By bedtime that night Mika was still feeling better and as usual didn't want to go to bed, Azula only wished things were as good as they seemed.

"No I don't want to go to bed!" Mika giggled when her mother resorted to carrying her to bed and so as a counter attack she clung onto the ridges of the doorframe like her life depended on it.

"Come on, I've got a new story to tell you." Azula bargained

"Ok!" Mika agreed quickly and released her grip; now that she was four she had already heard most of her mother's stories, as she didn't have many, so a new one was an exciting thought.

She was so excited that she scrambled desperately to get out of her mother's arms so that she could get to the bed faster. Azula, trusting that Mika would in fact climb into bed, put her down and watched in amusement as her daughter scrambled into the bed and hurriedly threw the sheets over her and sat up. With a slight giggle Azula climbed into bed next to her daughter and crossed her legs, then pulled Mika into her lap

"So what's the story?" Mika asked, excitedly looking up at her mother. It pained Azula to know that her daughter's bright face would most likely be tear stained in a matter of minutes, but she smiled nothing less.

"Well I think that you're old enough to understand now, so I'm going to tell you a story about daddy." She announced and if Mika's face wasn't glowing with excitement before it definitely was now.

"Really?!" The little girl gasped and Azula nodded.

"So your dad-" She began but she was cut off by Mika.

"Wait! It's a love story, you have to start with once upon a time." She insisted, causing Azula to roll her eyes in amusement but she still gave in.

"Fine. Once upon a time I lived in a little village on the edge of the Fire Nation and one day I was walking in the market when I met a boy named Jong. I talked to Jong for a few minutes before his brother Hariko came over, and Hariko was one of the nicest boys I had ever met" she began, Mika was listening with undivided attention, wanting to hear every word her mother spoke about her father. "We became best friends and at the time I was trying to improve my bending and no matter how hard I was on myself your dad always told me I was doing good and to give myself more credit. Your dad and me loved each very much but you see Mika, your daddy was very sick all his life." She said and Mika's smile faded a little. "When he was born his heart was very weak and unfortunately sweetie that's something he passed onto you." She said gently and Mika just lost it.

There was no second of silence, no expression of confusion, just a lot of tears and screaming.

"No" Mika said with tears in her eyes, "No I'm not weak!" Mika shouted, not even acknowledging the fact that her mother had finally come clean about what happened to her dad.

"Your heart is honey, not you as a person, just your heart." Azula attempted to explain again.

"No!" Mika shouted with tears now leaking from her eyes. With that she jumped up and ran into the living room.

"Mika!" Azula growled, getting up and chasing after her daughter.

She found Mika beginning to huddle herself in the far corner of the room.

"You're lying mommy! I'm not weak!" She shrieked and she only screamed louder when her mother grabbed her and tried to calm her down.

"I'm not saying you are" she struggled to say while attempting the near impossible task of keeping ahold on her daughter.

"Yes you are!" Mika screamed

"No, I'm not!" Azula insisted.

"Yes, you are!" Mika fought and then she finally managed to squirm out of Azula's arms. This resulted in her falling onto the hard wooden floor with a loud 'thud' but she didn't care. She just stood up and wiped her runny nose with her sleeve as she faced her mother.

"My heart is me, and I'm not weak" She insisted.

Azula's face was no longer frustrated, instead it was gentle and sad as she got to her knees in front of Mika and reached out a hand to run it through her hair. She opened her mouth to say something but Mika cut her off.

"I'm not going to die," she said matter-of-factly.

"Mika-" Azula started but again she was cut off by her daughter.

"I'm not. I want to meet grandma and grandpa, and Auntie Kiyi and Uncle Zuko this summer like you said we could. I don't care what happened to daddy, I, I don't want to die." She sobbed and Azula could only think of one thing to do, hug her baby girl. This time Mika practically threw herself into her mother's arms and began sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder, choking out one sentence over and over again.

"I don't care".

The next morning Azula was faced with a dilemma. She really didn't want to send Mika to school, who was once again complaining of stomach pains, especially if it would turn into a repeat of yesterday. But at the same time she really couldn't afford to take another day off. She also had to decide quickly because in order to take the day off she needed to run down to the bar before her shift and tell Lao. Thankfully she has a friend who can apparently read her mind from over a mile away, because almost as soon as she woke up she heard a knock on her door and she answered it to Sokka.

"Nice pajama's" he joked but she just shook her head in amusement.

"What are you doing here?" She asked; not that she didn't want him here per say, but she had a lot to deal with already.

"I figured that your solution to needing to watch Mika would be you'd bring her to work with you so I took the day off and if you want I'll watch her." He offered and for a moment Azula just looked at him, stunned, before relief took over her face.

"You really won't let me handle what's left of my life alone will you?" She asked

"Nope" Sokka answered with a smile.

Aang came home for his lunch break and found Katara sitting at the kitchen table reading a scroll with Kya in her lap, food stained all over the baby's face and clothes. Whatever his wife was reading, she was heavily focused on it. She didn't seem to notice Kya squirming in her arms or her husband entering the room.

"Wat'cha reading?" Aang asked as he took Kya, prompting Katara to look up at him with a frustrated expression.

"Some scrolls on healing but I can't find any known technique for healing a weak heart" Katara said with a sigh and Aang frowned.

"You don't think you can do this do you?" He asked and again she sighed while leaning back in her chair.

"I have to try," she said, sounding hopeless.

Balancing his daughter in one arm Aang stood behind his wife and placed a hand on her shoulder, which she laid her head on.

"Katara, I've seen you do amazing things. You can do this" he assured her. Aang wished desperately that there was something he could do to help her, but healing was a skill he wasn't gifted with.

It was like metalbending, he had tried once but he just couldn't do. The difference between healing and metalbending is that according to Katara only some water benders even have the capability, while Toph said that all earth benders can metal bend but he just wasn't trying hard enough. In truth she wasn't wrong, he still remembered how painful learning to earth bend was and he didn't feel like going through that a second time.

"I just wish I had more time to figure it out," Katara said, "But if I don't try tonight then…" she trailed off but Aang knew what she didn't want to say, once a heart starts to fail things get real bad real fast, even just giving her the day to prepare and waiting until tonight was a risk, Mika might not have much time.

That night came too quickly and too agonizingly slowly all at the same time. Azula had gone about her shift as if she were in a daze, only snapping out of it when she made mistake and either caught herself or was reprimanded. Everyone working, along with the regular customers, could tell something was wrong. The bartender who was normally so alert and focused was now staring vacantly into space whenever she had a free moment or was just doing a simple task such as cleaning. They didn't say anything of course, but they knew and Azula knew that. She tried her best to go about her day as normal and hide her worry, but she couldn't. She also couldn't help the relief that came when her sift ended and she raced home to find Mika asleep, but still breathing.

Sokka was sitting on the end of Azula's couch, Mika's sleeping form taking up the top half of the uncomfortable piece of furniture. He was reading the newspaper, not that he was even remotely interested in anything written there, when the door opened and Azula stepped in. He saw her tense up immediately, breath caught in her throat and frightened eyes on Mika, before she exhaled and looked to visibly relax.

"She's just sleeping" Sokka assured as he stood up and Azula shut the door.

"She scared me," Azula muttered as she went to wake her daughter, but halted herself when she heard Sokka chuckling behind her.

"What?" She asked, turning to look at him.

"Nothing it's just, I couldn't scare you if I tried. But sleeping four-year-old can?" He asked in laughter.

"A sleeping four-year-old who happens to be my daughter and won't survive the next twenty-four hours if your sister can't help her." Azula defended

"Right" Sokka said; all trace of laughter quickly leaving his voice. Azula turned back again to wake Mika but again Sokka stopped her, this time with a hand on her shoulder, which turned her around.

"Hey, she's going to be fine." He assured her with a smile.

Azula didn't know what it was about him, what made him this way. How could he be so sure? How could he be so confident that she was going to be ok? Even with total faith in his sister she knew that Sokka had a soft spot in his heart for Mika, so how could he not be worried? She was so distracted by this thought that she didn't notice she was now less than half an inch away from Sokka's face, and she didn't want to back away. She needed him; she needed someone. For so long she had been the strong one, for so long she had been the one who didn't cry, and now she was sick of it. All she wanted right now was to admit to her fear of losing Mika and just start crying. She wanted Sokka to be here, and she wanted to kiss him. But just before their lips could touch the sound of Mika stirring on the couch caused them both to jump back. This resulted in Azula backing into her sorry excuse for a coffee table and nearly tumbling backwards over it but Sokka recovered from his own shock and reached over to grab her around the waist and just hold her there for a second as the two of them came back to reality.

When time was finally moving at the right pace again Sokka quickly brought Azula up, moving one hand to grasp hers so she could half pull herself, and they looked to see a very confused Mika looking back. Luckily Mika's innocence prevented her from getting any thoughts that were too far from the truth and even luckier for Azula and Sokka she didn't ask anything about what she had woken up to, instead she just jumped off the couch and hugged her mother.

Relief overtook Azula's face as she bent down to return her daughter's embrace then stood and went into the bedroom.

"I'm going to change then we'll go see Katara" she called over her shoulder, as if nothing was wrong.

Once the bedroom door was closed Mika looked up at Sokka

"Are you coming with us?" She asked sweetly, she was trying to smile but was failing miserably. Sokka didn't even notice until this moment that at some point either Azula lost her touch or he learned to read her, and he knew that the former wasn't even remotely possible.

She could still hide her feelings, her emotions, everything. She could look and sound fine, but he knew that inside she was falling apart. Now her daughter was trying to do the same and it wasn't working. Little Mika couldn't force herself to smile, she was scared and it showed.

"Of course" Sokka answered.

Azula was practically sweating bullets the entire walk over to the island. She was constantly watching Mika, who was dragging her feet even more than usual. They hadn't even gone one block when her daughter looked as though she were going to drop dead with just one more step. That was where Azula drew the line and picked her up and carried her.

"I can-" Mika practically whispered in a tired voice, Azula tried not to let it scare her.

"I know baby, but save your strength for when you need it." She instructed and so Mika didn't argue any further.

There were a few instances where Sokka tried to make conversation but just about all of those attempts fell flat; the circumstances were just too awful. Azula was so focused on Mika that she completely missed how much Sokka was focusing on her. He was watching her; ever since she lifted Mika into her arms he was watching her. He studied her much like he had that day she was attacked, he just watched her, though this time was different. Last time he had been searching for answers, now he was searing for walls. They had a long walk ahead of them, and he wondered how long it would be before she faltered. Before Mika's weight grew too heavy and she began to slow down. For now she showed no signs of tiredness, she just carried her daughter as if she weighed nothing. She was worried, he could tell that. Mika was sitting on her right arm and so she kept her left hand buried in the little girl's hair, as if somehow the action could protect her. They were close to the island when Azula finally showed that Mika was becoming too heavy for her, she had shifted her into the other arm a total of three times. When she went for a fourth, after only having switched a minute ago, Sokka reached over without a word and took Mika from her. He had to admit that it surprised him when Azula went along with it without protest. She gave her up willingly, even though she knew her daughter might not even make it to the island, she handed her over almost gratefully.

"Sokka? Will you tell me more about when you and mommy were younger?" Mika requested in a weak voice, this momentarily caused both Sokka and Azula to stop in their tracks.

"What have you-" Azula began to question in anger but when Sokka shot her a smile she stopped, she trusted that he hadn't said anything bad; somehow.

"Sure kiddo" Sokka agreed as he began walking again, Azula soon following.

"Now remember Mika, your mother and I knew each other when we were fighting in the war and we were on different sides." He warned, he hadn't told her anything since that night Azula left her with him while she went with her old friends, he didn't want to say something she didn't want Mika knowing. But now Azula was here; and there was one thing both she and Mika just had to know, especially now.

"I know" Mika said softly, though she almost sounded sad.

"Ok then. There was one morning near the end of the war when my camp was attacked and your mom here was part if it." He began and Azula knew exactly what he was talking about, the morning she led the attack on the air temple.

"Sokka please-" Azula began but Sokka hushed her, and his eyes told her to trust him. She didn't know why but she did.

"It was a short battle and we all got out alive. But there was an explosion that knocked your mom right off the airship she was on" he continued and they both heard Mika gasp, despite obviously knowing that her mother survived. "To make things worse we were on the side of a cliff and as my group flew away on our flying bison we saw your mom, falling down the side of the cliff. We thought she was a goner, but she took something out of her hair and dug it into the side of the cliff to stop herself from falling." If Azula didn't know better she would've said that Sokka almost sounded amazed, clearly she didn't know better. "That was the last time your mother and I saw each other until a year later, but that was only for a few days and she was sick, the point is Mika that's how I've remembered your mom for the past eighteen years. As the incredibly resourceful girl who was in a circumstance that gave her no choice but death, and she found a way to live."