A gift-fic for Rose Gilmore. Happy Holidays, my dear friend!

Frost

There she was. His eyes fell on her almost immediately, and he thought it incredible that he still recognized her, even after so many years.

In the background, a phone rang, as a copy machine hummed in the busy office. A co-worker handed her a cup of coffee as she chuckled at something said.

She hadn't changed much, he observed, as he waited his turn. Those auburn locks still hung loose over her shoulders, perhaps a bit longer then he remembered. Her eyes still held that captivating sparkle, and her smile...how he loved that smile.

It was strange seeing her again. She was the last person he expected to run into on a busy Monday morning. He wanted to go over and say hello, but something held him back. He was afraid. Afraid of her reaction, of what she would say, if she even recognized him at all.

The line inched forward as he argued with himself, but then she looked up, and for a split-second their eyes locked. He quickly turned away, choosing instead to stare at the back of a plain green sweater. She remembered him, he knew it intrinsically, as he envisioned her mouth falling open, those dark blue eyes going round in shock, the styrofoam cup falling freely from her hand to bounce off the mahagony desk and onto the floor.

"Suki!"

"Suki, are you okay?"

"Did you burn yourself?"

He resolutely stared straight ahead, willing himself not to turn around and run over, but the moment he heard the word 'burn' his head snapped back around. His feet seemed to carry themselves as he went to see if she was alright.

"It's been awhile."

A while, Sokka thinks sardonically. Try maybe a decade. That would be more accurate.

"Didn't expect to run into you on a busy Monday morning."

"Looks like I still haven't lose my ability to make you go all weak and drop things," he teases, as they walk down the busy avenue.

A playful punch in the arm is his response. Then, silence.

Cars pass them, horns blariing, and the weather is muggy.

"I'm surprised I still recognize you," she says after some time. "Then again, not much has changed."

"I know. My good looks are hard to forget."

Another punch accompanied by a roll of the eyes. "You're still as corny as ever."

Sokka chuckles as they walk, and he feels like an old fire is being re-ignited. A spark of something once thought lost, beginning to smolder until it rises into a flame. He wonders, quietly, what it was that happened between them, what drove them so far apart. Try as he may, he cannot seem to come up with a solid reason, other then they had simply drifted out of each other's lives.

But now he feels the way he used to feel about her so many years before. Before other people had come into their lives and made them forget about each other. They were older now, no longer young, but it seemed the feelings hadn't changed at all.

Sub-conciously, he feels himself acting on these emotions, as he stops her and leans in close. She does the same.

And as they are about to touch, her hand covers his, and he feels cold metal being pressed into his skin, as she quietly whispers, "Who's the lucky girl?"

He jolts back to reality, where the noise and smog encases the city, and he doesn't respond, as he looks down to see her own ten fingers bare.

"Widowed," he replies without looking at her. "She died about a year ago."

"Oh...I'm so sorry...about your loss."

He waves away her condolences, as he turns to her and asks, "What about you? You never moved on?"

She turns away from him slightly, bringing her hands up to cover her arms. "Divorced."

The word hangs in the air, ugly and shameful in all it's implications.

Sokka gently touches her, turning her face to his. "And who was the idiot that gave you up?"

She smiles, and he decides that nothing is more beautiful then the way her lips curve upwards, as he leans in to kiss them. She wraps her arms around his neck, as she kisses him back, two passionate people on a busy street corner, oblivious to the world.

He reflects, after she pulls away and takes his hand in hers, that he never received an answer.

End.

A/N:

If you leave a review, please don't leave anything saying how you don't like Sukka or hate Suki or anything like that. This is a gift-fic, and as such, I'd appreciate it if people are mindful towards the person it was written for. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Téa