Title: When Maybe Isn't Enough

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Word Count: 479

Characters: Toph

Rating: G

Summary: There are times when being blind isn't the only handicap she could have. Silent lips are much more damaging.

A/N: Written before Sozens Comet.

She was as blind as everyone had always assumed she was. Only this time, it wasn't what her eyes had missed—or her feet for that matter.

She supposed she should have known things would turn out like this after he came back from Boiling Rock with Suki and his father, but she turned a blind eye-- Ha!--to it and continued to indulge in her fantasies. Fantasies that she had held onto for so long.

She had been a girl, occasionally a lady, and always a warrior. But why was it so hard now to be a woman? A stronger woman would let go of her feelings. Maybe even open her heart to another man, another who she had fought alongside possibly. Toph couldn't though. So maybe she was still that little girl with her dreams of greatness, with that little tiny spark of hope that someone could see past her cloudy eyes and accept her for who and what she was. That he would see her. Really see her for what she was.

She knew that she could say something, speak up. They would listen to her. He would listen to her. Katara would listen and offer motherly advice about there being other fish in the sea or some such girly nonsense. Aang would understand to an extent, having been there once before but all the Avatar wisdom in the world couldn't touch all the corners of the heart. Zuko would grunt and say something that would be an attempt to help and would fall flat. Sokka would laugh, make a joke, and tease her about liking a boy; but he wouldn't ever understand that it was him that she was talking about. But she couldn't.

That was the crux of the matter really. She couldn't say anything to anyone, and he wouldn't understand anyway. Maybe she didn't want him to understand. Because if he understood, then he might pull away from her. She would rather Sokka never understand if it meant losing his friendship.

So she kept her mouth shut when they asked if there were any objections. She didn't say anything when he toasted and jeered that any man that wanted to date his best friend Toph would have to fight him first. She held her tongue we he placed his baby son in her arms. And she even tried to smile when it was her turn to stand at that alter.

But through it all, she never said a word. Maybe she should have. Maybe it would have made a difference. Maybe it would have changed things. It didn't matter now. It was just dust in the wind.

But as she sat with him and watched their respective kids play together, she wondered if she should have tried despite the potential cost.

Maybe.