Asami sat in a little office located one floor, below her father's room. She tapped her fingers against the arm rest, her eyes darting around the room. Books on holistic healing, and natural medicines lined one shelf, while thick volumes of medical textbooks lined another. She took in the arrangement of pictures, the smiling faces, the beautiful scenery. She jumped at the sound of the door opening, turning to see a dark-skinned woman with long silver hair, and light blue eyes smiling at her.

"Hello Ms. Sato. Sorry to keep you waiting." She extended her hand, giving Asami's a gentle squeeze in greeting. "I'm Kya, I'm your father's physical therapist."

"Please call me Asami."

Kya nodded and eased herself into her chair behind her desk. "I was helping your father recover from his initial stroke and I wanted to discuss some treatment plans with you. Is now a good time to do that?"

Asami nodded and leaned forward in her seat, her nervousness from earlier gone, replaced now with studious concentration.

"First let me start by asking, what do you plan on doing with your father once he's released?" Kya smiled and flipped a file in front of her open, pen poised over the paper.

"I'm going to take him home."

"His home or yours?"

"His. Ms. Street made arrangement to have his house cleaned up, its back to livable conditions." Asami couldn't believe the work the company had done in just a few days; the house was spotless.

"Will you be staying with him, or hiring a service to take care of him?" Kya waited patiently for Asami's answer.

"I can't stay with him, I need to get back to work. I could hire someone to check in on him from time to time."

Kya shook her head as she set her pen down and leaned forward on her elbows. "Asami, your father needs someone with him twenty-four seven. I know you've been made aware of the fact that your father's brain is deteriorating."

"Yes, but no one has taken the time to explain that to me." Asami picked at the hem of her shirt. "I'm a fairly intelligent woman, but I'm not sure what you mean by deteriorating."

Kya smiled politely. "We both know you are far more than fairly intelligent, but I understand what you're getting at." She pulled two papers from the file on her desk, and set them side by side to reveal a comparison photo. "This picture is your father's brain after his first stroke." She pointed to the picture on the left. "The white or light gray areas indicate normal functions. As you can see, perfectly healthy, even after the first stroke. Now, here," she pointed to the second picture, two dark spots, each the size of a dime grabbed Asami's attention. "These are the areas that are deteriorating, meaning the neurons are dying."

Kya pointed to the areas again. "Before you ask, no we can't treat it. It's like a diseased area, if we could remove it, it'd stop the spread. Unfortunately, we can't do that. This will spread."

Asami nodded in understanding, her eyes darting back and forth between the two pictures. "What does this mean for my father?"

"It means as it progresses he's going to start forgetting, unlearning things. It most usually starts with words; some people can't think of the word brush when shown a picture of one. Others will see a brush and say another word instead. He'll forget how to tie his shoes, work a phone, things he's done every day, for years. In some cases, one might forget how to feed themselves but retain the information to play a complicated piece on the piano." Kya watched the war of emotion play across Asami's face. "There's things to help, exercises mentally and physically, but he needs the right care."

"What do you suggest?" Asami met her gaze, her own almost pleading for an answer.

Kya considered for a moment, opened a drawer and withdrew a few pamphlets. "You could consider these. I rotate my time between these three, so I know the staff, he'll be in good hands."

Asami skimmed the pages for the nursing homes. "Is there one you would recommend over the other?"

"No, all three have skilled nursing staff on hand. These three are always in the top, they jostle back and forth in their ranking, but they're always the top three."

Asami nodded as she skimmed through the pamphlets. "May I keep these?"

"Oh of course. Take your time. This isn't a decision made over night." Kya smiled warmly at her and then handed her a business card. "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call."

Asami placed the pamphlets and card in her handbag. "Thank you, I really appreciate this." After a few brief parting words, she left. She had much to think about, to consider, and as she climbed into the back of the cab she had the intention of going back to the hotel to mull this all over. Yet, when she pulled the pamphlets out again, she felt the sudden urge for a strong drink.

The cab dropped her off in front of Narook's Sports Bar. She imagined there were other places in town one could go to for a drink, but she supposed Narook's would serve her best. She took a seat in a small corner booth, a waitress appearing beside her table as soon as she sat down. Asami placed an order for a, "whiskey, neat." As she waited for the drink to arrive she fanned the pamphlets out in front of her.

She sipped thoughtfully at her first drink of the evening and considered the pros and cons of Shadyvale Housing. Her father would have access to a state of the art rehabilitation center to help him recover from his strokes. His food would be provided to him based on a nutritional analysis of his current diet and a physical. And, according to the little section written on the back in fine print, Shadyvale only accepted visitors twos days a week. She frowned as she reread that little passage.

She didn't like the idea of being told she could only visit her father during certain times. It made her wonder just what took place at Shadyvale outside of those visiting hours. She pushed her glass to the end of the table, her fingers wrapping around the refill the waitress had just set down. She sipped at it as she considered the next pamphlet, finding it was just as pretentious as the first.

Her father didn't need access to an Olympic sized swimming pool to get better. He didn't a "specialized team of nurses and doctors contracted solely" for his personalized care. He certainly didn't need to have the option of taking a special monthly trip to the casino a few towns over. He needed someone to help him, that was a given, but he didn't need all these bells and whistles.

She drained her glass and tossed the pamphlets aside. She wondered how many people signed their parents up for Shadyvale and never went to visit. How easy would that be? To hand her father over for someone else to worry about, it made her stomach turn. She'd just gotten him back, just managed to feel like she could have a relationship with him. Yet, here were all these options that would make it entirely way too easy to push his needs off on someone else.

She tossed back the drink the waitress handed her. "Bring me the bottle." Asami pressed a crisp hundred into the waitress's hand. She glared at the pamphlets and pulled them back towards her. As the bottle of whiskey was set in front of her she started reading through the pamphlets again.

:::::::::::::

Korra sighed as she pulled into the parking lot. She wished she'd gone grocery shopping the day before. However, since she hadn't, it was either grab dinner at Narook's on her own, or take her chances with the Chinese takeout that had been in the fridge for far too long to even remember when she'd bought it.

Her initial reaction to entering the Sports Bar was that someone was having entirely way too much fun. She eyed the small group of men gathered around the jukebox as she took a seat at the bar. She studied the menu, her attention being drawn occasionally to the loud howl of laughter and occasional cat call coming from the group. She jerked her chin in their direction as the waitress approached. "What's going on there?"

The waitress rolled her eyes and tapped her pencil on her pad. "Some lady couldn't hold her drink. She's been dancing with anyone she can get hands on for the last hour."

Korra's brow furrowed in concern at her words. "That sounds to me, like a group of men passing a drunk woman around for their own amusement."

The waitress smacked her gum and shrugged. "I'm not a babysitter. You gonna order or what?"

Korra slammed her menu down on the bar. "No, I'm not." She pushed her glasses up her nose and scanned the woman's name tag. "I'll be contacting your manager, Teresa."

Korra stomped past the wide eyed waitress, and headed for the rowdy group of men. She shouldered past the jostling bodies, and stepped into the small opening in the center. Her jaw hit the floor at she spied Asami, her hands over her head as she swayed to the music. Korra's astonishment didn't last long though, her brain registering the lecherous man with his hands on Asami's hips.

Korra stepped towards him and grabbed him by the shoulder. "That's enough." She tugged for him to back off.

"Hands off bitch." He sneered and shoved her away.

Korra clenched her fists, shoved her glasses back up her nose, and stepped towards him. "I said that's enough." She clapped a hand around his wrist and started squeezing. "I suggest you let my friend go, and back the fuck off."

The man took a step towards her, leaving someone else to slide into his place with Asami. Korra squeezed and quickly bent his wrist down, applying hard enough pressure that the man instantly fell to his knees. She leveled a glare at the men standing around. "Let her go, or I break his wrist, and then I kick your ass." She applied more pressure to the man's wrist, his screams of pain causing some of the others to disperse.

She shoved the man away and stepped towards Asami. "Asami, hey, it's Korra. Come on, let's get you out of here."

Asami smiled at Korra. "You're so cute." She threw her arms around Korra's shoulders, nuzzled her nose into her neck. "Why don't you want to sleep with me again?"

"Not a good time for that." Korra grimaced as she tried to maneuver Asami to the doors.

Asami grabbed her face in her hands, and planted her lips on Korra's. She moaned as she licked into Korra's mouth, her hands sliding down to squeeze at Korra's backside. She pouted as Korra tugged away from her. "Hey, come back!"

Korra groaned and shook her head as she adjusted her glasses. "Stop it." She grabbed Asami's hands to hold them still. "Can you walk?"

Asami grinned and nodded. Then jerked her hands from Korra's grasp and proceeded to attempt to walk to the bar. She made it three steps before stumbling and falling. She laid on the bar floor, tears stinging her eyes.

Korra knelt beside her, her hands reaching for her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

Asami sniffed and nodded. "I fell."

"I can see that." Korra gave her a weak smile and helped her sit up. "I'm going to take you home okay?" She watched Asami nod, and she reached up to brush the hair from her face. "I need to get you to my car though, can you hang on to me while I carry you?"

Asami nodded and gave a small giggle when Korra hefted her from the ground. She wrapped her arms around Korra's neck, and leaned in. "You're warm." She snuggled into the warmth, her lips pressing a small kiss to Korra's neck.

Korra clamped her teeth together at the feel of those lips, and increased her speed across the parking lot. With some difficulty she managed to get the passenger door open and eased Asami inside. She buckled her in before jogging around to the driver's side and getting in the car.

She didn't know where else to take her, she couldn't remember the name of the hotel Asami was staying at. Based on the lack of a purse she was guessing Asami didn't have a room key with her anyway. Korra did the only thing that came to mind. She drove Asami to her apartment, maneuvered her out of the car, and carried her upstairs.

"How about I put you to bed?" Korra grunted as she kicked the front door behind her closed.

Asami nodded enthusiastically at that idea. "Bed sounds good." She placed another kiss to Korra's neck.

"Stop doing that." Korra chided as she sat Asami gently down on the bed. "Let me find you something to sleep in." She turned her back to dig in her dresser. With a pair of pajama pants, and an oversized t-shirt in her hands, Korra turned back around, her cheeks instantly coloring.

With great ease Asami had stripped out of her clothes. She sat, leaning back on her heels, waiting for Korra, a smile on her face.

Korra cleared her throat and looked at the wall above Asami's head. "You should put these on."

Asami sat up, rising to her knees, and wrapped her arms around Korra's neck. "You're very adorable when you blush." She pressed a kiss to the corner of Korra's mouth. Trailed kisses down Korra's neck, and then up to her ear.

The clothes fell out of Korra's grasp, her hands gravitating to Asami's waist. The skin beneath her hands burned. She felt it scorch her palms as she slid them up Asami's ribs, and around to stroke at her back. She tilted her head to the side, letting Asami kiss and lick a trail of fire. She leaned eagerly into the kiss Asami pressed to her lips, her body responding to the touches and caresses.

She felt a tug at the button of her jeans, her brain overriding the desires of her body. Korra hissed and jerked back, her hands gripping Asami's wrists. "We can't, not now. Not like this." She drew a ragged breath through her teeth. "You're drunk, and I let this get out of hand, for that I'm sorry." She took three steps back, bumping into the dresser as she reached behind her for the bedroom door. "Put those on," she pointed to the pajamas, "I'll order us a pizza."

She hurried from the room, shutting the door behind her.