Toph Bei Fong was irritated. No, irritated was too polite of a word. Pissed off beyond all reason was a much better choice of words. She was pissed off beyond all reason. It had been several months since she had last seen Sokka, and she had more than several words to say to the young Water Tribesman.
"No!" she screamed at a student, stomping her foot and sending him across the room. "You're doing it all wrong! Do it again! And do it right this time!"
She stomped back to the front of the room.
"Tao! Try it again! And try not to screw it up!"
She hurled a giant boulder at the boy with enough force to rip through the walls and destroy half the town in the process. He squealed and ran out of the way along with several other third years.
"I'm sorry, Sifu Toph," he cried, eyes welling up with tears. "I'll try harder! I'll study all weekend, I promise!"
"Fine," she said, annoyed, stomping her foot again and smashing the rock before it left the courtyard. "Now get outta here, I'm sick of looking at you!"
Her students scurried off, clearing the way as she stomped through the room, grumbling.
"She's in a worse mood than usual," a fourth year student said to his friend as they left the school.
"I know," another taller student said. "But the rumors in town say that she's pregnant."
"Yeah, right, pregnant," the first one said, chuckling. "You guys kill me! Pregnant, hah, what a laugh!"
"I'm just saying that's what I heard."
"Right, like any man would sleep with her. He'd have to be desperate...or stupid!"
The students parted at the crossroads between Toph's Earthbending School and the main town of GaoLing, laughing the entire way home.
A little while later, Toph made her way to the market. She had spent twenty minutes in the bathroom vomiting, and she vowed that she would find whoever was responsible for making her sick. She was also craving mangoes, which she thought was weird; she didn't even like mangoes. She was exhausted, and just wanted to sleep, but she went against all of her urges and earthwalked her way to the market. The last time she had a craving this bad was two weeks ago, and it was literally dirt. She ignored it until it got so bad that she went out during lunch and dug a hole in the courtyard, much to the shock of her students. Her class had never been the same since then, and several students had left, claiming their mothers wouldn't want them being taught by a crazy woman.
"It's better anyway," she grumbled. "They were terrible students."
The market was as busy as ever, she noticed, sighing as she leaned against a building. She just didn't seem to have the energy that she used to, and she didn't know why. She took several deep breaths and was ready to begin her journey for a mango when she felt someone walk by, lighter than air. Her heart leapt briefly before sinking back down in her chest. Of course he wouldn't be with them. He told her he was going back to the Southern Water Tribe, to help with some things. But Katara would be there, and where ever Katara was, she could always find Sokka.
She'd go talk to them, she told herself, after she went and got herself a mango, so she was surprised when she ran into Aang. (Literally.) The airbender, normally light on his feet, collided into Toph with enough force to knock her over and into the mango stand. Mangoes rolled everywhere and a cry of: "MY MANGOES!!" could be heard echoing throughout the marketplace.
"Oh, hey, Aang," she said dryly, dusting herself off and paying the merchant for a mango she had to retrieve from the ground. "I didn't see you there."
"Hey, Toph," he said, smiling and ignoring the commotion behind them. "How've you been?"
"Better," she replied bitterly. "But I'd rather not talk about it right here."
The look on her face told the Avatar that she was serious, and he invited her to stay the night with Katara and himself.
That night, at the camp that Aang and Katara shared, Toph sat down to tea. She recounted the encounter she had had with Sokka several months ago, and the embarrassment afterwards.
"I don't know what came over me," she said, cheeks flushing, as she remembered the night and subsequent day she and Sokka had spent in bed. "I just couldn't help myself."
"It was the alcohol," Katara replied calmly, as Aang finally sat down to join Toph and Katara around the campfire. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."
Toph silently fumed as Katara recounted the story to Aang. She knew she shouldn't have talked to Katara about it. She knew Katara meant well, but her advice always seemed so heavy-handed that more often than not Toph found herself wondering why she asked Katara for help in the first place.
"OK," she started, slamming her fists into the ground trying to get their attention. It worked, as the ground beneath Aang and Katara rose slightly and they turned their attention to her. "That's great. Talk about me some more like I'm not here. Like no one else has ever done that. I didn't come here for you to do that."
She paused, organizing her thoughts.
"I need to talk to Sokka," she started again. "And it's not for the reason you think either. I-I left something with him. My mother gave it to me the day I came back home. It belonged to her mother and she said that I was finally old enough to have it. It got must have gotten mixed up in the—excitement of it all, and I realized that I hadn't gotten it back. I need it back... I think he may have gotten me—I'm—I just need to see him, alright?"
"How are you feeling, Toph?" Katara asked calmly.
"Let's see." She stopped, making a list in her head. "I've been exhausted pretty much every day, I'm hungry all the time, I've been sick to my stomach more now than I have ever been in my entire life, and two weeks ago I ate dirt!"
"You are an Earthbender," Aang piped up, trying to liven the mood.
"I've never eaten dirt before!" Toph yelled at him, flicking a pebble with her finger.
There was silence for a long time. When someone did speak again, it was Katara. Her tone had changed drastically. She was no longer motherly. She now spoke as a friend.
"Toph, you know as well as I do that you're not sick. There's no sense in lying to yourself."
Her heart sank, but Katara was right. She had been fooling herself for two months, telling herself she was sick when she knew that she wasn't. She had sensed a second heartbeat three weeks after she and Sokka had last been together. She had just hoped that it would go away at some point.
"I am going to kill him!" she yelled, surprised at the tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't need this right now! I can not have this baby! What am I going to do? My life is over!"
"It'll be alright," Katara said, pulling the now-sobbing earthbender into her arms. "It'll be ok. You won't be in this alone, don't worry. We'll help you out."
As Toph cried into Katara's shoulder, Katara stared hard into the woods. She knew that Toph hadn't left anything with Sokka. She knew what Toph wanted to go to the South Pole for, and she was going to help. Her brother had chosen the wrong person to sleep with, and she was going to make him painfully aware of his mistakes.
Aang, who had been silent through most of the discussion, slid away from the campfire quietly. He had seen the glint in her eyes and knew better than to cross Katara when she was angry. He crawled into the tent he and Katara shared, and slid his sleeping bag further away from hers. He didn't want anything meant for Sokka accidentally aimed towards him. He laid there, silent, until he heard the familiar slamming of Toph's stone tent before he slid silently next to Katara. The last thing he heard before he nodded off to sleep was Toph, whimpering quietly.
The trip to the South Pole was one of the quietest trips Aang had ever been on. No one spoke much on the two week trip, besides admonishing Sokka. Aang tried to lighten the mood by starting small talk but was rewarded mostly by chastising and curses and threats and by the end of the first week, Momo became his close traveling companion. By the end of the second week, he let his mind wander to all of the terrible things that Katara and Toph would do to Sokka, and he suddenly felt very alone. He wondered if it was too late to turn around.
Sokka leaned back against the cold wall. The renovations he had helped start several years ago were almost complete, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the final re-fortifications were in their finishing stages. A familiar shape graced the corner of his eye, and he instinctively looked towards the horizon. His sister and the Avatar were landing a little ways away from the settlement, and he wanted to be the first to greet them.
"Hey!" he called, waving to them and breaking out into a brisk run. "Aang! Katara! How are you?"
"I wouldn't do that Sokka," Aang called, running to meet him and motioning with his hands, "if you want to live. They are not in a good mood."
No sooner had Aang said that than Sokka found himself suddenly frozen in place.
"Katara?" he asked, shocked. "What did you do that for?"
"Katara, make him say something so I know where to aim," Toph spoke up, annoyed.
"Sokka, you're an idiot,"she said, sighing.
"OK, what the hell?!" Sokka yelled.
"There he is!" Toph exclaimed, running towards him. She balled her fist and punched him in the stomach.
"Oof! Toph, what as that for?"
.
"Bastard!" she yelled, tears welling up in her eyes. "Why did you do this to me?" She punched him again. "Why?" And again."Why?"
"Ouch, dammit, Toph, stop! Katara, get her off me!"
"No. You're going to stay there and take it until you hear what she has to say."
"I could-oof-if she could-oof-stop punching me-oof."
For a brief moment, Toph had stopped with her punches, tears finally overcoming her. Taking this opportunity, Sokka spoke up, as Toph collapsed in a heap on the cold ground.
"OK, OK, I've been punished enough, don't you think?" He paused, listening to her sobs. "Uh, guys, what's wrong with Toph?"
"I think it'd be best if she told you," Katara said calmly, walking over to where Toph had collapsed. "It's ok. We're in this together, remember?"
"Right." She sniffled, wiping her nose on the sleeve of the extra parka Katara had lent her when the temperature dipped too low for her to stand. Katara grimaced, but continued.
"I'll tell him if you need me to."
"No, I can do it. That's why we came. I have to do this—I have to tell him."
She rose to her feet, tears still streaming down her face, and looked at what she thought was into his eyes.
"Sokka, I'm--I'm--"
"What? You're what? Sick? Hungry? Tired? Angry for seemingly no reason?"
"No, dammit! It's important."
"Toph, do you need me to--?" Katara began.
"No," Toph said, cutting her off.
Sokka started his tirade again, trying to guess what he could have possibly done to make Toph this angry.
"Hungry? Cold! That's it, you're cold!"
"I have a bun in the oven, dammit!" Toph finally yelled, over him.
"Buns? I didn't know that you knew how to cook, Toph! Well, did you bring some? I'm starving!"
"No, dammit, I don't have any buns here!" Toph yelled angrily.
"You left the buns in the Earth Kingdom? Whyyyyyyyyy?"
He fell to his knees, sobbing about the loss of the delicious sweet buns Toph had left back home. Exasperated, Toph began to grab fistfuls of snow, and threw them towards where the sobs were coming from before finally breaking down completely. Seeing his worst fears realized, Aang snuck behind Appa, quietly coaxing him to leave the area as quickly as possible.
"That's it!" Katara said finally, walking over to where Sokka stood, who was now beginning to show some concern over Toph's sobbing. "You're such an idiot, Sokka."
"What? I still don't know what I did," he replied, his voice jumping half an octave in concern.
"Toph's pregnant," Katara said, deadpan.
"Oh, wow! Congratulations! I don't know why she's so sad about it, it's a happy occasion!" he said smiling, hoping she would stop crying when she heard his tone.
Katara sighed. "It's yours, you idiot."
Suddenly it seemed like his world stopped. There was a buzzing in his ears that was so loud it threatened to overtake his entire mind. How was this possible? There was no way that this was his child. He couldn't remember even sleeping with Toph. This had to be a joke, a ruse of some sort. He thought back to all of his trips to the Earth Kingdom for supplies when it hit him. He had met Toph near the town where she grew up. As they normally did when they met up with one another, they spent the night drinking. He remembered a tavern not too far from town, it was one of the few in the area they hadn't gotten kicked out of. They sat down at a table with a bunch of men gambling on Pai Sho. Toph of course wanted to join in, and it was her idea that the loser buy everyone a round. He barely remembered what happened afterwards, but somewhere, in the back of his mind, he thought he heard her cry out his name. The hangover, the smell of the bedsheets, and stale urine rushed back from the corners of his mind.
"We... spent the night together, didn't we?" he asked quietly, as the ice around him melted, freeing him. "I'm sorry I don't remember."
He walked towards her and put his hand on her shoulder, trying to pull her to him.
"Yeah," Toph said quietly, shrugging off his hand. "We did. And you got to go back home with no memory of it."
She stood up, facing away from him.
"But I get to keep the memory forever, and I don't even want it. I hate what you've done to me, and I hate that you can just go home and forget about it. I should kill you for that, but I'm so damn tired."
She curled up into a ball, threatening to doze off out in the cold, but Aang, who had been watching everything unfold from behind Appa, came running. He picked her up and set her on the saddle.
"It's been a long trip," he said, throwing his sleeping bag over a now-sleeping Toph. "Is there an open building she could rest in?"
Sokka turned on his heel and led them into the settlement. His head was still buzzing, and he felt a little dizzy--it was going to be a long night.
It was well into the evening when Sokka snuck into Aang's tent. He had obviously entered at a bad time, as his friend was in what seemed to be various stages of undress. The Avatar was shirtless and barefoot and must have beeb changing since his dark pants hung from his hips loosely, dangerously low. Sokka looked away as Aang bent over and folded his shirt, setting it neatly on his pack and revealing more than Sokka had wanted to see. He threw two open sleeping bags over the mat, sprinkled dried panda lily leaves over them, and sprayed some kind of perfume on the pillow farthest from him, humming softly. Sokka cleared his throat.
"Oh, hey, Sokka. I didn't see you there," Aang said, turning around.
"Is now a bad time?" Sokka asked, swallowing hard.
"No, I have some free time," Aang replied, sitting down on the two open sleeping bags, folding his legs.
"Don't you want to put a shirt on?"
"Nope," Aang replied happily.
"I can see your... happy trail," Sokka said, almost whispering, pointing to Aang's belly button.
"Oh, sorry." Aang laughed and threw his shirt over his stomach."Is that better? So what did you want to talk about?"
Sokka cleared his throat, the words having suddenly left him.
"Toph," he whispered, voice cracking slightly.
"I think you'd be much better talking to Toph."
"I'm not sure how to... do that," he tried again, pausing. "Everything I say gets her upset, and I've already done so much wrong. I don't want to hurt her again."
Aang sighed. He was used to giving people advice, and he considered himself pretty good at it, but it always seemed like it was harder when it was his friends. He paused for a long time, trying to think of the right thing to say.
"You and Toph both said that it was a mistake, right? The result of too much alcohol? Well, sometimes, accidents can happen from these mistakes, ones you don't even realize, and you have no choice but to own up to the responsibility. Toph doesn't want a baby, and maybe neither do you, but she's feeling alone and scared... and angry. She needs your support above everything else right now and you should really go talk to her. It's the right thing to do."
They both sat in silence for a minute, before Aang turned down the lamp.
"Now, if you don't mind, I'm expecting Katara," Aang began, standing up.
"Just what are you two doing in--" Sokka started, but was cut off again by Aang.
"Go talk to Toph," Aang said, nearly pushing Sokka out of the tent.
Sokka turned to say something, but Aang was already gone. The last thing he saw as the tent flap closed was Aang slipping on what looked like Zuko's over-shirt. He wasn't sure whether he was confused or wanted to vomit. He tried to forget about it and hurried to the spare tent that Toph was staying in.
He opened the door slowly. It was dark, and it took him several moments to try to adjust to absolutely no light. He waved his hands in front of him, but saw nothing.
"Just sit down, Snoozles," Toph said from across the tent, annoyed.
"Toph, you're not--?"
"I could hear you outside. You're not exactly light on your feet."
Sokka opened his mouth to say something in protest, and then closed it again. She had a point.
"I think we need to talk," he started slowly.
"Yeah, we do," she said, expressionless.
Neither one of them spoke for what seemed like several minutes, although it was much shorter. It was Toph who broke that silence.
"Well, speak," she commanded, sitting up.
"Why do I have to be the one who talks first?" Sokka demanded.
"Because it's your mistake!" she screamed back. "You need to take responsibility for it."
"It's not just my mistake. You were there! You told me that you wanted me! I did nothing wrong! I did everything you told me to do!"
"And that's why it's your fault!" she screamed again, bursting into tears. "You shouldn't have done any of those things."
"You threatened to hurt me if I didn't," he retorted. He slammed his fists into the cold ground and swore. "This wasn't how it was supposed to turn out."
His tone changed so drastically that Toph found herself balancing on her knees in suspense.
"I'm sorry...," he tried again, softly.
When she didn't say anything, he leaned forward and quickly kissed her on the lips. She slapped him.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked as he brought his hand to the cheek she slapped. "I never gave you permission to kiss me."
"But I apologized," he started.
"And I haven't decided if I'm going to forgive you yet," she replied calmly.
She shifted her weight, balancing precariously on her toes. Rocking gently back and forth, she flicked small mounds of snow with her finger. It seemed to go on forever, Toph rocking back and forth, flicking snow, and Sokka kneeling now, staring into her milky eyes, looking for some kind of sign and hoping she'd give him one. But he knew she wouldn't. He slowly got to his feet and backed through the door. He was halfway back to his own tent when he suddenly felt the need to run back into Toph's tent.
"You're back," she replied, just as calmly as she had before.
"I am—I realized—I had to come back in here."
"Yeah, I heard it, too. They're loud."
"You know, I am sorry," he said, sitting so close that their knees touched. "I didn't forget on purpose. I really thought it was a dream. I drank so much that even the next day was pretty fuzzy. If I had any idea what I was doing, I would have stopped."
"I don't regret it," she said calmly after a few moments. "I'm glad it was with you, though--I wasn't really as drunk as I made out to be. I remember everything."
She paused, and Sokka was surprised at the sudden change in her mood. He didn't understand it, she seemed so angry before. He chalked it up to pregnancy hormones.
"I feel like my life is over. What am I supposed to do now? How am I supposed to support a baby on my own? I don't even want it!"
Before Sokka could even stop himself, he began to speak. He didn't even know what he was saying, but he heard himself quietly say: "Would you want it if I helped you?"
"What?" Toph asked, jerking her head up.
"If I… stayed with you, would you want it?"
"I... hadn't decided yet," she said, thinking about every word. "I didn't think you'd stay. I figured you'd run away screaming. Hell, I did. I still kind of want to."
"Why wouldn't I stay? It's my child, too. I'd never make you raise it alone."
He slid his arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him.
"I'll stay as long as you want me to."
And with that, she kissed him. She missed and kissed his chin, but met his lips the second time. She hadn't realized how much she had missed it, but she kissed him with a hunger she didn't remember ever having and didn't fight him when he deepened the kiss. It was a long time before they parted.
"Sorry," he said again once they had parted.
She responded by pushing him down hard onto her sleeping bag.
Sokka didn't leave the tent that night.
Aang opened his eyes the next morning, only to discover that he couldn't see. He brushed Katara's stray hairs from his eyes as she stirred in her sleep. It was unusually quiet, and he could only assume that Sokka had worked things out with Toph. Sighing happily, he snuggled closer into Katara, sharing her warmth. She titled her head towards him and then turned around to face him. She opened one blue eye and smiled.
"Good morning," she said.
"Good morning," he replied back. "How'd you sleep?"
"Good," Katara said, yawning. She stretched, fingers touching the tent wall. Aang smiled.
"You look sexy in that," he motioned to the Fire Nation shirt he was wearing the night before. "You should wear that more often."
"Keep doing to me what you did to me last night and I just might," Katara said, blushing and smiling. "We haven't heard from Toph and Sokka yet. I hope everything's ok."
She curled back under the blankets, burrowing her head into Aang's chest.
"I talked to Sokka last night," Aang said, pulling Katara closer. "He wanted to know what he should do about Toph. I told him that he should just go and talk to her, and I haven't seen or heard from either of them since."
"That's good," Katara said, sighing contently. "Maybe they have finally worked past their differences."
She had just begun to doze off when shouting from another tent woke her.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? GET OUT OF MY TENT!" Toph screamed.
"Come on Toph please. We talked about this," Sokka could be heard halfway across the village.
"I DON'T CARE. GET OUT!"
"But I'm not even dressed," Sokka called again.
Nothing could be heard for several moments, and Katara assumed that Toph was throwing Sokka's clothes at him.
"I don't understand..." he tried again.
"I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU RIGHT NOW!"
She stomped back into her tent, and Katara buried her face in Aang's chest. Aang threw his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. Maybe if he wished hard enough, he could go back to the time it was just he and Katara and the panda lilies.