Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar.

Chapter 22

Jealous

"Okay, just remember to pull the coffee cake out in about twenty minutes, and the other two only need about half an hour," Dwight said as he walked Mang through the kitchen. "If it gets busy and you want to try your hand at some of these, I've gone ahead and left a few of my easier recipes over here on the counter below the order up window."

"I've got it, cowboy," Mang told him. "I'm not a kid. I've worked my way around a kitchen before."

"Good luck today," he smiled as he headed for the swinging door. Azula stood waiting just through on the other side with her arms folded over her chest.

"And just where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"Cleared the day off with your uncle," Dwight answered, smiling never wavering. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek before speeding passed her. "I'll see you tonight!"

"You still haven't told me where you're going!" Azula called after him.

Too late. The front door of the tea shop closed behind him with the tinkling of the bell sounding his exit. Azula huffed an annoyed sigh as she tried to shake him from her mind. She had more important things to do than think about that stupid cook. What did it matter to her that he took a day off without asking her or even bothering to let her know? The fool could have at the very least let her do the cooking since Mang would inevitably screw something up. She was likely to burn down the kitchen. What could be so important that he would just take an unannounced day off?

"Uncle!" Azula yelled up the stairs.

"Yes, Azula?" Iroh answered as he began his descent.

"I'm taking the day off," she said flatly. "I'm leaving now."

"I would have thought you had already left," Iroh said in a bewildered tone. "Dwight told me you had an important date today."

"A date?" she asked. "I don't remember making any plans with him today."

"Perhaps it is a surprise!" Iroh beamed. "You should probably wait until he calls for you."

"I think I'd rather just go now," she said. "I don't like surprises."

Considering how well he managed to avoid and hide from her, Azula was finding it remarkably easy to tail Dwight through the city. He made no attempts to mask his path and seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she was following him. Either he had anticipated she was going to come after him or he genuinely did not know she was there. She was betting on the former.

The man was so infuriating. He was purposely taking her on a wild goose chase through the city for some sort of surprise that she was most likely not even going to enjoy. She hated surprises and she hated these kinds of games. She always won them and he knew it. Finding out what he was up to was not even posing a decent challenge at this point. It was most likely that he was trying to arrange a picnic or some other form of private time with her, deliberately trying to make her waste time while she could be doing something that was actually productive.

Dwight's pace finally began to slow upon nearing the center of the city. Just as she predicted, he headed straight towards the park that separated the city districts. It was at least twice the size of the park that Azula knew Zuko and the others frequented. It held within its borders many paths that led through trees, around decorative fountains, more than one playground, and many gazebos that could be rented out for any number of occasions. Azula silently hoped he had not done anything so stupid as that.

Mercifully Dwight continued to move forward on his mission of secrecy without giving his surroundings much attention at all. He moved swiftly passed the gazebos, rushed around the crowds on the walkways, and paid no mind to the tree enclosed sections that he passed through. It was apparent to Azula that whatever he was planning simply had to be at the lavish fountain in the center of the park. There just was no other place left if he followed the path any farther. Taking into account that she was always right, Azula was not surprised in the least when Dwight eventually paused just in front of said fountain. He took a quick glance around and then began to stride with renewed purpose towards a destination that Azula could not see. Or at least she thought that she could not see it until he stopped in his tracks behind another woman.

Azula watched with an odd sensation sitting in her stomach as Dwight's hands reached around the woman from behind. She had not noticed him and jumped slightly when his hands fell over her eyes. The woman spun around quickly and leaped into his arms, her own encircling his neck. She had a round, full face with short faded brown hair and she smiled so brightly. The feeling in Azula's stomach only worsened when the woman opened her eyes in shock at the realization that Dwight's hair was so short. When Dwight took her by the wrists and held her hands away from him, Azula could feel herself begin to relax. She saw the look on the other woman's face go from shocked to horrified, then it settled concerned. Dwight took her in his arms again at that point, holding her so gently that Azula felt she would be sick.

Rage burned so brightly within Azula that she felt like going right over there and tearing him a new one. What was all of that talk about caring about her? Wanting her to open up to him, trust him? Had he not said that if she gave him the chance to hurt her that he would not? What was all of this then? She wanted so badly to just beat him to a bloody pulp and leave whatever was left of him for the other woman, but instead Azula turned around and began walking back to the tea shop.

Azula was beginning to feel better now. She wiped the sweat off of her face with the back of her sleeve as she observed two hours of hard work. Everything in the room was in order with the bed properly made, the clothes put away, and all of the strewn about odds and ends put in more acceptable places. Almost everything. She turned to the bookcase next to her and pulled the stereo down very carefully. She then made her way over to the open window and tossed it down to the rest of Dwight's possessions in the back alley near the dumpster. There went the last trace of Dwight having ever shared Zuko's room. Yes, she was feeling much better.

"Azula!" Uncle called up the stairs. "I'm sorry to interrupt whatever you are working on up there, but there is a guest asking to see you!"

"I'll be down in just a moment, Uncle," she replied with satisfaction.

Azula took a few moments to straighten her clothes and make sure her hair was in its proper place before stepping out the door and shutting it tightly. Dwight was in for an unpleasant surprise when he got back from gallivanting with his little trollop. She could hardly wait to see the look on his face. A few hurried steps down the stairs and Azula prepared to greet whomever it was that awaited her.

"You must be Azula."

She froze. The voice was new, but the face certainly was not. Azula's eye twitched only once as a cold fury ran through her veins. It was her.

"I am," Azula answered icily. "And just who are you?"

"I'm Naomi," the woman answered sweetly. "I'm a friend of Dwight's."

"A friend you say?" Azula asked. "Just what kind of friend?"

"An old one," Naomi answered vaguely. "Can we sit and talk for a bit?"

Azula followed Naomi to one of the booths, but she did not sit. She preferred to stand and look down on this "old friend" of that no good, lying, manipulative-

"I want to thank you, Azula."

"Thank me for what?" Azula asked without thinking.

"Dwight told me all about you," Naomi explained. "Everything you've done for him. I want to thank you for that."

"And when did Dwight find the time to tell you these things?"

"This morning," she answered without hesitation. "Today's the first day I've seen him in months. You see, I don't live here in the city."

"Do tell," Azula said, crossing her arms. It did not surprise her that Dwight's floozy would be someone he could easily get away from due to her living arrangements.

"Not anymore anyway," Naomi continued, shaking her head. "Dwight helped me escape."

"Escape? You'll have to elaborate on that."

"Dwight found me," the woman clarified. "Eight, maybe nine years ago now. I was only twelve years old and living on the streets. Dwight found me all by myself and looked after me. We were all that each other had. A few years later something happened that pushed him into joining a gang called the Fallen Angels."

"Something pushed him into that?" Azula asked, taking the seat across from Naomi. "The way he tells it you would think he had wanted to do it."

"I suppose a part of him did," Naomi admitted, "but I think he would have preferred it just being the two of us. We were each other's family. He felt like it was his job to take care of me and that he wasn't supposed to need help to do that."

"So what happened then? What made him decide to become a Fallen Angel?"

"They had the means of getting me to a better place. A place far away from Serpent's Pass. A place that could help us. Both of us, if he hadn't been too stubborn to go. He needs help, Azula."

Azula just blinked at Naomi's statement. So far everything the woman was saying had been truthful, meaning that Dwight might not be the two timing jerk that Azula had believed him to be just a few minutes ago. This new bit of information was truly a surprise though. What would make this person believe Dwight needed help? He was more than capable of taking care of himself.

"What happened?" Azula asked again.

"He killed someone, Azula."

That was unexpected. Azula's mind reeled for a few moments as she processed the information. It did explain a few things. Most importantly it explained why her father had backed off that night here in the Jasmine Dragon. He knew that Dwight would definitely pull the trigger. But why had she not been aware of that? How could she have missed something so altering to a person's psyche?

"How did it happen?"

"I was only fifteen years old," Naomi began. "One of the gang leaders had taken an unhealthy interest in me. He would send his gang out looking for us everyday to try and force me to him. We mostly hid, but sometimes Dwight had to fight to keep me out of his hands. One day it was just too much. They dragged both of us in front of that – that thing." Azula could see the tears of fear and anger at the memory welling up in Naomi's eyes. "He started ripping and tearing at my clothes. He put his hands on me. I wasn't even sure if Dwight was still alive let alone conscious. I was screaming and crying, begging for someone or something to make it all stop. Then it did. In one horrifyingly freeing moment, it did.

"I've always assumed Dwight had taken the gun from one of the two guys that was holding him. I can't even remember if I actually heard the gunshot before I felt the blood on my face. The gang leader fell on top of me and I couldn't stop screaming even after Dwight pushed his body off of me. He doesn't say anything about it, but I knew something broke in him that day. He wasn't quite the same even after joining the Angels. He would play with the kids and help around the rec center in the days leading up to when Angel and her friends got me out of Serpent's Pass and into a home that took care of me and got me the help I needed to recover from what happened. Dwight didn't come with me. That was the hardest part.

"We've kept in touch over the years, though. He's never been quite the same as he was back then, but recently he's been getting better. He's been more openly affectionate with me again. He's barely done more than hold my hand since that day. It's like he's been afraid of touching me, or maybe even just establishing that deep of a connection with someone again. But for the first time in years today he actually hugged me. I think you're the reason why he was able to do it."

Suddenly, Azula was feeling quite strange. There was this pain in her chest and another in her stomach. Not quite the same kind of sensation as when she saw Dwight with Naomi in the park, but fairly similar. Oh no. Was it possible that she was starting to feel guilty?

"Why do you think it has anything to do with me?" Azula asked.

"Because you're the only thing Dwight could talk about today," Naomi laughed. "His face was so alive! Just like when we were kids and he would tell me every night about our big amazing future that we were going to have once we got out of Serpent's Pass. It has to be you, Azula. There's no other explanation."

Azula was beginning to find her hands very interesting as she folded them over and over in her lap. She could not bring herself to look Naomi in the eye for some reason. She felt like she had betrayed this woman, even though they barely knew each other. More confusing still was the fact that Azula was aware she was feeling bad about doing it. That had never happened before.

"I haven't done anything," Azula told her.

"Maybe you don't need to," Naomi said. "I love Dwight. I love him very much and I would do absolutely anything for him. He is my family, and I know him better than anyone else ever has. I've always hoped that some day he'd meet someone that could say they would know him better than anyone else ever will. I'm not going to do something so mean as to ask you to promise me that you'll do that, but I do want you to promise me something."

"And what would you have me promise?"

"I want you to promise that you'll be true to your feelings for him, whatever they are."

Azula almost laughed before she managed to hide it with a cough. The last time she had been true to her feelings for Dwight she had destroyed virtually everything that he owned. After promising Naomi that she would try to do as she asked and then being sworn to secrecy not to say anything about the visit, Azula showed Naomi out and went back to work in the tea shop.

It was just before closing time that Dwight came home from wherever else he had decided to be for the day. Azula said nothing and simply waited for the inevitable yell that came with Dwight's discovery of his missing possessions. She climbed the steps two at a time until she reached the top and found him standing in the hallway just staring at her.

"I made a mistake," she said.

"A mistake?" he yelled. "Azula, where's my stuff?"

"In the alley," she said with a weak half smile. "From the window in your room."

"What?" he screamed. "Why?"

"Because I made a mistake," Azula explained. "I followed you this morning. I saw you with that woman and I thought-"

"You thought I was cheating on you?" Dwight asked, his voice much more quiet.

"Yes," Azula admitted.

Dwight walked over to her with a look on his face that seemed torn between anger and amusement. He took her in his arms and hugged her before a strained laugh escaped him.

"You must care an awful lot about me to hate me that much," he chuckled.

"It's your fault," she said. She felt her arms reach up around his back and she pulled him closer to her. For the first time as she pressed the side of her head into his chest she felt small while she was with him. "If you had just told me what was going on, I never would have thought that."

"Yeah, you're not blaming me for this," he said. "This is just as much your fault."

"I can forgive you if you can forgive me," Azula told him. "Isn't that what you're supposed to do in a relationship?"

"Yeah," Dwight nodded. They stood there in each other's arms for a long, quiet moment before Dwight spoke again. "By the way, you do know that stereo was your brother's right?"

A/N: Late at night, but still on time! Booyah! And now we know Dwight's back story. In the next chapter, we'll be looking into what's going through Toph's mind. See you on Monday. And please drop me a line and/or review, they keep me motivated which should help keep me on time. Oh, and be sure to check out my profile for my last big announcement.