Not Your Ordinary Night

It's been a long time since she's had a night out to herself. Lin Beifong realizes this as she walks across republic city. In fact, it's been a long time since she's had any time to herself, her position as chief of police kept her very busy and it normally leads to leaving the station late in the night. But once in a blue moon, she gets these nights off and she gets to leave the station before the sun sets. Lin normally spends these nights with Tenzin, since they're both so busy that they try to grab every opportunity to be together, but Tenzin had to cancel last minute (something with the council) and promises that he'll make it up to her next time.

To be honest, she didn't really mind, she needed the time to herself. It has been that long.

Lin was ambling around the city, looking for a nice place to have dinner. There were only a few people out on the streets since the sun has gone down a few hours ago and Republic City at night isn't exactly the safest place to be, but since she's Chief of Police, Lin's pretty sure that she can handle herself.

She passes through the park, and throws a yuan at the fountain. Her wish was that the city was as peaceful during the day as it was in the night time. Her face cracks a smile at the thought, even though it was impossible what with the new Satomobiles hitting the market, engines roaring, Republic City was louder than it ever was before. Lin makes her way through the park and starts walking in no particular direction. This was new for the chief, who always made sure that everything she did was following a plan. She smiled to herself again.

A couple of blocks away from the park, Lin spotted a quaint little restaurant named "Narook's Seaweed Noodlery", when she got nearer to it; she saw that its specialty was on Water Tribe dishes. Normally, she wasn't exactly the world's biggest fan of Water Tribe dishes but this wasn't a normal night. Besides, she had to admit, the Water Tribe did a pretty good job of serving noodles.

The restaurant was pretty crowded, it was dinner time after all, but thankfully, they were able to find a booth for her right away. Lin gave her order to the waiter and was waiting for her food to arrive. She looked around the restaurant and began to people-watch. Since the booths were lined up along the ride side of the wall, she couldn't see the groups of people who were seated in the booths next to hers. She looked across the restaurant and saw that it was filled with mostly families eating out. A lot of them were probably of Water Tribe heritage. Reviews of the restaurant did praise it for their accuracy of reproducing Water Tribe dishes.

Lin shook her head, her mind was wandering. She smiled and took a sip of the water they poured out for her she got to the table. Who knew that spending time on your own wasn't so bad? I should to this more often, she thinks to herself. She puts her glass back down and lets her mind wander some more. Snippets of conversations were making their way to her ears but she didn't think much of them.

"I can't remember if I forgot to turn the radio off before we left. No, wait, forget it, I'm pretty sure I did."

"Guess who just got their first Satomobile today! I'm gonna be cruising the city like it's nobody's business!"

"When I left, I swear that he was looking at me"

"No way!"

"No, really, I swear that he was!"

"I still don't understand why you asked to see me tonight."

Wait a minute, Lin's ears pricked up and she stood a little straighter, I know that voice.

"And why we're here at a restaurant as opposed to Air Temple Island"

Lin turned her head towards the voice and even though his back was turned, she'd recognize him immediately. Tenzin, she thought with much confusion, he didn't mention what his plan tonight was to her, but do council members have dinners so casually? There seems to be only two of them but she couldn't see who his companion was without giving herself away. Lin listened in a bit more closely.

"I did say that I needed to talk to you, and what I need to say is important."

Hey, I know that voice too, Lin realized.

"Well, I would appreciate it if you just said what you need to say. After all, I had plans tonight." Tenzin was saying "Plans that I had to cancel because you said that our meeting tonight was of 'utmost importance' Pema"

Pema! Lin sat up even straighter, she was that non-bender who was working with the acolytes at the air temple. So, she was why Tenzin cancelled on her. She tried to listen even more closely.

"Oh, don't worry, it's important. I only thought that it might be a topic better handled outside Air Temple Island and that it would be better to talk about it over, or rather, after dinner." Pema replied with a cough. She sounded flustered.

"We're done eating, are you going to tell me what this is about now?" Tenzin replied. If he was annoyed, Lin couldn't tell since he was talking in his usual manner, calm.

Pema didn't say anything for a moment and took a swig of her drink. It was a rather long swig, Lin thought. She was stalling. Then after a few more moments, she looked as if she was about to say something.

"Your food, miss" Lin was startled by the waiter who magically appeared at her side. She composed herself and gave the waiter a nod. He set the food down slowly (agonizingly slow, Lin thought) and as he was doing so, Lin was drumming her fingers on the table impatiently. Finally, the waiter gave her a bow and Lin must have given him an impatient look because his stride when he left was faster than when he came to her table.

Lin went back to her old position and resumed eavesdropping on Pema and Tenzin, hoping that she didn't miss anything worth listening to.

"I don't understand." Tenzin was saying.

Oh shoot. She missed what Pema said, she leaned in even closer.

"It's just that I've been spending most of my time on the island and that I've been spending them with you"

Wait, WHAT?

Pema blushed "I mean, not with you exactly, but with you in the vicinity. And when we do spend time together I just think that we've been connecting really well."

Are you confessing?

Tenzin stayed silent for a long moment.

"I still don't understand" He says in a soft voice

"You're not going to make this easy, are you Tenzin?" Pema gave a weak laugh, trying to appear more confident than she felt.

Lin smiled at that, I know how you feel, Pema. Sometimes she had to explain things twice for Tenzin to get them. He can be so dense.

"What I'm trying to say is" Pema took a deep breath "that I like you Tenzin. I mean, I really admire you and that I think you're really amazing and really sweet and I really really do like you"

Oh Gods. No way.

But Tenzin still didn't get it, "So you asked me to dinner, just to tell me that you admire me? Why couldn't you have just said that on the island, I don't really see the need for all this fuss when-"

"I'm in love with you" Pema interrupted

"W-w-what?" For once, Tenzin's calm demeanor fell away and he was flustered.

"I love you Tenzin" Pema said, her voice even "I have for some time."

Lin gripped the table so hard that her knuckles were turning white. She waited for Tenzin's reply.

The tension at the other table was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"I don't know what to say" Tenzin says, his voice has dropped down to a whisper "You do know that I'm with Lin?"

"It's not like I'm expecting you to say it back, Tenzin" Pema replied

"Then why say it at all?"

"Because, Tenzin, I thought you should know." Pema's voice was showing a bit of annoyance "And of course I know that you're with Lin. I'm pretty sure that the whole city knows that." She calmed herself down before continuing "I just realized that I can't keep it inside anymore, you should know and I just think that . . ." Pema trailed off.

You think that what?

"You think that what?" Tenzin urged her to continue, his confusion is still very eminent.

"I just think that you deserve better" She must have seen Tenzin's shocked expression because she added hastily "Not that I don't think that Lin is great, it's not that at all. Lin Beifong is an amazing woman; she's strong, smart and independent. I just don't think that she's right for you. I don't think she makes you happy."

"What makes you think that I'm not happy?" Tenzin's voice was a bit louder now. Pema flinched at the change in his voice. "And you think that I would be happier with you?"

"That's for you to decide, Tenzin" Pema lowered her gaze and refused to look at Tenzin.

There was another long pause, and Tenzin began to stand up.

"I think that I should go"

And without another word he turned around, Lin hurriedly hid in her booth to avoid being seen. As Tenzin walked past her table, she let her hair fall forward to hide her face. When she looked back up, she realized that Pema was still at her table, with an unreadable expression on her face. She stayed like that for a few more minutes; Lin thought that she was going to break down right in the middle of the restaurant. But Pema kept her composure and got ready to leave as well.

Lin's thoughts were warring in her mind trying to make sense of the scene that she witnessed. She didn't think that Pema was an actual threat to her relationship. Lin and Tenzin have been together for years and have known each other even longer. They were happy. Weren't they?

Lin shook her head, and got ready to eat. Her food had already gotten cold but there's no point in not eating them. She picked up her chopsticks and was twirling the noodles around when she gazed upwards from her bowl.

At that moment two pairs of green eyes locked together. Pema's eyes widened at the sight of Lin while Lin kept her cool composure. They stared at each other for a few moments, both challenging the other to give any acknowledgement at each other's presence.

Then Lin looked back down to her food and Pema made her way out of the restaurant. Once Lin was sure that Pema was gone, she let out a breath and decided to finally eat.

Lin was so confused at everything right now, she wasn't even sure whether she was happy or not at witnessing the scene between Tenzin and Pema. She let out another sigh.

I knew this wasn't going to be a normal night.

A/N: I can't seem to stop writing sad Linzin stories. I'm sorry if the dialogue seems a bit too cluttered/messy, I'm still trying to get the hang of writing conversations between people.

Plus I'm not sure as to whether I'll keep this as a one-shot or if I should add another chapter on "what happened after" so I'll be keeping this as "In-Progress"

Reviews please!