I Do not own these characters, or profit from this story.

Lin swore Skoochy kept growing just to spite her.

He had ALREADY out grown the shoes she had bought him, not even two months ago!

Skoochy was equally disheartened at the thought of having to go shopping again.

"I don't see why I can't run around barefoot? Didn't Toph do just that?"

"My mother was in the middle of a war when she 'ran around barefoot'. I can assure you when things settled down she resumed wearing shoes, just like everyone else."

"Yeah, cool metal shoes that slid open on the bottom. Can't I have some of those?"

"Not until I'm confidant enough in your abilities to be sure that you wont cut one of your toes off by bending the metal the wrong way."

He scoffed but remained silent, so Lin took this as his acceptance.

Their usual shopping strategy was simple but effective. Get in, buy it, get out as fast as you can before you become nauseous.

They were preparing to exercise this strategy on the first store they came to. Then Skoochy stopped suddenly in the road, causing the person behind to crash into him.

He let out a distracted apology, his eyes never leaving the form of a retreating woman.

"Are you alright?"

Lin tried to follow whatever he was looking at, but she never got a good visual with the crowded streets.

"Hmm?…Oh…Yeah I'm fine."

She gave him a look that let him know she was not fooled.

"You just caused a pedestrian collision! What has you so distracted?"

"It's nothing, can we go in?"

Deciding to drop the subject for the moment, she followed him into the building.

But after a few minutes she became convinced that something was definitely wrong with her son.

His skin had paled to a grayish color, his frame would not stop shaking, and he kept glancing at the door as if he expected something to come after him.

Lin tried her hand at distracting him by making a small joke.

"Hey look! We can get you shoes made of the finest leopard-seal leathers."

"Yeah, whatever you want mom."

Now she knew something was up. Skoochy wouldn't EVER agree to anything so ridiculous unless he wasn't in his right mind.

Slamming the shoes back onto the shelf, she grabbed his elbow and tugged him to a deserted part of the store.

"What is wrong Skoochy?"

"Nothing is wrong mom!"

"Don't lie to me!" she demanded. "I'm your mother and I'm worried, I try to make it a habit to NOT worry, so you tell me what is wrong!"

Her outburst had earned the pair a few glares from some of the clerks.

They ignored these looks, too distracted by staring each other down.

Finally Skoochy lowered his gaze and his shoulders slumped forward.

"Fine, but promise you won't be mad."

"I wont make that promise without knowing what I might be mad about."

He let out a frustrated sigh, tugging his hands through his hair.

After several seconds he finally answered, in a whispered voice.

"I saw my mother, the one who gave birth to me."

Suffice to say, she was not expecting that.

"She looked sickly and there was no life in her eyes, but I still recognized her. I think I would recognize that face anywhere."

Lin wanted to go into full blown Mama-Bear mode. That woman had ignored the boy she gave birth to for years, she had made him feel like he would never be wanted and she had allowed for a wretched man to abuse a child.

There was a roaring sound in the metal-benders ears, and a red haze took over her mind.

Lin was going to hunt that woman down, she was going to find her and lock her in a cell until she forgot what sunlight looked like.

Before she could move toward the direction of the door, Skoochy tugged on her hand bringing her to a stop. She felt the pressure between her shoulder blades as he laid his head on her back.

"Please don't make this worse."

"I cant just do nothing!

"You haven't done nothing. You gave me a home, a family, a life! You have done everything for me."

She felt her breathing even out at his words and her urge to find the woman was burning a little less.

"You are my mother now. Everything involving her is in the past, and I just want to keep it there."

She couldn't fault him for that.

She finally nodded her head in agreement, his forehead stayed pressed against her spine for another moment, then he took a step back.

She turned to him, and he gave her a tentative smile.

"Shall we get some shoes, before the workers kick us out for causing a scene."

She laughed at his attempt at humor, before they grabbed the plainest pair of shoes they could find.

—

Later they were having lunch at a noodle shop, when Skoochy decided he wanted to talk about what had happened earlier.

"She looked awful. It took me a few seconds to realize where I recognized her from. Imagine that, can't even remember the face of the woman who gave birth to me."

He smiled bitterly at this thought.

"Her eyes were swollen and they seemed to sink into her head, her skin was sallow, and I think I saw bruises. I don't think life has been very kind to her."

"Life wouldn't have been kind to her even if you had stayed under her care."

"I know that, I just wish someone cared enough about her to take care of her."

"Do you think you'll try to find her?"

He pondered this question for a moment.

"No, I'm having too hard a time trying to forgive her, seeing her again makes me remember the things she allowed to happen to me. Being with her would make it worse."

Lin was a quite relieved that he wasn't going to chase down his ghosts.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that today."

He shrugged.

"It's alright, I mean I 'm a little bit glad I saw her. It reminded me of how lucky I am now."

She grinned at him fondly and he returned the smile.

"Finish your noodles, then we'll go work on your metal-bending. Maybe we can get you into your own metal shoes by the end of the year."

Pleased at this thought, he hastily began shoveling noodles into his mouth, juices slurping onto his cheeks.

Lin was honored that she got to watch this boy grow, he would become a fine young man, and he would always be her son.

—