Chapter One: Reunion
Toph felt unbelievably nauseated as she breathed in the sea air. It wasn't so much the strange scent that bothered her but rather her thoughts of sea food that made her feel sick. She began to fidget uncomfortably as she stood next to Aang. Toph debated going to sit next to the very pregnant Katara on a nearby bench that Aang had bent for her.
"I see it I see the ship!" Aang said. Katara turned her head smiled while Toph crossed her arms and smirked.
"That's great." Toph said sarcastically. Aang looked at his friend sheepishly before he used his glider to meet the passenger they were waiting (impatiently) for. Katara stood up with a groan and walked over to the younger woman. She wrapped her arms around Toph and rested her entire weight on the earth bender.
"Do you have to do that Toph?" Katara yawned. Toph raised an eyebrow before swatting off her friend.
"Afraid so. You're the motherly figure of the group, Sokka is the comic relief, Aang is the moral reasoning. That means I am the one who knocks you all down a few pegs when you all needed it." Toph said. Katara laughed and shook her head.
"Then what is Zuko?" Katara said. Toph waved away her question.
"If I had to guess he is the fatherly figure of the group. Oh Sugar Queen that means you married the wrong…OW!" Toph exclaimed. She tried to detach Katara's fingers from her ear as the older woman pulled on it hard.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Toph apologized. The pregnant woman held onto Toph's ear and began to twist.
"You're lucky you're pregnant or else you would be six feet under right now!" Toph snapped. The commotion drew Aang's attention away from the ship and he quickly turned around to break up the fight.
"Alright you two break it up." Aang said neutrally. Katara looked at her husband angrily before releasing Toph's ear. The Chief of Police rubbed her ear and glared.
"Geez I thought you were gonna rip my ear off." Toph snapped. Aang patted his friend on the shoulder sympathetically.
"Sweetie why don't you go sit down the ship won't be here for a few minutes yet." Aang said. Katara kissed her husband on the cheek before walking toward her bench.
"Thank you for not using your earth bending on her." Aang said. Toph sighed and tilted her head towards her friend.
"I'm not completely stupid Twinkle Toes. I'm not gonna risk the life of my future niece or nephew because my ear hurts." Toph said indignantly. Aang rolled his eyes and watched the ship slowly make its way to the docks.
"How are you doing by the way? I know the break up with Kanto was a nasty one." Aang murmured. He glanced behind him to make sure his wife was out of earshot before turning back to his friend.
"I'm doing fine Aang although I do think you and Zuko took things a step too far. I'm still cleaning up the scorch marks in my bedroom. Whatever happened to violence is never the answer?" Toph chuckled. Aang tightened his hold on his glider as he recalled that infuriating night.
Zuko, Aang and Toph were walking back to her apartment after a rather long a dull council meeting. Toph asked them to come inside for a quick beer before they left for their respective homes. She said she wanted to talk about the Extradition Policies that the council wanted to pass. So Zuko and Aang agreed if only to hammer out the finer details with her before the next council meeting. However when she opened the door to her apartment the two men saw Kanto laying on their bed with another girl. In an attempt to spare their friend Aang attempted to push her out into the hall but Toph heard them and attempted to lodge a bolder at her boyfriend.
The two men regarded the young woman as a little sister and were enraged by the sight. It was Zuko who attacked first but once Aang saw the look of betrayal on the young woman's face he wasn't far behind. Kanto barely had enough time to throw on his pants before the Firelord and Avatar chased him out of Toph's apartment. However what devastated the pair the most was Toph's reaction. The proud earth bender just stood there frozen from the weight of his actions.
"There are exceptions to every rule." Aang muttered angrily. Toph placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him her most convincing smile.
"I appreciate the fact that you're willing to beat someone up for me Twinkle Toes but your the conscience of our little group. Leave the fighting to me." Toph said. Aang didn't have a chance to say anything the Ship had finally reached the docks and was starting to let passengers off. Katara came up next to them and waited impatiently.
"There he is! Sokka!" Aang called. Truly blind on the wooden docks Toph waited for her best friend to reach them instead of running to him like she wanted. Katara on the other hand wasn't as patient, Toph heard her ran up to her brother and throw herself into his arms. He let out a small grunt before laughing.
"I missed you too little sis. But where are the little monsters-I mean kids?" Sokka said. Toph heard Katara smack her brother lightly.
"Zuko has them today. They're waiting for all of us at Air Temple Island." Katara said. Toph heard Katara step away from her brother but before she could move forward to embrace her best friend Aang beat her too it.
"Hey Aang it's good to see you too." Sokka said. The air bender pulled away slapping his brother in law on the shoulder.
"Quick say something Funny!" He said. Toph couldn't contain her snort. Katara heard shook her head disapprovingly at the younger woman.
"Ok I've been working on this one on the trip. Why did the man dump ground beef on his head? Because he wanted a meatier shower!" Sokka said. Aang and Katara didn't react but Toph turned her head away to hide her smile.
Over the years Toph and Sokka's friendship grew into a fairly strong bond. After the war the pair was inseparable Sokka often commissioned interesting projects and often asked Toph to assist him. Likewise Sokka was usually there to help Toph with her metal bending academy. The pair had even helped each other move when Aang and Zuko asked them both to come to Republic City. After that the pair were often seen together working cases and keeping crime off the street.
However about five years ago the gang was called to the South Pole to mourn the death of Sokka and Katara's grandmother. While Sokka insisted that Toph shouldn't come because she would be rendered helpless in the South Pole the young woman stood her ground and stood by her friends as they buried their loved one. Unfortunately Toph was also there to comfort her best friend when Suki left him at the South Pole two days after. It was then Sokka had decided that he needed to stay at the South Pole and help his father lead the tribe. However that didn't change the pair's relationship the pair corresponded through letters for the past five years. It was difficult for Toph because of her blindness but she forced her secretary to read each letter and write down Toph's responses. But now that their Tribe's condition was once again stable under Chief Hakoda, Sokka was sent to be the Southern Water Tribe's ambassador.
"Toph Beifong stop hiding like a door mouse and come give me a hug!" Sokka snapped. Toph turned her head back to the group and waved a hand in front of her face.
"I would if I could see where you are." She snapped. Before she could get out another snarky comment a pair of strong arms shot out and pulled her into a warm chest. Toph fought to keep herself from blushing through all that time Toph's crush on Sokka hadn't gone away. If anything it had grown into something deeper.
She lifted her hand up to his cheek and began to run her fingers over his face. No longer was there any trace of baby fat or any acne bumps. Instead Toph felt smooth skin under her fingers until she felt hair on his chin.
"So you finally managed to grow something other than peach fuzz huh." Toph said sarcastically. Sokka chuckled and pulled his friend close.
"I missed you Chief." Sokka murmured. Toph rested her head on his shoulder and held him tighter.
"I missed you too Snoozles." Toph admitted. Before she realized what he was doing Sokka lifted her off the ground and spun her around once making her yelp in surprise.
"Finally the notorious Blind Bandit admits she missed me!" Sokka exclaimed happily. Toph smacked him on the shoulders in reaction to his teasing.
"I can't believe I snuck out of work early for you!" She snapped. Sokka laughed and set the petite young woman on her feet however he didn't release her instead he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Alright I'll stop my teasing...for now." Sokka said. Toph flicked her eyes to the side in a failed attempt to roll her eyes. She entertained the idea of pushing her friend into the ocean just to teach him a lesson. Recognizing that conniving glint in her eye, Aang let go of his wife to step between the two of them before Toph could do anything terrible.
"Alright you two lets catch the ferry to Air Temple Island before Zuko let's Bumi and Kya destroy the house." Aang said. The three of them walked on ahead leaving Toph to walk unsteadily on the wooden dock. She barely took three steps before she felt a hand take hers. Despite the fact that it had been so long Toph recognized it as Sokka's.
"Hurry up or you'll fall behind." He said. Toph stepped forward with confidence until she was right beside him.
"Just like old times huh." Sokka said. Toph hid her smile by looking down.
…
Toph woke up first thing in the morning and began to stretch out her sore muscles. I have really got to stop sleeping on the couch, she thought lazily. The radio was still playing in the background so the young woman reached over to turn it off with a loud yawn. Finally she placed her feet on the cold stone floor and sent out several vibrations.
Everything appeared to be exactly as she had left it when she arrived home from Air Temple Island. However she sensed another heartbeat apart from her own. Toph slammed her foot down again just to double check but sure enough there it was around her abdomen a small fluttering heartbeat.
Toph stood up and ran out of her apartment ignoring the fact that she was sporting a severe case of bed head and wore no bindings under her baggy t-shirt. She climbed up three flights of stairs and sprinted down the hall to the last room on her right. She pounded on the door three times and waited hopping from one foot to the next. When the occupant of the apartment didn't answer the door Toph pounded on it again. After a few seconds she heard the familiar click of the lock.
"Seriously what do you police officers have against sleep? Come inside Toph it's freezing out there." An elderly woman growled. Toph stopped her hopping to follow the woman's instructions.
"Izu I need you to tell me I'm hallucinating." Toph said. The elderly woman turned to glare at the Chief of Police.
"If that's all you want than get out I'm too old to indulge you." Izu snapped. However Toph stood her ground, in a manner of speaking to the elderly woman the young woman looked ready to bolt out of the door.
"I think I'm pregnant." Toph blurted out. Izu raised an eyebrow, tightened her blue robe around her, before grabbing the earth bender and forcefully placing her on a stool near the kitchen.
"Geez why didn't you say so. I swear you youngsters are getting more frustrating by the day. Stop your panicking and hold still." Izu said. She bent some water out from her sink and instructed Toph to lift up her shirt. Toph winced at Izu's icy touch but kept her complaints to herself. After a few minutes of probing Izu bent the water back into the sink and let it flow down the drain.
"If you're hallucinating then I'm a fire bender. You're definitely pregnant around 6 weeks I'd say." Izu said. Toph shook her head.
"This can't be happening. You swore to me that I wouldn't get pregnant if I drank that fowl tea every day." Toph snapped. She shook her head and ran her fingers roughly through her tangled hair.
"Did you forget to take it one day?" Izu prompted. Toph counted back the weeks attempting to jog her memory but she couldn't seem to straighten her thoughts out.
"The day before Kanto and I broke up. Ugh I can't remember if I took it or not." Toph said angrily. Izu made a clicking noise with her tongue that annoyed the young earth bender.
"Yup that will do it, you only need to be careless once." Izu said. Toph glared angrily at the elderly woman.
"And how does that help me." She snapped. The elderly woman laughed and sat next to Toph on the opposite stool. Toph was tempted to earth bend the stool away from her but thought better of it. The old bat would probably evict me if I had the gall to do something like that, Toph thought angrily.
"Ahh I swear when you get to be my age the back is the first thing to go. Listen if you want to whine and complain by all means let it out now and let's be done with it. But you have to face the reality it happened and at this point you are now responsible for someone else. You're hardly in a position of desperation either, you have the financial means and emotional maturity (I should hope at your age) to take care of this kid." Izu said. Toph groaned and leaned back on the counter.
"Izu you know as well as anybody I'm not cut out to be a mom. I never wanted to be someone's mother…" Before Toph could say anything the old woman threw her hands up and let out a groan of frustration.
"You young people are so infuriating I swear. When you become sexually active you have to accept that there is a possibility of having a child." Izu snapped. That was the last of her patients, Toph stood up and shook her head in frustration.
"I'm gonna go and complain to someone who is not so old." She announced. Izu sighed and opened the door for the earth bender.
"Probably a good idea. If I had to listen to anymore I might have hit you over the head with a skillet." Izu snapped before slamming the door in the young woman's face. Toph stood there for a few minutes before walking back to her apartment to get dressed for the day.
"I hope that I'm not that infuriating when I'm 86." Toph muttered under her breath. She took three calming breaths before she walked down the stairs to her apartment. Before she could get there she sensed that there was someone standing in front of her door knocking repeatedly. She tapped her toes a few times just to make sure it was who she thought before addressing the man in front of her door.
"Sokka what are you doing here?" Toph said. She felt him jump and spin around to face her. She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side waiting for an answer.
"I came to see if you wanted to have breakfast with me just the two of us. You know once you've put some clothes on." Sokka stammered. The earth bender slammed her hand to her forehead as she realized her state of dress or rather undress.
"The door is unlocked come in. Let me get dressed and we can go." Toph said quickly. The man in front of her needed no more incentive than that he opened the door and observed her apartment. Toph slid past him and opened the door to her bed room. She grabbed the first clothes her hands touched. As she was dressing Sokka noticed several scorch marks on the walls of her apartment.
"Did you get into a fight with Zuko or something?" Sokka asked lightly. In the back of his mind he was frantically running through a list of worst case scenarios that led to those marks being on the wall. Toph tugged her shirt over her head and tossed it into the hamper on her right.
"Someone got into a fight with Zuko." Toph muttered to herself. She pulled on her bindings and began to annoying process of tying them.
"Toph?" Sokka asked through the door.
"Hang on Sokka I don't really want to talk with my clothes off." Toph said. That was all it took for Sokka to leave her alone.
Sokka looked around Toph's apartment in an attempt to distract himself from the alarming marks over her walls. The small apartment was simple only containing the things Toph needed. There were no pictures on the walls no trinkets that graced the mantel piece of the fireplace in the living room. She doesn't even have a plant, Sokka thought. He flipped the lid of a chest that was placed across from the couch. He saw his chicken scratch handwriting and smile she kept every single letter he had sent her over the last five years. He lifted one letter and opened it. He noticed that each letter had been run over with some sort of object so many times that he could feel the words with the tips of his fingers. He heard the door to Toph's bedroom open, quickly Sokka put everything back the way he found it and attempted to step into the hall like nothing was wrong.
"You do realize closed doors don't prevent me from seeing anything nosy." Toph snapped. Sokka slumped forward in defeat.
"That is gonna take some getting used to again." Sokka murmured.
"They're dented so I can read without help. Hate or thank my secretary she helped me do it." Toph murmured. He grinned before he noticed the clothes she was wearing.
"Since when do you wear tight shirts?" Sokka asked. Toph wore a simple white shirt that clung to her curves and some baggy green shorts that cut off about mid-thigh and of course no shoes.
"Because my armor is bent on using metal bending baggy shirts make it really uncomfortable to move around in so I've been wearing tops like these. It's just second nature now." Toph said casually. Sokka shrugged accepting her answer he slipped an arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the door.
"Come on lets go get some food." Sokka said. Toph felt her stomach rebel against the idea but she ignored it.
"I thought Sugar Queen would have made you a big breakfast." Toph murmured.
"I snuck out before she could. If there is one thing I noticed about the party last night is that my baby sister has fully accepted the vegetarian life style." Sokka said. The pair walked out of the apartment complex and down the street. The pair decided to go to Yun's, a restaurant they used to frequent whenever Toph had to pull all night stake outs.
The second they entered the restaurant they heard a plate shatter before they were both wrapped in a hug.
"My two favorite customers it's been so long." An old man said. Sokka chuckled before patting the elderly man on the back.
"It's good to see you Cho." Sokka said.
"I can't see but the sentiment is the same." Toph said. Cho laughed and escorted the two of them to a table in the back where the pair used to sit.
"It's good to have you back councilmen. Without you Chief Beifong doesn't often come here. When she does she's usually covered in mud or soot and often just places an order to go. I'm assuming you both want the usual." Cho said. Toph turned bright red and nodded. Cho walked away leaving them alone.
"I didn't realize you missed me that much." Sokka teased. Toph shrugged.
"I didn't I've been busy." Toph lied. Sokka leaned forward with a smug look on his face.
"You do realize when you lie you always look away from me." He flicked him in the head to shut him up. She could smell the meat before Cho even made his way across the room. The heavy scent of grease filled her nose causing her stomach to react. Toph broke away from the table and ran out the back door into the ally. She tossed aside the lid of trashcan and emptied the contents of her stomach. She felt a warm hand sweep her bangs away from her face the other rubbed her back soothingly. Once Toph stopped her heaving Sokka shoved a glass of water into her hands.
"For sprits sake Toph, if you were sick why didn't you say anything?" Sokka asked. Toph took a sip of water and swished it around in her mouth before she spit it out. She tilted her head to chug the rest of the water but Sokka put his hand over the mouth of the glass.
"Slowly I don't want you heaving on me again." Sokka said. She signed and leaned against the ally wall.
"I don't think it works that way." Toph murmured. None the less she took a small sip to appease her friend.
"Stomach flues are…" Toph cut off her friend.
"It's not a stomach flu." She murmured. She took a larger sip of water. Sokka looked at her like she was crazy.
"Alright if it's not the stomach flu then what is it? You seemed fine when I met you at the docks and at the party." Sokka murmured. He came up and placed a hand under her bangs and over her forehead. She slapped away his hand and pulled down her bangs.
"I'm pregnant you meathead!" She snapped. Sokka blinked a few times before he processed what she had said.
"Pregnant like a bird came and dropped off a diamond for you or did you pick it up from a cabbage patch?" Sokka said. She looked up, like he had said the foulest thing in the world.
"Are you serious?" Toph snapped. She raised her fist to hit him but he caught it before she could.
"I'm sorry." He said. She jerked her fist away from his hold and shook her head angrily.
"Whatever." She snapped. Sokka attempted to reach out to hug her but she stepped away. He dropped his arms and turned to face to other wall in a nonthreatening manner. He recognized this type of behavior she wasn't mad at him she was mad at herself and as perusal she lashed out at anyone within hearing distance. He decided the best thing to do was gave her a few minutes to calm down.
"Have you told anyone else?" Sokka asked. She shook her head.
"I just found out this morning. My land lady is a water bender from the Northern Water Tribe she confirmed that what I was sensing was the baby's heartbeat." Toph sighed. Sokka realized that was probably the reason for Toph's state of undress when she came down the stairs that morning. Sokka placed his hand on her abdomen making her yelp in surprise.
"That's amazing you can feel his heartbeat! That's strange I can't feel a thing." Sokka said. She swatted his hand away.
"Of course you can't it's so small that I can barely sense it." Toph snapped. Sokka rubbed the back of his hand in an attempt to sooth the ache.
"He is Kanto's right?" Sokka asked. Toph nodded sadly before sitting down in the alleyway letting her head fall back against the wall.
"Why are you so sad? I'm sure he'll be thrilled when he finds out." Sokka said reassuringly. Toph shook her head.
"I don't have a way to contact him. Last month Aang, Zuko and I caught him sleeping around with another girl. That's why you saw those scorch marks Twinkle Toes and Sparky ran him out of Republic City before I could even blink." Toph murmured. Sokka gripped the hilt of his sword angrily, Kanto was lucky that he had gotten out of Republic City when he did or else Sokka would have gone to have some words with the cheating bastard.
"Do you know what you want to do?" Sokka asked. Toph put her head in her hands.
"I have no idea."