Nothing Is Ever Lost
It was a clear day in Republic City; Sokka had decided to take a trip out to Air Temple Island to see Aang, Katara and the kids. As soon as he headed up the front steps he saw Bumi running out to greet him.
"Uncle Sokka! Uncle Sokka!" he rushed toward the other non bender in the family.
"Hey Boom," Sokka caught him in his arms and the two began to walk inside. "How are things?"
"Dad's all excited because Tenzin showed his first signs of airbending today," Bumi told his uncle.
"That's wonderful," Sokka told him knowing how much Aang had hoped for an airbender.
"I guess," Bumi shrugged. "I was just hoping that maybe Kya would be the only bender so I would have some company."
Sokka looked down at the eight year old. "You'll always have me Bumi, but now the world has more hope for saving Airbenders."
The young boy nodded and jumped down from his Uncle's arms the two of them walking inside the house. They found Katara and Aang eating lunch with Kya and Tenzin. Kya was about four and was playing with her water instead of drinking it and Tenzin at only one year old, was being fed by his father.
"Sokka," Katara's face lit up a little when she saw her brother, getting to her feet to give him a hug.
"How is my baby sister?" he asked kissing her on the cheek before greeting Aang and Kya.
"Busy," she laughed a little. "These two keep us on our toes."
"Thankfully Tenzin is much more low maintenance than his brother and sister," Aang laughed, handing his youngest to his brother-in-law to hold.
"I heard that you are going to be an airbender," Sokka cooed to his youngest nephew. "There is almost one of each of us now. Your mommy has her waterbender, your daddy has you, Zuko has his daughter, and I have Bumi. All we need is an earthbender and we can have Team Avatar: The Second Generation."
Katara cleared her throat. "Sokka, when was the last time you spoke to Toph?"
The whole room seemed to go silent before Aang got to his feet. "Kya, Bumi, why don't we go take Tenzin for a nice walk outside."
Aang gave Katara a gentle kiss before he and the kids left the two siblings alone.
"I haven't talked to her for awhile," Sokka finally answered her. "Not since Suki and I broke up, why?"
"It's been almost a year since you and Suki broke up, why haven't you talked to her?" Katara asked.
"We're both busy, I don't know," Sokka gave a frustrated sigh. "Besides the last thing I heard was she was going with you and Aang out on a double date."
Katara looked at her brother. "That was back when you and Suki broke up as well. What is keeping you from-"
"Katara can we just drop the subject please?" he asked cutting her off. "I realized how I felt about Toph too late and I've lost my chance. I spent all those years trying to make my relationship with Suki work and while I did I lost my chance to be with the one person who understands me, who appreciates me."
"My family doesn't?" Katara asked him teasingly.
He sighed again. "You know that's not what I meant Katara."
She walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. "I know Sokka, and I also know that there is always hope. We lived through a war, and lost people we loved, but we're here and starting to have families of our own. Nothing is ever lost….go see Toph."
Sokka just nodded and hugged his sister one last time before leaving air temple island and heading back into Republic City. On his way home, if only to tell his sister he had tried, Sokka decided to swing by the police station. He stopped at the front desk, everyone around the station looked busier than usual, Sokka went up to Toph's office and stopped at her secretary's desk.
"Can I see Chief Bei Fong for a moment?" he asked.
"I'm sorry Councilmen," she looked at him sadly. "The Chief isn't here; we don't expect her back in the office for another week or so."
"Why?" Sokka was worried all of a sudden. "Is something wrong?"
"No one knows," she told him sadly. "She has been acting very odd and secretive lately and no one knows why."
Sokka was surprised to hear that, the Toph he knew was always very open and up front.
"Thank you," Sokka said before turning and leaving.
He was going to get to the bottom of this and if he couldn't find Toph at her office then he would just have to go to her house. He tried to prepare himself as he got closer but Sokka had never been this nervous in his life, he had no idea how Toph would react to him coming to see her, or if she would even want to see him. He took a deep breath in and raised his hand to knock but before he could the door opened and Toph was standing there in front of him.
"It's good to see you Snoozels," she said smiling up at him. "It's been a long time."
"Too long," Sokka replied.
The two hesitated for a moment or two before Sokka pulled Toph in for a hug. Even now that they were grown up, both of them in their 30's, Sokka still laughed at how much taller he was than Toph.
"I stopped by the station to see you," he told her as she ushered him inside. "They said you weren't going to be back for at least a week. I was a little worried that you were ill or something bad might have happened."
Toph sat down. "It's been a rough year."
"I know what you mean," Sokka laughed a little as he sat as well.
Silence passed between the two for another moment or two before Toph finally spoke again.
"How's Suki?" she asked.
Sokka was surprised she didn't know. "We broke up, almost a year ago."
"I'm sorry," Toph added hurriedly. "I didn't know, Aang and Katara stopped telling me things about you and Suki because they knew how much it-"
Toph stopped.
"How much it what?" Sokka pressed her.
"They knew how much it hurt me," she sighed. "I even started dating someone to try and get you out of my system."
This was what Sokka had been afraid of.
"I know; Katara told me that she and Aang were going on a double date with you and him." Sokka explained. "After Suki and I broke up I asked about you and I knew I was too late."
He could see tears in Toph's eyes and almost wanted to go, he hadn't come here to cause her more pain.
"I want you to meet someone Sokka," she said, wiping away the tears and getting to her feet. "Please?"
"Of course Toph," he answered.
The earthbender got to her feet and walked back down a hallway to where Sokka assumed her bedroom was. He tried to steal himself for whoever came out of the room with Toph, he was ready to look the man she had fallen in love with in the eye, shake his hand and tell him he had better never hurt Toph or he would be sorry. Just the thought of that made his heart ache but Sokka knew that for Toph's happiness he would do anything. When Toph came back into the room however there was no man with her, she was just cradling something in her arms. She walked back into the living room and Sokka got to his feet.
"Sokka this is my daughter," Toph whispered. "Her name is Lin."
Sokka leaned over and saw the small baby girl with a tuft of dark hair and her mother's green eyes looking up at him.
"She's beautiful," Sokka breathed.
"I know," Toph smiled a little, still looking with wonder at her child.
"Who's the father?" Sokka finally asked the question he was afraid to ask.
Toph didn't speak for a moment or two. "He's…not around."
"Oh Toph," Sokka sighed pulling her gently into a hug, Lin still in her arms. "He's an idiot."
Toph began to sob quietly into Sokka's shoulder, she had been putting on a brave face for a long time and now she was going to be able to tell him everything. The only other people who knew were Aang and Katara, after all Toph wouldn't trust anyone else to deliver her baby. Finally after a few moments she was able to stop her tears and broke away from Sokka a little.
"Let me go put Lin back in her crib," she turned and left again, leaving the usually fearless man to think about what he was actually going to say now.
Toph came back and she and Sokka both sat down on her couch, more nervous now than they had been before.
"So, how old is Lin?" Sokka finally asked.
"Just a week old," Toph told him. "Katara had been staying with me until a few days ago."
He smiled. "So that's why my sister wanted me to come see you."
Toph blushed a little. "Everyone always knew how I felt about you; I didn't try to hide it. At first I thought my feelings might change or go away but the older I got the stronger they got. I never told you because first of all I thought you already knew and just didn't say anything to spare my feelings and second of all because of Suki. I only wanted you to be happy Sokka and when I thought you and Suki were happy so I tried to move on. My parents had been trying to arrange a match between me and an old friend of the Bei Fong family. He came to Republic City and the two of us started to date for a few months, I kept trying to make myself feel something for him but it never happened and when I found out I was pregnant he didn't take it very well but he stayed for the sake of the baby. Then when Katara was able to tell me it was a girl, he left. He said he didn't want the child if it wasn't a son to pass on his name to and he didn't want to have more than one child anyway. I was so ashamed that I tried to keep it a secret from everyone, for a long time only Katara and Aang knew I was pregnant then when I couldn't hide it I took a sick leave from work and figured I wouldn't go back until I had figured things out."
Toph had tears running in steady streams down both her cheeks now. Sokka reached forward and gripped her hand in his, letting her know he was still there.
"I made a mistake using him to try and forget my feelings for you, but without him I wouldn't have Lin. Lin is the most perfect thing in my life; I never thought I would love someone so much especially when I thought I couldn't have you."
"I made a mistake too," Sokka told her sadly. "My mistake was trying for too long to fix a broken relationship. Suki and I were so young when everything started and I think the older we got, the more we grew apart but I stayed trying to rekindle what we once had. I took her on trips to places that meant something to us but in so many of them all I ended up seeing were memories of you and at the end of the last trip we realized that we weren't kids anymore and we weren't in love. I wanted to go to you and tell you how I felt for you but that was the night you went on a double date with her and Aang."
Sokka took a deep breath. "I thought I had lost my chance that's why I haven't seen you in so long. I was afraid to see you with someone else when it was my own fault that I realized so late that I love you."
Those words only made Toph cry harder.
"I don't know why I didn't figure it out sooner," Sokka laughed sadly, tears in his own eyes. "I guess I couldn't put the pieces together fast enough. You know I'm not the brightest."
"What pieces Meathead?" Toph asked.
"You used to grip my arm when you couldn't see," Sokka began to explain. "If we were ever somewhere that didn't have a lot of earth or metal you would hold onto me. Until a few years ago I never understood how much faith you were putting in me, how much trust, how much love you were putting in me letting me be your eyes. Then I thought about how the best earthbender the world has ever known, the inventor of metalbending, would lean on me, a non bender for support when she needed someone. You are one of the most powerful benders ever and yet for some reason you turn to me when you can't see. That's what love is, trusting someone else to take care of you, to watch out for you, to save you. You've saved me quite a few times over the years and I don't know if I've ever thanked you for that."
"You're welcome," she whispered.
"But more than anything love is about wanting the other person to be happy," Sokka explained. "I love you so much that if you had brought a boyfriend or a husband out here to meet me I would have been able to shake his hand and wish you both the best because I will never be happy unless you are happy too….that is love."
Toph moved closer to Sokka, taking his face between her hands and making him look at her. She knew that she couldn't see him but she wanted him to see the feelings in her face.
"Do you remember the air ship?" she asked, knowing that he did. "I dream about that moment all the time. When we both fell and you grabbed me all I could feel was your hand. I was dangling above the water and you were all I could feel; in that moment you were my whole world and when I started to slip you caught me again."
"I was so scared of losing my grip," Sokka confessed. "If you had fallen I would have dove after you, I would never have stopped trying to save you."
"Then," she kept going. "When we got off the airship, it was me you leaned on and not Suki and I guess I read too much into that moment."
"You didn't," he tried to assure her. "It just took me longer to get there. I told Katara earlier that you were the only one who ever understood me, ever appreciated me. You've never wanted to change me, but you aren't afraid to tell me when I'm wrong, you make me laugh, you keep my on my toes, you give me everything I've ever wanted."
Toph was at a loss for words this time so Sokka leaned in and kissed Toph as he laced his fingers though hers. Toph melted into Sokka's touch and as they kissed it was almost as if she could see a whole other world where the two of them would make their lives together. After a few moments they broke away from each other and Sokka touched his forehead to Toph's, their hands still joined.
"The spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly," she told him. "I love you Sokka."
"I love you too Toph, I'm sorry it took me so long to figure that out."
"I'll forgive you this time Meathead," she laughed.
The two leaned back on the couch wrapped in each other's arms and just began to talk, to catch each other up on their lives. As the sun set Toph fell asleep in Sokka's arms, clinging to him just like she always had. Sokka leaned down and kissed her forehead when he heard crying coming from the back. Without waking her Sokka got off the couch and went to Lin's bedroom, he leaned over her crib and as careful as he could lifted her up into his arms. He sat down in the rocking chair that was next to her crib and began to rock back and forth. He looked down at the tiny little girl, his eyes filled with wonder and lovingly kissed her tiny nose.
"I love your mother so much, I thought I had lost my chance to be with her but your Aunt Katara was right….nothing is ever lost. I might not be your father Lin," he told her as the baby began to drift back to sleep. "But if you would like I will be more than happy to be your Dad."
Lin yawned and one of her tiny hands gripped Sokka's finger.
He softly began to sing "Leaves from the vine, falling so slow, like fragile tiny shells, drifting in the foam"
What he didn't notice was Toph standing in the doorway, tears once again in her eyes. She didn't need sight to recognize that this was her family and it was perfect no matter how long it had taken to get there.
The End
So this is my first Tokka fic and my first AtLA fic so be gentle. I had to get my Tokka feels out in the open and how I think my OTP could become canon. I was also inspired by this picture art/Tokka-Here-for-you-303869625. I also looked into ages and Tenzin during Legend of Korra is 51 and Lin is 50 which means Katara was 34 when she had Tenzin so that is where I got the ages. I guessed at Bumi's age so don't hurt me. If you liked this at all please give me a review or let me know what I can do to improve it. Thanks for taking the time to read.