"She's what?!"
"Pregnant, Sokka. She's pregnant."
"But how?"
"I'm going to assume the way people normally become pregnant."
"But she's not seeing anyone right now!"
"She was."
"..."
"Oh."
Toph lay numbly on her side in the hospital bed. There was no way Sokka and Katara thought they were being quiet out in the hall, but for some reason Toph didn't care. She didn't seem to care about much at the moment. She just felt... numb.
Pregnant.
She and her metalbenders had been the last to be freed from their cells. Apparently they had been on the top floor of a wooden tower in the northern part of Republic City's fire district. It wouldn't have been the first place she'd have looked for a waterbending gang, but Toph supposed that's why she'd never found them.
I'm pregnant.
The rest of the officers she'd brought with her had been kept in metal cells on the bottom floor of the tower. Far enough away that Toph wouldn't have been able to feel them. Aang had barged through the place with another team of her officers and had taken out the guards easily.
There's a life inside of me.
He must have figured a giant wooden tower was the safest place to imprison a group of metalbenders. No wonder he'd found them so quickly when Toph had been chasing after the gang for months. Their capture had been all the detectives needed to pinpoint the gang's hideout. The leader was still absent, but a lot of the gang members were now in custody. That was good, right?
She'd driven Kanto away.
So why did she feel so numb?
"Toph?" It was Katara. She'd apparently come into the room at some point and Toph was shocked that she hadn't noticed. What was wrong with her? "How are you holding up?"
"I..." Toph inhaled deeply through her nose. "I don't know."
She heard Katara step closer and then settle herself slowly into a chair by the bed. Toph couldn't help but think about the giant belly her friend was sporting and how it must weigh a ton. She had to be fairly uncomfortable.
"Do you know where he is?" Katara asked.
"No."
"He didn't tell you where he was going?"
"No."
"I see."
Toph felt tears in her eyes. Oh, for Aang's sake, why did she have to be emotional all of a sudden? She swallowed back the lump in her throat and tried to blink away the tears, but it only resulted in one of them slipping down her cheek and soaking into the pillow. Katara shuffled forwards in her chair.
"Oh, Toph..."
She wanted to go back to being numb. Numb was better. Numb didn't have her turning into a blubbering fool in front of her friend. But Toph's breath was becoming uneven and clearly Katara saw something that worried her, because she got up from her chair. The mattress dipped as the woman sat down next to Toph's midsection and a hand began to rub her arm.
"It's okay."
Toph couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She sobbed as Katara held her head, pulling the earthbender up into a hug and letting Toph burry her face in her shirt. Toph could feel Katara's large belly pressed up against her chest and the gentle arms on her back. Katara shushed her, murmuring words of general comfort.
"I can't do this," Toph said through a sob. Katara's hair tickled her face as she moved her head.
"I know it feels that way now, but you just need some time to adjust." Katara didn't let go of her completely as Toph pulled away from the hug. Toph sniffed and wiped her wet nose with the back of her hand. She swallowed the wet lump in her throat as Katara helped her lean back against the bed's pillows.
"Sorry," Toph said. "I just... I feel stupid. I told him to leave, and now..."
"I'm going to go ahead and assume you didn't know you were pregnant-"
"What gave you that idea?" Toph asked sarcastically. She wiped a hand across her face, rubbing the tears away from her watery eyes.
"You made a decision that was right for your relationship. It doesn't matter that you're pregnant. You and Kanto were a bad couple."
"Ya, well. Now I've got a baby with no father."
"And do you think throwing a baby into the mix would have made your relationship better? If anything it would've drawn out something that really shouldn't have been in the first place. Toph, you're in shock. It's a difficult thing to wrap your head around, but you didn't make the wrong decision by breaking up with Kanto. Don't blame yourself for this, okay?"
Toph wiped more of the wetness away from her eyes, but a hand grabbed her wrist.
"Would you quit it?" Katara said. "You're rubbing snot into your eyes."
Toph snorted as Katara handed her a cloth. The earthbender used it to blow her nose before resting her head against the wall behind her. It hit the wood with a thunk. "Ugh, the media is going to have a field day with this one," she said.
"Well, until you hold a press conference-"
"A press conference? You and Sokka were talking so loud out there I'm sure the entire hospital heard! There's no hiding this. And if the press gets on this... oh no. My parents..." Toph closed her eyes and groaned.
"They've had to accept a lot of things you've done. They'll get used to this as well," Katara said.
"I'll need to tell them before they read about it in the paper, won't I."
Katara was quiet for a moment. Toph felt her shift in the bed slightly. "You know what?" the waterbender said eventually. "I promised Sokka he could come in and see you after I had a chance to talk to you. I'm sure he's paced a hole in the floor by now."
"Sure. Whatever."
The weight lifted from the mattress as Katara left the room, but Toph wasn't left alone for long.
"Look what I brought you!" Sokka announced from the doorway.
"You're going to have to try that one again, Meathead," Toph said with a glare.
"It's chocolate. Katara said it was okay. Here, try some."
Toph felt something cool and smooth placed in the palm of her hand. She rolled it around a bit.
"You'll have to eat it before it melts," Sokka said from right next to her.
"Where's Katara?"
"She went to the bathroom. That kid is really stressing out her bladder apparently." Sokka was shuffling around to Toph's left. There was a clack as something was put down on the table next to her.
"Hm," Toph said.
"How are you feeling?"
Toph shrugged. The chocolate was starting to get sticky in her hand.
"Toph, engage with me. Come on."
Toph's brow furrowed. She felt a hot anger rise in her chest. "You want to know how I'm doing? Fine," she snapped. "I'm single, pregnant, and hospitalised. The doctors have admitted that they don't even know if the baby is going to be okay so either I suffer the trauma of losing a child I didn't even know I had, or I have to endure becoming a single mother and care for a child I don't know I can properly take care of. How's that for engaging!" Toph was glaring at where she believed Sokka to be standing. Her breathing was heavy and congested from all the crying and she knew she must look like a hot mess. She realised she had clenched her hand into a tight fist, the chocolate oozing out through her fingers.
"Ugh," she mumbled as she started to wipe it off with the cloth Katara had given her.
"Toph, I'm sorry." Sokka's voice said from her left. "I was just trying to cheer you up. If you need to rant, that's fine. I'm here to listen." She heard him sit down in the chair Katara had previously vacated. Toph sighed.
"No, I'm just... frustrated." She balled up the cloth and tossed it half-heartedly at her feet. "I don't think I really want to talk about it right now."
Sokka was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment. "Well, what do you want to talk about?" he asked.
Toph shrugged. "I don't know. Pick something! Where'd Twinkletoes run off to?"
"Oh, fun story," Sokka said. There was a hint of excitement in his voice that had Toph lifting her head out of curiosity. "He and Katara left the kids with the acolytes while they were out and during that time it seems Bumi managed to convince Kya to turn the kitchen into an ice skating rink. Aang's been called in for offspring cleanup duty, though I think he's far more likely to join in himself."
"Kya turned the kitchen into an ice skating rink?" Toph asked. "That's actually impressive."
"Well, it's probably a messy ice skating rink, but you're right. She'll be a pretty impressive bender one day."
"Ya, she will..." Toph stared vacantly ahead. Sokka shifted in his seat as Toph wiped at her nose with the back of her hand, the cloth Katara had given her all but abandoned at her feet.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Sokka asked.
"I don't know," Toph said. "I don't think I want to do much at all right now."
"Do you want to be alone?" Sokka asked.
"No."
"Okay, I'll be here. But if you do want to talk, just say so, all right?"
"Thanks." Toph curled up on her side, facing away from Sokka. She wasn't sure what he was going to do in that chair, but she liked knowing he was there.
Toph took a deep breath. Behind her she heard the squeaky wheels of wooden carts accompanied by the clacking claws of the ostrich horses that drew them. The wind blew her bangs off to the side of her face and she could smell the dampness of rain to come.
People were talking inside the building. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could feel them. They were clustered around desks, huddled in groups in the lounge, leaning against walls, talking. Gossiping.
Toph walked inside.
The chatter stopped as soon as the Chief of Police entered the building. People turned their heads to look at the woman as she stood in the front entrance, arms crossed. Yes, this was Toph Beifong, and yes, you were just talking about her.
"Alright, I want to get things cleared up right now," Toph stated firmly and clearly. "Yes, I am pregnant. No, I will not be going on patrol today or any time in the near future." Her officers turned to whisper to each other. Toph heard the secretary at the front desk whisper something about endangering the baby, but she chose to politely ignore the remark. Instead, she pointed sharply at the man standing by the water cooler with three of his fellow officers. "Heng, my office. Now."
Heng's nervous footsteps followed Toph through the crowded room as she strolled past her officers with her head held high. Her assistant started to get up from his desk as they approached, but Toph told him to wait outside as she and Heng entered the office. Heng stood by the door as Toph circled around her desk. She didn't sit down.
"What the fuck did you think you were doing?" she demanded.
"I just- they were going to attack you-"
"I gave you an order, Heng. A direct order that you chose to ignore. What, exactly, do you expect me to do with that?"
"They had a knife, and you- the baby-"
"Did you know I was pregnant when you chose to ignore me?"
"No."
"Then it's not a very good excuse now, is it?"
Heng swallowed. He hadn't moved from the door and his thumbs were wrestling each other behind his back. At least he was standing up straight.
Toph sighed.
"When I tell you to do something, it has to be done. I realise there's a certain amount of protectiveness that we all feel for each other and that can make it hard to let harm come to any of us, believe me, I feel it too. But you can't go around ignoring my instructions just because you think I might get hurt! Understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
"I'm younger than a lot of you, I get that. I'm a woman, I'm blind. There's probably some horrible ingrained need to keep someone like me safe that you're struggling with, but I'm the Chief of Police, Heng, and when I tell you to do something it had damn well get done or you face the consequences!"
"Yes, Chief." Heng's voice quavered. His jaw was set firmly, but she felt his pulse quicken as he stared ahead.
"You're suspended for the next week without pay. For the next month after that, I'll be pairing you up with Midori for weekend night patrols."
Heng groaned. "Midori? Night patrols?"
"Yes, Heng. Thanks to your insubordination, I was stuck in the hospital for three days, not sure if I was still going to be pregnant when I left. I'd say you should consider yourself to be incredibly fucking lucky you're getting off so easily here!" Toph exhaled sharply. "Now get out of my office. And send Guo in on your way out."
Heng shuffled out of the office, head down. Toph stood by her desk as she listened to his muffled voice on the other side of the door. She should probably sit down, but-
"Chief?" Her assistant popped his head through the door. "You wanted to see me?" His voice had a rough quality to it, which Toph had always liked. Rough like rock. Rough like the earth.
"Guo, come in." Toph turned to face him. "It looks like I'm going to be off of patrol for a little while."
She felt him nod as he walked closer to her desk. "Yes, I heard," he said.
"Which means we're going to be spending a lot of time together."
"I suppose so."
"I'm going to need your help with something," Toph said. Guo tilted his head in confusion. "I'm going to have a lot more free time on my hands, and since there's only so much paperwork for us to do, I've been thinking."
"Thinking what, Chief?"
"I'd like to finally learn Braille, and I'm betting I'm going to be needing help with that."
Ever since Toph had heard of this reading for the blind thing, she'd been rather resistant. She'd been illiterate all her life, and she was used to it. But having had to learn to write for her job, even if it was only enough to sign documents or to jot down notes for Guo to decipher later, she felt her inherent need for independence threatened. She would never be independent from Guo, even if she learned to read Braille. But she had the time now, so she might as well use it efficiently. At least this way her schedule could be independent from his. He could transcribe the papers, and she would do the paperwork herself when she had time. "Of course, this means you'll have to learn it as well, if you're up to the task."
"You're kidding, right?" Guo asked incredulously. "I've been pushing you to learn Braille for almost two years now."
"Well, you've won. Happy?"
"A little, yes." She felt him smirk. Smug asshole.
Toph stood next to her desk, spine straight, arms behind her back. She stared ahead, listening to the sounds of the office, listening to the concrete floor beneath her feet. Guo cleared his throat.
"Is everything alright?" he asked.
Toph blinked. "It's weird," she said. "I can feel it now."
"Feel what?"
"The baby. I don't know how I never noticed before, but I can feel it with my earthbending."
Guo shrugged. "You weren't looking for it before, and now you know it's there. Of course you can feel it."
Toph shook her head. This was a line of thought she didn't need to be following at the moment. "You can start looking into finding us a Braille instructor later, right now I need you to do two things for me. First, we need to write a letter to my parents. Second, we need to schedule a press conference."
Guo rushed over to her desk so the two of them could get to work.
Toph listened, irritated, to the man on the other end of the phone. He wasn't yelling, no, Toph wouldn't expect him to yell at her. But he was very, very disappointed. "I don't know why you didn't just call us," he continued. "Your mother and I certainly wouldn't have expected news like this to come from you in a letter." The unspoken thought was that they had probably expected news like this to come from her eventually. Toph sighed and leaned her arms against the desk. Daddy dearest hadn't been able to reach her at her home, so he'd called the office instead.
"I was probably just trying to avoid this exact conversation," she mumbled.
"Are you talking back to me, young lady?"
"Dad, I'm thirty-two. You can cut the 'young lady' crap already." She heard him inhale sharply on the other end. Ya, she'd probably gone a little too far with her language there, but it was hard to reel it in when she was surrounded by swearing police officers all day.
"You know your mother and I have had many disagreements with you about your life and your career, Toph, but we all agreed that you would do your best to honour the way we raised you. Nothing about this situation is appropriate for a lady of your upbringing, and you're about to plaster is all over the front page!"
"The media already knows I'm pregnant." She heard him inhale again. Apparently he wasn't ready to hear the words "I'm pregnant" coming from his unwed daughter's mouth. "I'm just trying to clear up any confusion the public might be having about the situation."
"And confirm the stories that are being told. You could've pretended they were nothing more than rumours-"
"And then what? Try to hide the obvious signs as I get further along? Or do you and mom want me to go on a little vacation for the next few months so that nobody sees me?" Toph was very aware of how most high society families handled such situations. She was going to have none of that. She had a job to do.
"Your mother will be visiting Republic City in a few weeks," he said. Toph groaned. "You can continue this conversation with her."
"Fine, whatever. I have to go hold a press conference now."
"Goodbye, Toph." She could hear the disapproving frown in his voice.
"Ya, bye Dad."
Toph hung up the phone with a click, relief washing over her. She was glad to have that conversation over with, though she didn't look forward to being confronted by her mother later on.
Toph stepped out of her office to find her second in command waiting by the door with her assistant. "Are you ready, Chief?" asked Guo.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Toph responded. They walked out the front door of the building and faced the crowd of people standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Toph heard the click and shrill whine of cameras going off as she stepped up to the podium, Guo close by her side. Sokka liked to laugh at the horrible pictures reporters took of her. Toph liked to punch Sokka while he was laughing.
People were shouting at her, trying to get her to answer ten thousand questions at once, but Toph just raised a hand to quiet everyone down. "I understand there are a lot of questions that need to be answered right now, so I'm going to try and be as direct as possible," she said. There was still a hum of chatter in front of her, but the shouting had stopped and Toph's voice rang clear across the crowd. "One week ago myself, and a group of my officers, were captured by the Dong Gang and held captive. Their intent was to use me as leverage against the council to gain control over a portion of the city, but thanks to my detectives, and the interference of Avatar Aang, the majority of the people involved in the incident are now in custody." She heard a few reporters try to shout questions at her but Toph only raised her voice.
"It is true that the leader of the Dong Gang is still at large, but he is being tracked as we speak. I would like to send a message to the Dong Gang's leader that the police department, and the Republic City Council, do not respond to threats or blackmail-"
"What about the baby?!" shouted a voice from the middle of the crowd. There was a roar of noise as people joined in the questioning. Was she pregnant? Did she intend to put the baby in harm's way in order to do her job? Was the baby going to be blind too? Toph took a deep breath. She had been ready for this onslaught, but it didn't make the questions any less of a blow.
"I understand that there have been rumours in some papers that I am pregnant," Toph raised her voice above the din and the shouting quieted again. "That I was in the hospital because of the baby and because of what happened during my capture. These rumours are... true." Toph flinched at the explosion of yelling that followed. She wanted to keep her appearance calm, but her poor ears could only take so much of this. More cameras were going off as Toph was assaulted with a suffocating number of questions.
"How long have you known-"
"What possessed you to go after-"
"Is the father of the baby-"
Toph raised a hand again, attempting the quell the masses. "I was unaware at the time that-" but she stopped mid sentence as she felt a horrible cramping in her abdomen. Toph inhaled sharply, mouth clamped shut. She felt the blood drain from her face.
"Chief, is everything alright?" Guo asked, placing a hand on her arm. She shook her head.
Toph felt her heart skip a beat. She didn't know what was happening, but she knew it wasn't good. Was she going to lose the baby right here, in front of a throng of reporters? Her face hardened and she straightened up, despite the pain. She swallowed and took a shaky breath.
"That's all the questions I'll be answering right now," she managed to say. Her voice sounded strained.
Guo guided her away from the podium as the reporters tried to close in. Her officers were already on it though, holding the hoard at bay as Toph headed back into headquarters, her insides burning.
What's happening to me? Toph though, tears in her eyes.