A/N: Over a month ago (at least), on a very crazy night, tumblr decided to start "LOK Disney Madness". I signed up for it with a Toph and Lin Brave AU. So here's the beginning. I'm not going to promise regular updates but I'll try. I actually have an outline for this fic too.
Disclaimer: I don't own.
Toph had been married long enough to get pregnant and have her new husband targeted and killed by the Triads. Three months pregnant and alone Toph assumed life would go on as normal. She got up and went to work after her bereavement period was over. She didn't smile, per se, but she smirked and joked like she had before.
She helped to bring the murderers to justice and stayed for the entirety of their trial. She took pleasure in personally locking them in their cells.
A month passed and everything seemed normal again. Katara (and newborn Tenzin) routinely came over and checked on her, making sure everything was all right and offering a shoulder to cry on if she needed it. Toph always told her she was fine.
She cried alone at night and that was all she needed.
Toph kicked the door closed. It seemed the farther along she got the more exhausted she became. To add to everything she had to plan for her replacement (as if anyone could really replace her) along with her normal duties. She flopped onto the couch and bent her uniform off. Soon she'd have to add even more metal to it or forgo it entirely.
Idly she ran her hand over her growing stomach thinking of everything she had to do and of the leftovers she had from the lunch she had brought home.
As she sat debating whether or not it was a good idea to get up before Katara arrived or after (she came at the same time every night) she felt it. A push from the inside. Her baby moved. Her baby moved. Again, the little push. After months of sickness and aches it finally seemed real.
She turned towards the kitchen where he was making dinner. "The baby-" she caught herself. Without putting her feet on the floor or even listening for the tell tale signs of sizzling food she knew it was empty.
Everything came crashing down. He's never feel the baby kick, never hold the baby, never take Toph's hand and gently run it over the baby's face as he described it for her, never help her come up with a name, and never sing the baby to sleep.
He'd never see his baby. Just like her.
The crying started with a hiccup. She tried to stop it with a very loud snort but that only made it worse and caused her to cry harder.
She wasn't aware that Katara was there till she felt herself being pulled into her friend's embrace and having her hair stroked as Katara cooed soothing words.
She sat up and pushed Katara away. "It's not going to be ok! It will never be ok again! He's never going to see his baby! I-"she gulped, "It wasn't real till now. The baby kicked and he's never going to feel that! I can't-I can't do this alone Katara!" She cried harder and collapsed onto Katara's shoulder.
Katara resumed her previous ministrations. "I'll help you," she promised into Toph's hair.
Toph hiccupped again. "You can't, you already have Tenzin and Bumi and Kya. I can't-"
"Yes you can. You're not going to do this alone. I'll just figure out a way to do both."
Toph snorted again. "Sugar Queen-"
"Don't start. I'll figure it out." Katara pulled Toph closer and began rubbing her back. "Right now I'm here for you to cry on."
Toph wasn't sure how long she cried but she stayed in Katara's arms until her head hurt, her eyes felt drained, and her breathing was done in horrible little gasps. "Feel better?" Katara asked as Toph sat back on to the pillows.
"No," Toph admitted. She felt drained and worse than she had in a long time.
She felt Katara move forward and brush the hair out of her face. "It will take time but I'm just across the bay. Grab Aang before he leaves the mainland even and I'll be over right away," Toph didn't have to see to know that Katara was smiling. "You felt the baby kick today."
"Yeah," she admitted with a small, strained, smile.
"Good I was a little worried about it."
"Why?"
"Sometimes stress can make you, well, lose the baby. And kicking can start earlier. I didn't want you to lose both. Lie down and I'll check you out. Then we'll come up with a plan for when the baby comes."
Toph dutifully relaxed back and soon felt the familiar cool tingling of Katara's healing. Soon the sensation moved towards her head and eased some of the ache that the crying left. She whimpered when Katara removed the water from her head only to have it replaced with a cool cloth. "I'm going to make us some tea then we're really going to discuss what to do. It's been too long and I was never going to leave you alone with a newborn and before you object even I wouldn't want to do it." Toph huffed and closed her eyes and listened to Katara's soft footfalls as she scurried around the kitchen lighting the stove and putting the kettle on.
"Here," Katara said a few minutes later as Toph sat up and took her cup.
"Thank you," she said before gently blowing on her tea before taking a sip.
"Are you ready to talk about it?"
"No but I'm closer to five months along and soon the baby will be here and I can't put it off forever."
"You can move to the Island," Katara offered.
"No, absolutely not. I'm not living like an airbender, no offense."
"None taken. I will admit it was an," she sipped her tea, "adjustment."
"You mean Twinkletoes knows that you come to the City at least once a week to go out to lunch with Sokka and eat only meat?"
"Something like that."
"Plus you already have your hands full with your own baby plus Kya and Bumi."
Katara nodded before remembering to say "right." She took a deep breath before saying the next option available. "Toph, I know you might not want this but, well, have you considered asking your parents for help?"
She didn't want to admit she almost had. When they had come for the funeral she'd almost asked them to stay but pride had stopped her. At the time she'd convinced herself that she could still do everything.
Now she knew she needed help. "Katara can you write the letter for me?" She asked softly.
"Of course."
Two months and one very long conversation moderated by both Katara and Aang ("I'm the Avatar, it's my job to keep the peace") later, Lao and Poppy Beifong had purchased a new house in Republic City, Toph was moved in, and a baby's room was set up.
Her parents accepted that Toph was her own person and not helpless while she accepted that there were going to be times where, no matter what she thought, they would know what's best. She also secured a promise from them that, if her baby was a bender, they would let Toph decide what training the child would get.
"Make it stop make it stop make it stop!" Toph screamed as another contraction ripped through her abdomen.
"I know it hurts-"
"Of course you know it hurts! You've done this three time and I don't know why Twinkletoes is still alive!" Poppy and the other healers laughed at Toph's out burst. Katara chose to ignore that, much like she had the other comments about how she should just waterbend the baby out and why was this so painful and the threats.
"Toph you need a big push when the next contraction starts-"
"What do you think I've been doing Sugar Queen!"
"Just do what I'm asking!" In response Toph grit her teeth and pushed as hard as she could. This felt horrible and she just wanted it to be over and make the pain stop and-
"I see the head! Another big push and your baby will be here."
Toph pushed when her body urged and as she flopped back exhausted she heard her baby cry for the first time. "It's a girl, Toph, you have a baby girl."
Toph knew she was smiling like an idiot but she didn't care. She reached out as she asked to hold her daughter. Katara gently placed the cleaned and bundled baby in Toph's arms. She then took Toph's hand and gently guided it over the baby's face, just like Toph had asked her to do a few weeks ago. "She has black hair like you. This is her nose and her lips," Toph was crying and she didn't care. She hadn't completely seen her daughter yet but she knew she was perfect.
"What are you going to name her?" Her mother asked.
"Lin," Toph said. "After her father."
On the name: as far as the usual baby name website I use goes Lin is apparently a gender neutral name.
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