When Sokka and I meet up again, he has a plan and the prisoners are mopping another hall. Zuko and Suki happen to be right where Sokka and I are standing.

"Starr?" Sokka tentatively calls. "That you?"

I give him a small nod.

"I have a plan. We are busting out, tonight!" Sokka glances at Zuko and Suki mopping right next to each other. "Oh, good," he says to them. "You guys have met."

"Actually," Suki corrects, "we met a long time ago."

Zuko looks confused. "We did?"

"Yeah, you kinda burned down my village."

"Oh," Zuko responds. "Sorry about that. Nice to see you again."

We all move to a concealed corner behind the stairwell.

"So listen," Sokka says. "I think I have an escape plan. I checked out the coolers again: the whole point of them is to keep Fire benders contained, right?"

"Yeah," We respond.

"So they're completely insulated, and sealed to keep the cold in! Well, to keep the cold in, it also has to keep the heat out."

"Just get to the point, Sokka," Suki hurries him. The guards will notice us missing any minute!

"It's a perfect boat for getting through the boiling water!"

We all look at each other—how could that possibly work?

"Will it work?" Zuko echoes my thoughts.

"I'm telling you," Sokka insists. "It'll work. I walked around the perimeter. There's a blind spot between two guard towers. It's the perfect launching point. I already tested it out. We'll just roll the cooler into the water and just flow with the current. It'll take us straight across, and as long as we don't make a sound, no one will notice. Bing, bang, boom, we're home free!"

"But how are you going to get the cooler out?" I ask boy genius.

"Yeah," we all hear a deep voice and look up on the stairs. It's Chin Sang. "How are you gonna get the cooler out?" He leaps down and into our circle.

"What?" Sokka panics. "We-w-what? We didn't-we didn't say that!"

"Yeah," I add. "You heard wrong."

"I heard you hatching that escape plan," Chin Sang looks dead serious. "I want in."

"There's nothing to get in on," Zuko insists.

"Yeah, the only thing we're hatching is…" Sokka scratches his head. "An egg?" We all drop our heads to our hands and groan.

"Okay," Chin Sang negotiates. "I come with you, or the Warden hears about this 'egg' too."

Suki looks at Sokka. "I guess we have no choice."

"Okay," Sokka decides. "You're in."

I figure it's time to put this plan into motion. "First we need someone to unbolt the cooler. From the inside."

Sokka takes a wrench out of his pocket and hands it over to Zuko.

"Oh, I can get you inside," Chin Sang raises an eyebrow in Zuko's direction. "I'll fake fight you, you Fire bend, and you're in."

Zuko nods. We all go back to our posts: Sokka and I watching, Zuko and Suki mopping. It takes no time at all for Zuko to 'bump' into Chin Sang.

"Ugh!" Chin Sang groans. "Hey! What are you, stupid?" He makes a grab for Zuko's shoulders and throws him aside. "Watch where you're going!"

"You watch where you're shoving!" Zuko retorts, shoving him into the middle of the floor to grab the other guards' attention.

"I think you mean 'whom' I'm shoving!" Chin sang sneers.

I wince. Really? I think. A grammar lesson?

Zuko and Chin Sang begin fighting. Punches fly and the other prisoners soon form a circle, cheering for this break from their boredom. It doesn't take long before Zuko throws a ball of Fire in his opponent's direction.

"I need back up over here!" I step into the circle and call to the other guards.

"No Fire bending," a male guard demands.

"Into the cooler," I agree, locking Zuko's hands behind his back in my own. As I walk him away, the other guard follows me. That's going to be difficult, I think, since we're supposed to work out our signal.

"I can handle this one," I say gruffly, "You can go back to the other prisoners."

"Are you sure?" the other guard responds. I see him eye my small arms. "He could break free and attack at any moment."

Instead of responding, I flip my hold on Zuko's wrists and bring my arms over my head. Zuko goes flying over and lands on his back with a thud. He grimaces in pain.

"I'm fine," I growl to the guard—and little towards Zuko. The guard backs away toward the hall. As soon as he's around the corner, I help Zuko to stand.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Zuko rubs his shoulder.

"Self-defense class I took a few years ago," I tell him. It was my mom's idea, really. After all, I lived in New York City.

Zuko and I turn a few more corners, with no guards in sight, so I don't lock his arms again. We walk in silence most of the way there.

Just before we make the turn to the hall with the coolers, Zuko presses me to the wall and kisses me deeply on the lips. If it weren't for the fact that we were in a top security prison with his as a prisoner, it would be sweet and romantic. I mean, it still is sweet, but we are in a dirty prison hall.

"What was that?" I ask when we come up for air.

"An apology," Zuko replies, keeping his hold on my waist.

I'm confused. "For what?"

He smiles and pulls me away from the wall. "For saying that you couldn't take care of yourself. You really can, and I was just worried about you."

I smile back at him. "Apology accepted."

We walk around the last corner before the coolers, and I regretfully shut Zuko into one of them. But, just before he slides in, he gives me another, softer kiss. Then he gets to work on the bolts.