips soft and pliant, they seemed to shift and sweep at a pleasant unusual rate. Almost like fusion. The heiress' head swam and leaned back only to be surprised to no longer be sitting against the wall.

In fact they were standing, dancing more like, circling each other gently in the snow. She couldn't look down, because apparently in this memory she didn't, only it wasn't a memory at all. More like a premonition. Hozier was playing, and despite being in the centre of a dance floor no one else was close.

I will not ask you where you came from

I will not ask and neither should you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips

We should just kiss like real people do

Korra was looking down between them, almost bashful as emotion gripped her throat and left jewels shining in the corner of her eyes.

"You're going to smudge your make up." Asami's numb lips teased. Korra snickered as the heiress reached up and thumbed at the bleeding mascara with her white satin glove.

"You think it'll be a good enough excuse to go somewhere private." Korra's eyes flashed back up at her, shining teeth biting softly on her lower lip, fingers at her back dragging her nails lightly over the intricate netting. Asami loved the sound in all its complex subtlety, sending shivers in wing like shapes from her spine to her fingertips. Two hearts beating so hard in that moment they could almost have been four.

"I like your thinking but, I think we should stay at our own wedding a little bit longer. I'm pretty sure there's a cake I have to shove in your face here somewhere."

"Not if I get you first." Korra countered pushing up on her toes to kiss her wife.

Asami yanked her head back and hit the box wall, chest heaving and fingers clenching hard over Korra's arms, so tight and hard not only could they bruise but as she released she could swear scars were stretching back into their regular shapes. Korra's forehead kept her balanced against hers, panting just as hard, eyes still beaming.

"Again?"

"Again." Korra happily complied.

"Mom stop it you're so gross!" Asami barely felt the tugs and light shoves on her collar between them as Korra licked into her mouth. "You're crushing my head!" Katara crowed wiggling harder. Korra finally relented, bending down and blowing a raspberry on her daughters cheek, Asami mirrored from the other side and Katara broke out into squeals of uncontrollable laughter.

"You're no match for Satomom and CSI mommy!" Korra chuckled in her most evil sounding voice.

"No! Aha, I have back up now! Stop! I will be avenged!"

"Where'd you learn a word like avenged?" Asami pulled Katara more fully into her lap, almost too completely mesmerised by her to see that they were sitting in a hospital bed.

"Mom told me about Aang and his paladin codename Kuzon and how the mighty avatar took on the secret service oreozation, and how she avenged him years later by taking on-mmph" Korra slapped a hand over her daughters mouth.

"Ok-ay, that's enough sugar for you!" Her cheeks howled red as she dared look at her wife's narrowed accusing eyes. "There is only so many times I can read Oh The Places You'll Go before I snap Asami."

"Who cares that mom's in trouble - I want to see my brother now!"

"Yeah who cares about my inappropriate storytelling!" Korra wholeheartedly agreed, scooping her arms beneath Asami's arm and back at lightspeed, giving Asami perhaps two seconds to grip onto their four-year-old before teleporting into the next room.

They stood at the window looking in. Korra lifted Katara onto the sill, who promptly shoved her face against the glass and scanned the newborns for her new brother.

"He's so…squishy looking."

Korra slung her arm over Asami's shoulder and kissed her temple as they admired his admirer.

"He's beautiful," Korra told her, so soft it was almost silent. "Thank you."

"Spoilers." Asami gasped, pulling back, "No more. I want. I can't."

"It's okay." Korra breathed back, eyes dimming, hands stroking her fiancee's bare arms gently, a complete polar opposite to how Asami was holding her now, "Everything will be okay."

"Better than." she whispered, pushing her back. "You're amazing."

They fell right back into making love, the sun had set and stars lit up outside but the only change in the lighting of the box was when Korra's eyes began to glow occasionally. Asami could have sworn her scars and patches lit up too as she dragged her teeth down them. It was a heady tonic, turning the world's most powerful being prone and trembling under the engineers' hands. Drunk with lust and power, she climbed up her exhausted body, setting with her hips between her legs.

Korra was staring up at the ceiling with a far away look on her face as her breathing became less shuddery and more controlled. She was quiet for a long time, and Asami listened to her thick heart beat all the while before curiosity got the better of her.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Asami asked, dropping a kiss on Korra's lips as she watched her mind return to the present.

"I was just thinking about our first time,"

"Which one?"

"Your first, last year. Three days ago. The beta test." Asami chuckled fondly at the nickname, relishing in the short circuit that occurred when Korra cupped her hands behind her neck and drew soft lips down the line of her jaw.

"Was a good beta test," she combed appreciative fingers through her bob and kept her close, "really made me want to invest in a long term contract with the company, in the company, all over the company,"

"Mmn I love it when you talk shop." The heiress felt her hum gleefully into her throat, biting softly.

"I was actually really scared."

"I don't believe it."

"I was scared you weren't real." Her voice took that desperate ire that made Korra melt. She didn't say anything but wrapped her arms more strongly around her, she was there, tangled in limp loose clothing and pulled flush against her. "The you in my shower. The you that belonged to me. I had to prove it."

"I hate my own cosmic sense of timing you know that right?"

"I think we're both kind of terrible." The heiress bumped her knuckles gently over her collar bone, "I loved that you knew me, what I liked. It made it less nerve wracking, and… fucking amazing."

"Mm I could say the same. I love it when we do that. We were fucking and sleeping and it was just so…calm, I love it when we're calm like that."

"I love it when I wake up in bed and you're still there." Asami didn't mean it to come out as such a backhanded compliment. Korra smirked, briefly, sensing weakness in her voice Korra pulled her head back to catch her eyes. She could hear that she had been holding onto this since it happened, since she left her.

"I can't believe I made you cry like that."

"Technically it wasn't you. It was cosmic random proximity and very little you. I hope."

"I swore I was going to beat the snot out of whoever did that to you." Korra chuckled.

"You've still got time." Asami countered, "I just can't believe how easily you flashed me when you tried to wipe my face with your shirt."

"Nothing you hadn't kissed before." Asami let her fingers trace the scar on the back of Korra's neck, massaging the puckered silk strip as she bit her lip and blushed harder, "What?"

"I kind of…I wasn't thinking, and I missed you and I was tired and so I kind of kissed your neck while you were sleeping that night."

"Oh my god, you little stalker."

"Well you moaned my name in your sleep!"

"Oh snap I guess I used to dream of you a lot."

"Oh yeah?"

"Not like that." Asami cocked an eyebrow, "Ok a little like that. But mostly it was just this." she lifted the long fingers she had been playing with, "I get a lot of Deja Vu actually."

They flinched out of their reverie when by a muffled smacking on the box wall.

"Ugh, You guys?" Mako was shouting, it was weak and he sounded more confused and discombobulated than usual but he pressed on, "Korra's been asleep, I mean you guys have been in there six hours…I came out of my coma. Varrick put in all the passwords. We got some new files to look at if you want to join us…she's not answering Zhu Li!"

"Coming! We're totally coming!" Korra yelled, as Asami muffled her giggles under her hand. "Oh grow up Sato." Korra leaned up on her elbow and looked down on her, "Do you really want to stay on this hard floor?"

"It's fine, I already had my way with you." she joked disentangling and leafing through fabrics on the floor for her own clothes. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for picking a shirt with snap shut buttons. Soon enough she was indulging her habit of tying together Korra's shirt buttons for her, not before kissing the bruises and scars underneath.

The officer had her hands behind her head and was working her tangled locks into that adorable puffy pony tail. She caught Asami's almost hungry expression, she cocked an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You. Are. So. Fucking. Cute!" The engineer raised her hands to cup her face and bent her neck to kiss her, but before Korra could close her eyes to enjoy it - she was gone.

Dread filled her instantly, gripping and choking she could barely say her name. Not until at least, she heard her scream from outside the box.

She Jumped without thinking, whirling around the room full of strangers, until her eyes caught Asami Sato, face to face with the man in the mask.