Lin woke up to the smell of food. She couldn't quite place the scent, but it was familiar. She attempted to prop herself up on the pillows, but gave up the moment a sharp pain ripped through her stomach. She had been walking home from a restaurant with Su, when all of a sudden a waterbender came out of nowhere and tried to stab her sister with an icicle. Lin, being the protective big sister, took the blow for her before remembering that she was in the beautiful green dress Su had bought her, not her metal armour. She had blacked out shortly after seeing her sister knock out her attacker.
She had managed to persuade Tenzin that she didn't need babying on Air Temple Island as she recovered, but it was Bumi who seemed most worried about her, after her sister, of course. So to keep him happy, Lin had let him stay with her overnight. She hadn't expected him to sleep next to her in the same bed just like they did when he slept over as a child, but Bumi was gentle and was careful not to bump her as he got up in the morning, resulting in her sleep in.
The door swung open and the Avatar's eldest son walked in with a tray, shutting the door behind him with his foot before placing the tray on the bedside table to help her sit up against the headboard. Looking over his shoulder, Lin saw what her good-willed friend had prepared her and inwardly shuddered: pumpkin soup. When they were kids, Katara would make it for them whenever she slept over, Bumi and Su openly complained, whilst Lin remembered the manners Uncle Zuko had unknowingly taught her when she stayed over at the Fire Nation Palace one summer. He had scolded Izumi for complaining about the dumplings.
"Even if you don't like the food, the chef has gone to a lot of trouble to prepare it for you, a proper lady would eat it politely and not complain. Look at Lin, she's eating it without a fuss."
Lin had felt a swell of pride at that moment, not used to having attention pinned on her. The truth was she liked the dumplings and all the other food at the table: the royal Fire Nation food was much better than the take-out they usually had, or spirits forbid her mother's terrible cooking. So she would eat the soup politely, occasionally attempting to feed it to Momo under the table when her aunt wasn't looking.
She remembered the day Aunt Katara found out she hated pumpkin: It had been raining, and the Beifongs were stranded on the island because her mother refused to take the ferry in that weather, so Katara had made them a warm dinner: pumpkin soup. Su complained to her mother about how she hated pumpkin, and Toph had agreed, saying it was a trait that ran in the family, but Katara had laughed and said Lin must like it because she never complained. So Toph, wanting to win the argument planted her feet firmly on the ground and asked Lin, "Do you like pumpkin?" her eldest daughter had said something about not minding them, and Toph exclaimed,
"LIE! LIN BEIFONG THAT'S A LIE! YOU'VE BEEN EATING KATARA'S GROSS FOOD FOR YEARS JUST SAVE HER FEELINGS! DON'T DENY IT! YOU LIED!"
Lin just bowed her head in defeat; Katara did the opposite of what she had expected and laughed, brushing it off and never serving the Beifongs pumpkin again. Bumi had been in the United Forces at the time, so he never found out she hated the food.
"I made you soup, Linny." Announced Bumi, pulling her out of her thoughts.
Lin smiled in gratitude, Bumi nearly threw up at the mere sight of a pumpkin, the only time he would go near one was to carve it for Halloween, so she realised he was really going out of his way to make a dish he thought she liked to help her feel better.
Bumi stood there watching her, waiting, Lin realised, for her to eat a spoonful. She picked up the bowl and raised the spoon to her lips, when she was hit with the hideous smell of pumpkin. She opened her mouth to eat it, and -
"I'm so sorry Bumi, I cant. I hate pumpkin, I only ate it to please Katara."
For a moment, Bumi looked at her in shock, then he burst out laughing, "Aw, Linny, you're so adorable! Don't worry; I'll get you something else to eat. What do you want? I can make pancakes."
"Pancakes sound good, Bumi."
Lin smiled and Bumi leaned down and gave her a friendly kiss to the forehead, not noticing the blush on her cheeks, before taking the wretched soup out the door and heading back downstairs.
A while later, Lin could smell smoke, shortly followed by a yell and cursing, and finally the hiss of water and Bumi trudging back upstairs.
"I give up, Linny. Cooking is not my strong suit."
Lin just smiled as he pulled a chair up next to her bed and took her hand. "I can get take out."
"Don't worry, I'm not really that hungry."
"I know! I'll make tea! I'm good at that! Uncle Zuko taught me when I stayed over on leave! What kind do you want? Jasmine? I'll make jasmine."
Bumi jumped up and jogged out of the room, Lin counted to thirty before he trudged back upstairs again, "No tea."
Lin chuckled as he sat down beside her, defeated, and took her hand again. He didn't cheer up like she though he would.
"What's the matter, Bumi?" He sighed and looked her in the eye,
"I just want to be helpful, you know? I can't heal you like Kya or mom, I can't help you do your paperwork 'cause my writing's terrible and Mako's doing that to get away from his snobby prince, so I try to cook and take care of you, but no matter what I do, it always fails." He stood up, loosely holding her hand, "I'll get going, I'm no help here."
Before he could drop her hand, Lin tightened her grip.
"Don't go. Please. Just stay."
At first, he looked a little shocked, but he gave her a sweet smile and walked around the bed and got in beside her, carefully wrapping his arms around her shoulders, and kissed her cheek, causing the police chief to blush.
"I can do that, Linny."
"You do so much already, Bumi, I'd be lonely without you, I was kind of glad you insisted on staying last night."
Unable to stop herself, she added,
"I wouldn't mind if you stayed every night."
Bumi tilted his head to the side, "How long have you felt this way, Linny?"
"I don't know," she hesitated, "A long time."
"All this time." Bumi started quietly, looking at her in horror, Lin felt a pang of sadness, knowing she had just ruined the best friendship.
"I'm sorry Bumi, I don't know what I was thinking, I - "
"You mean to tell me all this time I was living with my tight-ass brother eating vegetarian every night, I could have been staying here with my best friend eating meat and actually laughing? Damn right you didn't know what you were thinking, now you're stuck with me!"
Bumi paused a moment as Lin chuckled and rested her head on his shoulder, thinking that he hadn't really realised what she had meant. But of course, Bumi loved proving her wrong.
"So you want me to stay, huh? I thought the infamous chief of police could barely stand me crossing the threshold of her not so humble abode. Could this possibly mean that you like me Chief Beifong? That our friendship was torture to your soul all these years as you were burdened with your feelings of unrequited love?"
Lin looked away sadly, shutting her eyes in an attempt to shut out the embarrassment. They popped open soon enough when she felt his beard tickle her neck and his nose bump up against her jaw,
"Well you should have told me, Lin, you really should have, because that's exactly what I was feeling all those years. I joined the United Forces so I didn't have to see you and Tenzin together, it tore me apart."
"I-it did?"
"Uh-huh." He pressed a kiss to her neck.
He smiled sweetly at Lin and cupped her face in both hands before kissing her gently on the lips.
For a moment, she melted into the kiss, before she shifted, trying to get into a better position so she could deepen it, but she winced and sucked in a breath as the stabbing pain returned to her stomach.
"You ok?"
"Yeah, sorry about that."
Bumi smiled and moved her gently so that she was lying down before snuggling up next to her.
"Get some rest, we have plenty of time for that later." He said, kissing her cheek again before the both of them dozed off, completely contented. It was true: they had all the time in the world.