Chapter 4: Rehab

4 Years Ago...

Ty Lee is feeling electric tonight, and nothing can bring her down. Mai seems to want to stop her, but she just keeps near Ty Lee, keeping her on a tight leash to make sure she does not do anything she will truly regret. Perhaps this is how she tries to cope, tries to lose herself.

Mai has spent a good deal of time sitting on the sidelines of parties, dances and galas, and she can tell by how people dance why they are dancing. Some people dance for pleasure, some dance to get laid, some dance to remember, Ty Lee is dancing to forget.

Or maybe she is just avoiding Azula; that could easily be the case. Her dancing fades and she leans against the bar, trying to mask her lost breath. Her skin is streaked with sweat and she hopes it does not show the tears she sobbed in the bathroom. A man buys two drinks for Ty Lee and Mai takes both of them before striding across the room.

"Have you talked to Azula since...?" Mai is smart enough to trail off.

"No. She probably doesn't want to, anyway," Ty Lee offers with a wide, plastic grin.

Some smile because they're happy, Ty Lee smiles because she is afraid.

"I know we don't talk about our feelings, but if you have anything you want to say, I... I'm pretty good at listening and not offering my opinion," Mai says after downing a gulp of her drink. Ty Lee is still studying her glass, as if it has the answers to why her life is so broken now.

Present Day...

"You needed to get better," Ty Lee whispers. "I went to rehab and I didn't really even have to. You have to do this to avoid being killed."

Azula rolls her eyes. "I didn't agree to talk to you just to be lectured." She then is silent. "I didn't agree to talk to you at all. And I've decided that I don't want to."

Ty Lee looks up as Azula makes a wordless gesture and just leaves.

Just leaves before Ty Lee can even try to fix her.

Chapter 5: Wine

Present Day...

Ty Lee stays the night whether Azula likes it or not. She does not know how on Earth she is ever going to be able to explain herself and why she did what she did to Azula.

Her guest room is very much like a hotel room, but she knows that it isn't. It is just pretending to be a nice vacation instead of a fucked up visitation. Maybe Ty Lee appreciates that.

She was halfway through unpacking when Azula showed up. When Azula said she would like to give Ty Lee a chance when they were not sitting at a table used usually for interrogations. Ty Lee thought it was fair enough, and now Azula sits on Ty Lee's bed as Ty Lee tries to think of something to do to make this easier.

They have wine that Ty Lee should not drink. She should restrain herself, but she cannot find the ability to do it. It seems so far from worth it here, and Azula was the reason that she even was able to stick to promises to herself. Ty Lee has never been good at enforcing her own rules.

She pours a glass for her wife with shaking hands. Azula sits and watches Ty Lee with a glint of perhaps anger in her eyes, and Ty Lee's mouth is dry. That is a fair enough reason as any to drink this.

Slowly, Ty Lee walks to Azula and hands it to her. They both sit down across from each other and Ty Lee stares at her own feet in discomfort. Maybe one of them should say that they are sorry, or maybe not. It is exceptionally hard to tell.

They are talking. Not saying much really, but the conversation makes it less uncomfortable.

Ty Lee has stood up to change her clothes when she finds herself very close to Azula. She is not sure how, but she is.

"I'm not doing this," Ty Lee says quietly as Azula touches her hands. "I want you but... it's not right. Is it? No, it's not right at all."

Azula is unimpressed and Ty Lee has to admit that her protests go against what she wants.

"It's not a sin if we're drunk," Azula murmurs mockingly, and Ty Lee desperately wants to believe her.

Azula kisses her and everything is blurry. Ty Lee thinks it is because she has closed her eyes so tightly and just let the crazy murderer take control for some reason.

Ty Lee does not know how she got here, up against a wall figuratively and literally. Their lips are so tightly against each other that Ty Lee is breathless, because she missed it no matter what happened between them. Azula breaks the kiss and without further hesitation, slips Ty Lee's nightdress off with a little help from trembling, hesitant, half-drunk hands.

Azula lets it fall onto the floor, and Ty Lee thinks she is the only one who is worried about the ramifications of falling for each other again. Unless Azula never fell out of it. They are moving very quickly to the bed of the faux hotel room.

Ty Lee kisses and then sucks and then very lightly bites Azula's collarbone. Azula likes it, Azula likes it and Ty Lee's less and less hesitant fingers brush across her neck and down to her nipple.

"Azula," Ty Lee murmurs, "I'm..." She is a lot of things but Azula is not listening because she has rolled around like lightning and is straddling Ty Lee, who is quite extremely wet. She is smiling and it isn't fake for the first time in a while, even if she does not notice it on her face.

Rather fast, Azula has her hands against Ty Lee's cheekbone. It is a light touch but the cold of her skin hurts for so many reasons. As Azula's touch drifts, Ty Lee has so bite her lip to keep herself from screaming stop as she lightly pinches her nipples. Ty Lee's breasts fill her hands, and Ty Lee knows she is going to regret it in the morning, even when she is gone.

Azula moves to her panties and does not hesitate.

They do not stop, and Ty Lee cannot pretend that either of them are drunk enough for it to not be a sin.

(TBC)