A/N:Rare angst for me, had this idea for a while now, Lin is just perfect and I feel so bad for her. I can imagine this happening too.
I own nothing
She had been here for a good half hour, trying to get Lin to come over to some dinner that was being held at the island. Lin rolled her eyes at the acolyte and attempted very nicely to make her go away.
"Pema, I really appreciate your offer but I am way too busy at the time. Maybe in the future.." Lin said, attempting to get her out of the office.
"You always say that Lin. Come on, the kids are dying to see you, and you know Tenzin feels bad about not being able to spend as much time with you because of work. Come on it would be fun." Pema tried to persuade.
Lin thought back on the recent past, she and Tenzin were in a good place again. The two had rekindled their friendship and were as thick as thieves again. However, work usually got in the way of their time together but neither of them really seemed to mind, they found time for each other. Pema seemed to also be more and more in her life recently. Lin could tell that itvwas Pema's thinly veiled attempt at making peace, Pema thought that they could be friends because Tenzin was important to both of them. Her stomach churned at the idea of them being friends, talking about things along with Lin having to listen to her describe in every detail, her perfect marriage to the man she still loves. Lin has always tried to tell Pema in the nicest way to 'get lost' but she kept on pushing. Lin was going to reach her limit soon.
"Pema.." Lin started.
"Lin come on. Why not? It'll be so much fun!" Pema said grabbing the chief's hand.
"Fun, sure seeing you happy with the man I love would be so much fun." Lin thought to herself, annoyance and anger building.
"I'm not leaving until you say yes." Pema said, faintly stepping in her place, releasing Lin's hand. That was it, Lin had had enough. She had been keeping this inside for too long.
"You won. Alright, I get it. You got him. You don't need to throw it in my face every chance you get. You won, I see him enough to know how happy he is with you, much more than when he was with me. I don't need you coming here and trying to give me a front row seat. So Pema, if it's not too much to ask, please stop pushing. We can't be friends, don't you see that? Spirits, just leave me alone. Go back to your perfect life with the only man I ever loved, just go. Unless there is something happening to you guys that needs police attention. I don't want to hear from you. Go back to being the perfect mother to your kids. Hell, go make him even more happy. Just leave me out of it. If Tenzin wants to see me, he'll come and find me, he knows where. Spirits, just go." Lin snapped while on the verge of tears. When her breath returned to normal, she went to sit at her desk and resumed her work.
Pema stood there motionless, she was not expecting to hear what Lin just said. Feeling an odd wave of awkwardness, she started to walk away from Lin and exited the staton. As she walked to the ferry and made her way home she couldn't help but feel a new wave of shame wash over her, mirroring an old feeling. It was late at night when her heart finally gave in, crying as she realized how Lin was feeling and exactly what she had done to her. She realized how badly Lin was hurt so long ago, crying herself quietly to sleep, letting the feeling consume her.