Between Two Words

Author: Metalbender-Lin

Description: After Lin's and Tenzin's breakup Bumi is injured on a United Forces mission. Being brought home to recover it is proven fast that living with his brother and new girlfriend is not a good option for any of them. The chaotic sailor Bumi ends up staying with Lin – how will that turn out?

Pairings: implied past Linzin; Pemzin; eventually Linumi

Rating: M – will go up in later chapters

Disclaimer: I do not own AtlA/LoK, I do not earn any money with this – it is merely fanfiction to share with other fans :)

….

Part 1: An Autumn flying by – Chapter 2: Arrangements

He was rather thankful it was her who helped him wash up and get ready for bed. The procedure itself was embarrassing enough as it was to Bumi who was used to be independent of any help, but out of all his friends Lin was the one who actually understood the pain of combat wounds. The faded scars over her spoke their own language. Without making to much of an ordeal and fussing she helped him without making Bumi uncomfortable. They were both warriors in their own way and knew from experience what to do and how to. That spared awkward explanations and pain through wrong handling.

They did not talk much then and a simple 'good night' and an embrace was almost anything spoken for the rest of the evening. Lin left for her own room and Bumi rustled himself to a comfortable sleeping position. Even the guest room was luxurious, the bed by far the nicest he had ever slept in since his father being a nomad was not keen on anything above the necessary and it was what they were used to. Contrary to the living room this one was furnished with lightcoloured furniture and blue accents. Bumi could tell that this room usually only served to dust over and so far no one had ever stayed there. Within a few minutes after switching the lights off he slept deeply.

Lin went through her own evening routine in her personal bathroom and realized how much this day had taken a toll on her. 'I guess I'm finally getting old. Before my mother does. Great.', she thought to herself while stretching out her back and aching limbs. Throwing herself onto her bed rather unceremoniously she tugged her blanket up to her nose. Still it was good to know that Bumi was not going to ignore her for his brother's sake. Somehow Lin felt stupid for even thinking something like that of her friend. She really needed to talk to him about the rest of their 'family'. But right now all she wanted was to sleep, hoping the next day would not prove as exhausting. On the other hand a day with Bumi that was not exhausting one way or another would be a novelty.

The next morning Lin woke up with a start. The smell of her favorite rice dish hung in the air. Hurriedly getting up she wondered who would cook in her apartment. She made her way over to the kitchen and arriving there let her jaw drop. "Morning Linny.", Bumi smiled from his wheelchair. Though she was not even sure how he had managed to get everything needed from the kitchen and how he was tall enough sitting to use the stove she smiled back. "Morning to you to. Smells lovely.", she remarked as she walked over and looked into the pan. "Good to hear. If you'll set the table we could start having breakfast – I'm starving!", he answered and she complied. Within minutes they were settled with breakfast and a can of coffee.

Taking the first bite Lin was honestly surprised. "Bumi?", she inquired. The latter mimicked his attention and urged her to go on. "Since when exactly do you know how to cook?" He laughed loudly in reply. "Well, you gotta learn how to do the basics when you're living on a ship... we switch working stations once a month to make sure everyone is able to fill another ones position within the crew. But to be honest... Can you keep a secret Linny?", Bumi stared into her eyes looking for the sign to trust her with his secret. When he found it in the glint of her eye he continued: "I found that I actually enjoy cooking – it is like a hobby while on the sea." Now it was Lin's turn to break into laughter. She smiled at his hurt expression and put her hand onto his. "That's some surprise, Mister!"

"Well, I've been told that I'm full of surprises.", he grinned with a flirting affection. "Oh, I'm sure your fellow soldiers do their best to keep up your ego. Everyone having suffered from your bad temper would.", she said with ironic humor. Pouting in response Bumi turned away. "You're mean." Taking the mug filled with coffee Lin held it just under her nose, letting the strong smell infiltrate her nose and hiding her mocking grin from Bumi's face. "I'll take this as a compliment.", she said and proceeded to drink some coffee. "Anything to make you happy.", he retorted with a snort.

It was conversations like these that he loved about being friends with Lin – she always knew how to play back. A trait undoubtedly inherited and well taught by her mother. When they were younger they loved to hear all the stories from their parent's adventures and travels during their youth. Nothing seemed impossible to you if you grew up in their family. Bumi laughed out loud. "Do you remember when dad said that aunt Toph had been a menace when he started learning earthbending from her?", he explained to Lin's puzzled expression. "Of course – I don't think we had a war like that ever again!", she answered, fondly remembering how they had gone from protecting their respective parent's honor through a heated discussion to wrestling each other.

She had been about 5 and Bumi was 9 years old, their height difference making up for the fact that Bumi was a non-bender, as well as her being not very advanced in her bending. "You broke my leg that day! I don't think I had seen any of our parents as mad as then.", she continued. "Hey! Foul play not to mention all the facts, Miss Bei Fong! You know exactly that I had no other chance. Had I let you continue you would have accidentally suffocated me!", the older piped up.

When Bumi tried to lean over to playfully swat her arm a wrong movement caused him to groan in pain as he proceeded to grip his thigh and breath heavily through gritted teeth. By the first moment of his reaction Lin had been up and hurried around the table to take the squirming form into a stabilizing and protective hug. After a few moments when non moved she asked softly: "Is it lessening or should I call you a healer?"

Taking another deep breath he said: "It is lessening, but after what the healers told me I should probably still see one." "Alright.", Lin nodded, wondering when he had become responsible when it came to his own health, "Can you manage on your own while I make a call?" He shifted his weight back to make sure he remained seated while she was not there to support him and nodded, already feeling too strained out to form a sentence. Looking back to control whether he would actually be fine for the duration of a call she hurried to the phone to order a healer over.

Luckily the name Bei Fong and living in her house made easily sure that the best healer available would clear his schedule to come quickly. Lin never knew how to feel about this double standard, however right now she was immensely grateful. Returning to Bumi's side she wondered how to help him further. Lin went down to one knee beside him and carefully stroked his arm for comfort. "It shouldn't take them long to get here." "Thank you. I'm sorry to cause such trouble.", he answered with a bashful smile. "Don't be, please. I've provoked you and I'm the one to be sorry. I should've known better – it's not like I've never been there.", Lin said with regret etching her voice. "Linny? Don't beat yourself up about this.", he stated, firmly looking in her eyes to make a point. She knew instantly what he was trying to say. Bumi always felt like he was causing trouble and be in fault whenever something went wrong – it had scarred him to be the only non-bender above all the children of their friends and family. Even the child of Sokka and Suki had turned out a waterbender. Lin touched her forehead to his and simply tried to ease his feelings through looking in his eyes deeply. Not a word was spoken between them, though a lot of tension fell from Bumi's shoulders until the healer arrived.

"Good morning, Ms. Bei Fong. My name is Lee and I was sent to you by the hospital. Whatever is wrong?", the healer introduced himself upon entering. Briefly telling him the events leading up to his summon they went to the table where Bumi was still seated, visibly pale and sweaty. Without much ado – apart from also introducing himself to Bumi – he pulled out water and began to examine the injured leg.

Fixing a few things with the elegant movements waterbenders possessed before telling them the outcome of his healing. "Nothing was damaged through your movement, but a nerve had been pinched. I've redirected the nerve and now everything should be fine. I'll leave my number to reach me should anything else happen.", he friendly stated and gave two cards to the both of them. "You might need a little time to adjust your movements to the situation, but that should not take too long anymore. If nothing occurs in the meantime I shall be back in a month to see whether you are fit for the rehab-training.", Lee further said. Having finished his work he said his goodbyes and was on his track again.

Bumi breathed deeply in relief and Lin also felt the knot of worry loosen up in her throat. "Nice guy.", Bumi said when the pain was gone for good and he was back to his humorous self. Lin laughed. "Of course he was nice – what a shame if he didn't treat us well. And think of his reputation when a healer would be disrespectful to the former Avatar's son and the daughter of the Chief!", she rolled her eyes. Most times she saw healers work were in stressful situations in which mostly their tone was rather harsh and commanding. On the other hand that was probably a good way to get people in shock to respond at all to them.

"So, when do you need to get to work?", Bumi finally asked. "Today I have late shift, which starts by 11 o´clock sharp." she replied, taking a short look to the clock. "Which means at least I have enough time to get you ready for the day. Can I leave you alone here for the couple of hours until my lunch break or do I have to send a babysitter over?", Lin continued, half honest and half joking. Pouting a little Bumi said: "You're no fun Lin. Leaving me all to myself to entertain the whole day." He signaled his joking by winking at her playfully.

Shaking her head slightly to his childish antics she answered: "Alright, but I think you should not overdo it right now – not after today. I'm bringing some takeaway with me."

He just nodded and they went to his bathroom to get him washed up and dressed, a lot more practiced already by now. When they had finished it was almost time for Lin to get going, so she pushed the wheelchair over next to the couch and shortly instructed how to use her radio to keep him at least a little entertained. After that Bumi crushed her to a long hug in goodbye, before Lin left the apartment.

"Morning Lin.", Huan greeted when she arrived at her desk. Returning the greeting Lin sat down to read through the files brought to her desk, beginning to fill them in and put them into order. Today seemed to be one of these boring days filled only with paperwork...

Meanwhile in the apartment Bumi decided to inform his brother that he indeed had found some other place than Airtemple Island to stay to begin with. Taking Lin's phone he dialed Tenzin's number. "Tenzin speaking.", the other said when he picked up. "Hullo Ten. Just calling in for you to know I'm fine. I'll stay in Republic City.", Bumi said, not willing to engage in a conversation longer than necessary. "I had already figured so much out when you didn't came back yesterday, thank you. Get well soon." With that Tenzin had ended the call, obviously unwilling to take some more time on his brother's whereabouts. Their tone's had cooled down immensely since no one was there to mediate between the brothers. Angrily staring at the phone Bumi wished to call once more to shout at his brother, but eventually figured that this would not help anything with his mood and therefore turned on the radio to listen to some pro-bending game.

….

Lin's intuition had been right. The day brought no more surprise events and she was stuck to her desk until her break. Yawning widely she got up to her feet and put everything away before making her way out to a lovely takeaway serving watertribe dishes to pick up some lunch for herself and Bumi. It took longer than usual to get back to her apartment since obviously everyone living in the city had decided to be on the streets by that time. She was pretty thankful for not living near the coast anymore. Trying to get through to there by this time of the day was a hopeless case.

When she was back in her apartment Lin found Bumi snoring on his wheelchair, a romantic-drama series playing on the radio. Setting the table and splitting the food up in a few minutes she then went to wake Bumi. Clearing the sleepiness from his sight he came back to his senses. "Must have fallen asleep...", he mumbled when he saw Lin and their lunch in front of him. "Yeah, I'd say so. Hungry by chance?", Lin inquired. Just on cue his stomach rumbled rather loud. "Take that as a yes.", Bumi said, blushing a little in embarrassment. Lin smiled an took him over to the table, turning off the radio in the process. Those whiny dramas were never something she enjoyed, but currently she felt particularly offended by them. Bumi noticed the hard look in Lin's eyes when she turned the radio off, mentally taking a note to ask her about that at some point.

When they ate Bumi tried to bring up some conversation. "How was your day so far?", he asked, interested in earnest. "Not particularly interesting. Just filling some case files and ordering them." she replied with a shrug, stating that nothing else to entertain him had happened. "What about you? Anything before you fell asleep?" For a second Bumi thought about telling Lin of his 'conversation' with Tenzin, but it was unfair to burden her with their troubles. "Nope. Not really."

...

They had talked a little about this and that and before Lin knew her break was over – she did not even got back to the headquarters in time. 'Lovely, now I have to report to the Chief why I didn't manage to get back in time.', Lin thought with a groan. Her mother always made a point in showing her and everyone that all officers were treated equally, no matter that her daughter was one of them. Making her way to Toph's office she did not need to knock, for Toph already knew she was coming and had opened the door. While another officer was writing down her latest case report she made a gesture for Lin to be quiet and sit down til she was finished and send the officer to his evening. Lin complied and waited patiently.

"How come you're late?", Toph said in a gruff, no-nonsense tone. "I had lunch with a friend and lost the track of time. It won't happen again Chief.", Lin replied void of emotion. This was about being competent in her job and not about her personal life. Toph nodded. "You better not let that happen again.", and then, her voice changing completely: "How is Bumi today?" "There was an accident at breakfast, but it was easily fixed.", Lin replied, now to her mother, not her boss. "Give it a second, child. You've had breakfast and lunch with him?", Toph asked. "Since we couldn't find any place for him to stay yesterday he's staying in the guestroom." Pulling her mouth into a cheeky grin Toph answered: "Sure. The guest room." Now Lin blushed heavily. Once more she was rather happy her mother was blind. "Mother! I can't believe you're even suggesting it! You know perfectly well that we're just close friends and nothing more. Besides that, what should he do while being in his current situation?", she cried out.

"Oh come on, badge, don't get yourself into a knot. I was just making fun.", Toph said laughing. "And now back to work."

To be continued...

…...

A/N: Thank you for reading. I would appreciate a review and hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm a huge fan of a process in relationships, so we have some waiting for the Linumi part ;)