Since I just love, love, love writing anything between the events of ATLA and LOK, especially if it involves the Gaang descendants heavily, here you go…
oooooooooo
Finally, after a truly exhausting day, Lin made her way across a dark parking lot and into her car. This wasn't just another tiring day at the academy, oh no, this had been her first day in the field. Her first day as part of the Republic City Police Force. This was something she wanted for years, something she trained for so often it sometimes felt like the only thing she wanted. But it felt all wrong…
In the morning, while driving to work with her mom, she could barely conceal her excitement, but at the station she felt so out of place. She'd been around police officers her whole life and while all of them were so relaxed and confident she had no idea what do, or what to say. Her field training officer kept calling her Lil' Chief all day, while she struggled to move around in the heavy armor.
All in all, Lin just couldn't wait for all of it to be over so she could get out of there. When she finally reached her car she just sat there for a few seconds trying to steady her heavy breathing and then laid her head on the steering wheel, sighing.
If this was her first day, then how bad was it going to get?
"Hey." A man's voice came from the back seat. Lin, reflexively, turned towards the source and punched the man right in his face.
"Ow!" When Lin recognized the intruder as Bumi, it was already too late. He had blood pouring out of his nose and was trying to stop it with his palms.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he kept yelling, "I had nowhere else to go."
"Really?! Nowhere else but my car?! Do you know how big the planet is?!"
"I'm sorry. I'm… You almost broke my nose!"
"You had it coming, sneaking up to me in the dark!" Lin took a few more deep breaths to calm down, "How are you even here? Aren't you supposed to be on deployment somewhere?"
"I left. General Kiyi covered for me."
"Zuko's half-sister? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? You could be charged with desertion!" Lin turned back to assess how much damage she made, but when she took a better look at his face she realized he'd been crying while waiting for her.
"Izumi's getting married tomorrow morning." he said after a pause. Him and the Fire Princess had broken up several months ago, but it all still felt so fresh. Lin wasn't really sure what happened between them, but she did hear a version of the story from Su. The version where Bumi cheated on her with a unit member.
"I know." Their family sent Su over there as their representative for the ceremony, since she was on her summer break, while the two of them had to work.
"When I found out, I thought about, you know, storming the palace, begging for her to take me back…" Bumi started, "But then I thought: she doesn't wanna see me! She made that very clear. Then I thought about coming back home, but my parents are going to the wedding. And they'd just tell me how much I screwed up, even though I already know I ruined everything!"
"I'm sorry."
"And that's what brought me here. I really didn't know where else to go, since I didn't think I could be alone."
"Well, you're not gonna be." Lin gestured him to scoot over so she could move over to the back seat next to him. When she was settled she noticed a bottle of some kind of alcohol next to his feet. She gently set her head against his shoulder. "You're gonna get through this."
"I'm sorry I scared you. You didn't look so good yourself. What's up?" he tried to change the subject because he felt those tears coming up again.
"Today was my first day on the job."
"Not a good day I take it?"
Lin reached for his bottle and took a big sip, "No, not a good day."
"Couldn't have been that bad…"
"I almost crashed the patrol car. I've been driving for years, but today I suddenly blanked. I just couldn't get any of it right all day. I was way too hesitant with one suspect, then way too aggressive with the other. I just don't have it…" Lin sipped again, "Maybe I'm not meant to be a police officer after all."
"Nonsense. You have to be a police officer. This city deserves someone like you to take care of it." he took the bottle from her.
"Yeah, right…" she dismissed his words.
"No, I'm serious. No one has a good first day. You should have seen me at boot camp. I was a disaster! The drill sergeant picked on me because I was the Avatar's son and because he didn't like how I was looking at him. I was a hair's width from leaving at one point."
"But you didn't…"
"No, I didn't. I got to talking with some guys and, I don't know, they treated me differently. No one cared that I wasn't a bender. I was part of it all, for the first time. If I went back home, I'd just be me again," he paused, "So you can't quit. You're gonna be an awesome cop."
"Considering my last name I kind of have to be. I mean, can you imagine if I quit?!" she gestured showing her annoyance, "My mother would say she should have named me Lily instead of Lin and probably never talk to me again. Tenzin would go into his comforting mode which can get suffocating real fast. Aang would try to give me two motivational talks at the same time just to be on the safe side. And your mother would try to stuff me with as much food as possible…"
Bumi broke out laughing.
"I guess I'm getting pretty tipsy since you're actually sounding real funny." he said.
"Hey, I am fun… Occasionally."
"Oh, that's right. It's just the constant proximity to Tenzin that threw me off."
They both laughed, getting more comfortable on the seats.
"Tell me something," he started, "You and Tenzin are, like, for real serious now?"
Lin nodded while a tiny smile crossed her face.
"Please don't cheat on him." Bumi's tone suddenly turned serious, "You'll just never forgive yourself…"
"You know," she touched his shoulder, "You can still go get her."
"No! No, I don't wanna be that guy that won't leave the girl alone. She deserves better! She deserves better than me…"
Lin struggled with what to say next. She was never really good with the consoling stuff. That was more Tenzin's area. She knew there was nothing she could say to him now that would make it stop sucking. She leaned on his shoulder again.
"Do you know she asked her parents to arrange her a match? An arranged marriage in this day and age…" he se said.
"So she doesn't love him?" Lin knew she sounded like she was one of the characters in one of those annoying stories Su liked to listen to on the radio, but she couldn't help herself.
"I don't know. I just know she doesn't love… You know… Me." Tears began forming in his eyes again.
Lin saw it and poked two fingers at his nose without a warning.
"Hey." he winced in pain.
"I know this Izumi thing hurts like a bitch, but like the nose, it's kind of your fault."
"I know! OK! I know! That doesn't make it bleed any less." he whipped his lip again, "Spirits, I've had ass-kickings that hurt less than a heart-to-heart with you!"
oooooooooo
Tomorrow morning Lin was woken up by a knock on her car's window. She jerked into a sitting position after realizing she wasn't in her bed.
"Can we keep it down?" Bumi repositioned himself on the back seat and tried to fall back asleep.
"Lin, what's going on?" she heard Tenzin's voice from outside the car. In a few seconds she pushed Bumi off her, adjusted her hair and dashed outside.
"Good morning, Tenzin." she said, still a bit drowsy.
"I thought you spent the night at your mom's, but when I got there this morning she told me she thought you spent it with me." he leaned over and saw his brother slowly waking up, "What's Bumi doing here?"
"Don't worry, little brother. I'm not stealing your girl. There was nothing inappropriate happening here last night. We just slept." Bumi crawled out of the car too, clearly more than a little hung-over.
"He wasn't thinking that. No one was thinking that." Lin rolled her eyes, "Now would you please give us some privacy? Back in the car."
"I am a very respected soldi-" Bumi started.
"Back in the car!" Lin ordered and he obeyed with the defeated look of a three-year-old.
"What were you two doing?" Tenzin whispered when he was sure Bumi couldn't hear them.
"You know Izumi's getting married today? Well, he was feeling a bit whiny about that, had a few drops to drink, I couldn't very well let him wonder around like that…."
"Why didn't he come home? I don't get it."
"Because he was embarrassed, but also didn't want to be alone. I kind of get it. I think we should do something with him today."
"But I thought we were celebrating your first day on the force?"
"That can wait." Lin took Tenzin's hand to which he responded with a little tender kiss.
"Thank you for taking care of him, I know he's not your problem."
"He's not a problem, Tez, he's basically family."
After hearing her say that Tenzin pulled her in for a kiss once more, this time a deeper one. They were kissing for a while until they heard a muffled whistle, urging them on.
"Oh, grow up, Bumi." Tenzin hit the car window.
oooooooooo
One of two parts…