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The sun's going down, so there were no problems putting the girls to bed.

Still, Mel's not inside. She's squatting on the edge of the bunker, with the shared bassinet right next to her, her axe the only thing between them, staring out in the direction her brother left in.

Keeping vigils for the Sokkas probably isn't the healthiest thing to do, especially as she left him herself for her sisterly "road"trip. But this is different. She's worried.

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Steph giggles.

"You're so good at it, though."

Mel shoves Steph lightly in the shoulder, smiling all the time anyway.

"I learned from the best."

Steph elbows back cheerfully.

"Sure you did.

"... did you?"

Iroh? or maybe ... Babs? Steph's nose wrinkles in that expression of trying-hard-to-figure-out-who-they're-talking-about. (It's a very specific expression, apparently? Oh, I don't know. Shh. As you were. These aren't the droids you're looking for.)

Mel's gaze drops down to the babies, rolling Hana gently onto her back when the baby starts to stir, and ending up with her hand captured by sleeping baby.

Oh crap.

"Guess you weren't in the Apartments, so you won't remember."

O NOES! Trapped by baby is a terrible fate.

Steph shakes her head, watching Mel curiously. "I only know stuff Faye used to chatter about." It isn't a question, because that might get Mel mad at her, but she sounds curious anyway.

"Really?"

Funny, Mel thought Sokka would have told her everything there was to know.

Because Mel knows Sokka that well, it seems.

"Zuko was in charge there."

"What, your Zuko?"

She didn't mean to sound quite that surprised, but ... Mister Sulks-On-A-Rooftop-All-Year? Best leader Mel knows?

"Yeah."

Oh screw this. Sleepy baby Hana is going to sleep on Mel's lap if she won't let go of hand.

"Don't need to be so surprised."

Steph mulls this over, offering Loo a hand to hold as a substitute for Hana's now-moved-away warmth.

"He didn't ... Well, I guess I didn't really know him, right? I only met him, like, twice, in Eden."

He could have been a leader.

Twice. In an entire year. Yeah, Mel can understand why Steph didn't think him leadery.

"He was different, in the apartments," she says weakly. "Eden - I don't know how, but Eden broke him."

Steph hops to her feet to move to the other side of the baby's crib so that she can lean against Mel a little.

"Eden was fucked up like that," she says, sympathetic. "I know it messed up Tim. I think it would have messed up everyone if we didn't have -- I dunno, other sane people. Babies. Sokka. Claire. You."

"Rutting glad we're out of it, then," Mel says, wrapping her spare arm around Steph.

"The girls deserve a place with trees."

"For them to set fire to," Steph agrees, squeezing Mel's shoulders.

"I wish I'd known him before, then."

Mel grins.

"I dunno. He was kinda crazy bossy. Only real way to deal with him was sex."

Steph giggles. "Really? Did it make him less bossy?"

How do these things work? SHE NEEDS TO KNOW.

... for hypothetical purposes.

"Shut him up for up to an hour at a time," Mel says happily.

"I bet it did." Steph is giggly now. "You'd probably punch him if he tried being bossy in the middle of that."

"Hey, I didn't hit him that often," Mel objects, smirking a little.

"Maybe you should have," Steph suggests. "Hitting is good for boys. It's healthy."

"Or possibly abusive."

Mel frowns thoughtfully, then shrugs.

"Nah, in this case it was healthy."

"If they're bigger'n you are, it's not abuse," Steph says, Vry Srsly.

She likes seeing Mel smile. But now it's even sadder that Zuko didn't make it to this world.

"Bigger meaning taller, or bigger meaning 'really couldn't take me in a fight?'"

Mel's kinda strong, you see.

"You and your superpowers." Steph squeezes her shoulder again, grinning. "I forget about that all the time. You know ... I bet Dinah could take you."

"Yeah?"

Sounds like a challenge to Mel.

"You know I was kinda taking Cass down a lot near the end, right?"

"So did I," Steph says innocently. "I'm pretty sure there was a reason for that..."

Steph cannot, it is possible, comprehend a world in which Cass couldn't outfight anyone and everyone, including not only Shiva but also probably Darkseid, Mongol and the Spectre.

But not Batman.

Maybe.