章 20: Battle Ships

Hakoda allowed Elodie to hold him in her arms for only a couple more moments before he had to go into 'Chief Mode' since they were trying to get out of Chameleon Bay as quickly as possible. Once they broke from the hug, he placed his hands on her shoulders, "Please go pack up our stuff, and don't worry about my children. That's not something you should stress about." Elodie frowned, "Hakoda, I can't just-." He cut her off with a quick peck, "Please Elodie." She nodded gently, "Ok..." He gave her one last peck on the lips before rushing off to instruct everyone what to do.

Elodie watched him go with a sigh before heading to their tent. She was relieved to see that none of the children were in there. That would have made things super awkward. She quickly started to pack up her and Hakoda's things while simultaneously trying to keep her mind off of what just happened. Alas, she couldn't. All she could think about was that she was ruining a father's relationship with his children. She ran her hands through her hair and sat back onto her knees as she tried to smother her thoughts, her eyes squeezed shut.

Elodie's eyes snapped opened when she heard someone walk into the tent. She had a brief panic attack, thinking it was Katara or Sokka, but was instantly relieved when she saw it was Toph. The young girl cleared her throat, "Uh, I'm here to get our stuff." Elodie nodded and stood up, "I packed it for y'all. Do you need help carrying it all?" Toph took their belongings from Elodie and thanked her before walking towards the tent's flap. She paused, "Just give them some time. They'll come around." Toph exited and Elodie went back to packing up their stuff.

After a while, Elodie was finished packing and was starting to take the tent down when Petak came next to her, "You need any help?" Elodie, for once, accepted the help, "Yes please." Petak nodded and started to take the large tent down with Elodie. He asked her quietly, "Are you ok?" Elodie forced a smile on her face, "I'm fine." He stared at her, "The truth please." Elodie bit her lip, "How can I be ok right now, Petak? And, I feel selfish for feeling like this, because I'm the least affected one out of this whole situation." Petak paused and laid a hand on her shoulder, "You shouldn't feel selfish. Your feelings are validated. And, I'm sure things will get better soon." Elodie smiled at him weakly, "Thanks." He just nodded and continued to help her.

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It was in the wee hours of the morning by the time everything and everybody was packed and loaded into the ships. Everyone looked absolutely exhausted, and for good reason. They had just had a battle and weren't able to rest after it, and, unfortunately, probably wouldn't get to for a while. Because of that, Elodie tried to do as much as the work needed to be done as she possibly could. She felt like the people who fought needed to rest before she did.

Ever so slowly, the men were able to go to their new bunks and finally rest by the time night was about to fall. Elodie was milling around the ship, still helping with stuff and feeling like death itself when Zokkik encouraged —more like forced— her to go sleep. She protested, but Zokkik didn't listen to her as he pushed her off to the room she and Hakoda were supposed to be sharing. Keywords there are "supposed to be". She had no clue if Hakoda wanted to share a room with her now that his children knew about their relationship, and weren't happy about it.

Nonetheless, Elodie wanted to make Hakoda's night easier for him, so she tried to make the room cozier and less Fire Nation-y for him. She stuffed the Fire Nation decorations under the short bed and laid out a fur on top of said bed. She didn't lay out too much of their stuff though in case they needed a quick escape.

Even though her body was exhausted, her mind was still running a thousand miles per hour. There was no way she could possibly sleep like this, so she tried to distract her mind by reading a book Petak had bought her before they left. She had only gotten through a couple of pages of the book when the door opened and Hakoda trudged in. He glanced over at Elodie as he haphazardly kicked off his boots and pulled his shirt over his head. Elodie joked weakly, "For an old man, you're pretty muscular." He chuckled at her attempt to lighten both of their moods.

Hakoda fell back onto the bed and looked at Elodie, "Care to join me? You should already be sleeping you know." She rolled her eyes, "Hakoda, what have I said about parenting me. Zokkik already does that enough." Instead of laughing at the running joke of Hakoda subconsciously parenting her (that was honestly just his personality), Hakoda just reached out for Elodie. She kicked off her pants, preferring to sleep without them, before climbing into bed with her beloved.

Hakoda's arm instinctively wrapped around Elodie's waist as she curled up to his side, her head resting on his chest. They were quiet for a while before Hakoda shifted to face Elodie, "I thought I told you not to worry about the situation with my children." Elodie sighed slightly, he knew her way too well, but she denied it. She dug her head into his neck, "I'm not." He chuckled tiredly and ran a hand down her back, "Is that why you weren't planning on sleeping in the same room as me?" Elodie tensed slightly before meeting his eyes, "I just wasn't sure if you would want to. And, how did you know?" Hakoda's hand moved up to twirl some of Elodie's hair, "Your blanket isn't on the bed." Elodie had a blanket that she had used from the time she had been pulled onto the ship that she always slept with, mainly because it was the softest blanket they had, and so it missing on the bed was unusual.

Elodie sighed and placed her head on Hakoda's taut chest, "Busted." He gently lifted her chin and looked in her eyes, and was about to ask her why she would think that; then he remembered that had happened several times. He kissed the tip of her nose, "I am sorry, Elodie." She opened her mouth to tell him not to work about it, but he cut her off with a kiss that was rougher than his normally were, "I am so sorry that I treated you as if you were not important." She could hear the pain in his voice and her heart constricted, "Hakoda..." She leaned towards him and placed her lips on Hakoda's lips, silently telling him that she was not in any way mad at him. She could tell that he was really going through some things by how he responded. Normally he was slow to rile up, and would spend a while just gently kissing and say sweet nothings; but tonight, he was quick to progress their affection. His arm around her waist constricted as he pulled her close to him, pressing his lips to hers intensely.

Elodie didn't hesitate to respond to him. She kissed back with just as much ferocity but was taken aback when he quickly maneuvered them, so Hakoda was hovering over her. They just looked at each other for a while, and Elodie had never seen this expression on Hakoda before. He was normally so laid back and had some relaxed look on his face whenever they were by themselves. But now he was looking down at her with a serious, yet slightly nervous, expression. Elodie smiled at him softly and brushed the hair that had fallen in his face back, so she could really look at him.

Hakoda seemed to want to say something, but couldn't get the words out. It didn't help that Elodie had sat up some and started leaving little kisses on his chin, neck, and chest. His mood lightened a bit as the kisses got a bit ticklish. He chuckled as he gently pushed Elodie back down on the bed, "I need to tell you something." She questioned, "You're not breaking up with me, are you?" He shook his head, "No, I am not breaking up with you. Now be serious." Elodie nodded and put on a comically straight face before Hakoda laughed at her, "What type of serious face is that?" While keeping said face, Elodie explained, "It's you when you're in 'Chief Mode', sir." Hakoda gawked, "That is not how I look! And, stop acting like you're talking to a superior." Elodie broke with a giggle as she nodded, "That's totally what you look like."

After their laughs subsided, Hakoda looked down at Elodie before giving her a sweet kiss, "Elodie, I just want you to know how much you mean to me. I know I've been kind of horrible at showing it recently, but I'm not going to continue being like that. Elodie, I just-," he paused and took a deep breath, "Elodie, I love you. I love you so much!" He looked at her nervously for a reaction. Elodie sat there for a couple of seconds. That was the first time he said that he loved her. Did she truly feel the same; she didn't just want to be tossing that term around.

Hakoda, getting anxious, rambled, "I mean, it's ok if you don't want to say it back because I know you-." He was cut off by Elodie kissing him passionately before looking up at him with a smile, "I love you too, Hakoda."

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