(Untitled)

[notanoptimist]

Eventually, the Eden Team gets the car going, by the grace of Sokka's brilliance alone.

(Granted, he's not entirely sure what was wrong with the car still, as it had started up while he was busy kicking and cursing at the damn thing to just start already! ...but no one else needs to know that

Comments

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph snorts, eyes on the road, at one of those glances. She genuinely is a safe driver; they're going slowly even when she's obviously itching to put her foot down and just get there, navigating potholes and cracks in the road with care.

"You know, Socks, not only have I been driving safely since I was fifteen, but I've also never lost someone out of the back of the car."

Beat.

"Or out of the front." She flashes him a quick grin. "Except when we were vigilante-ing and they wanted out, but that doesn't count."

[notanoptimist]

"Don't flatter yourself," Sokka warns her, smirking and turning one of his glances backward into a glance at her and her smug face. "There are a lot of things more worrying than your driving right now.

"...not that it's exactly smooth either, but not what I'm thinking about."

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph sticks her tongue out at him, and frowns intently at the dashboard, under the wheel, around the ignition --

"Damn! I knew I should've picked a car with an ejector seat." She sighs, eyes back on the road, very sad. "I guess I'll just have to ask what you're worrying about instead."

[notanoptimist]

"Being stuck with you and your face in a small vehicle for a couple of days, that's what I'm worried about."

His smirk doesn't entirely agree with the harshness of the words, nor the teasing tone he says it all with, but that doesn't make Sokka apologize for any of it, grinning while he turns back around. "I'm not worried about anything specific," he admits, leaning back against his seat to get comfortable. "Just making sure they're all right."

[grabber_fray]

When Mel wakes up, she doesn't cry.

OK, actually, after she's oriented herself and glanced down to the babies curled up against her, she smiles faintly and touches Hana's sleeping head gently.

Then when she glances up to see Sokka looking back at them, her eyes are wet. But she hasn't woken anyone else up.

[notanoptimist]

It's on one of his glances backward that he notices her open eyes. He's already smiling by the time he notices her tears, and his smile barely falters.

He does, however, twist in his seat to hold a hand out to her.

Hey, you, does not really need to be said. Just like I missed you.

[grabber_fray]

Mel grins, a genuine smile, and takes his hand, squeezing it firmly just to check he's still there.

Hey.

[notanoptimist]

That gets her a grin and a hand-squeeze in return, other hand lifting to wave a little, just in case she might have missed him.

...it's possible.