Despite the fact that it was her day off and her body was in hell from the night before, Toph still woke at her usual time: the crack of dawn. She cursed her body's internal clock, considering she didn't even get to sleep off the worst part of her hangover. If she could see, her vision would for sure be spotty with the throbbing headache pinching either side of her forehead. Still keeping her face buried in the pillow, she reached behind her head and removed whatever pins and clips still remained in her mass of tangled hair, adding them to the pile that had fallen off in the night beside her on the mattress. Loosening her hair removed some of the pressure on her scalp, but not enough to make any significant difference.
Water, she thought, that will help. Toph wriggled herself in a feeble attempt to free her legs rom the twisted sheets, and eventually she was able to get her feet on the ground. She let out a hefty groan as she tried to stand; her vertigo was making it impossible to see a damn thing. Her hands began on their quest to find the nearest wall with her feet following closely behind. Once there, she tracked the wall until she found a door, although she wasn't certain if it was to the bathroom or hallway. As she stepped through the door frame her calloused feet met the carpet-or rather, the edge of the carpet. The vibrational echo that came from her entire body weight slamming on the floor was strong enough to push through her headache, meaning that she could actually see her own failure. The temptation to stay exactly where she was, face-down in defeat in the middle of a hallway, was excruciatingly high. Nevertheless, this hangover was going to persist for quite some time, so she might as well get a head start on treating the symptoms.
She forced herself to stand against the seemingly tripled force of gravity and backtracked, carefully finding the door as she went and closing it. A quick pivot to the left and she was facing the bathroom door, or at least where she remembered it should be. She bent over the sink and drank straight from the faucet in such an ungraceful way that she was sure she looked like a dehydrated horse, but when she was practically dying from last night's mistake it was hard to give a fuck.
After drinking her fill, Toph regained some of her sight and was able to make her way back into the bed. Whatever happened the night before, it must have been fun, because to cause this bad of a hangover required an exorbitantly high volume of liquor. That moonshine was truly something else. The last thing Toph could remember was talking a little too mushy with Sokka by the fire. After that, it was all a blur.
A quick rap at the door caught Toph's attention. Who would be up this early? "Come in," she called, and the door creaked open. With her feet off the ground she had no way of telling the guest, so she just sat, patiently waiting for them to speak.
"Hey," a deep voice grumbled, "are you okay? I heard a loud thud just a minute ago."
Toph rubbed her face in embarrassment. "Yeah, Sokka, I'm fine. It's easy to trip over things when you're hungover and blind."
Sokka laughed softly at Toph's expense, and she joined in with a self-deprecating chuckle. "Well, if you're hungry, I know where Katara hides the bacon. Aang may be a vegetarian, but she sure as hell isn't. We can fry some up to expedite these hangovers."
"You don't have to ask me twice," Toph said enthusiastically, but that energy was soon quenched as she plopped to the floor and felt her world spin. She framed her face with her hands in an attempt to stabilize her mind. "Fuck…" she murmured, "I'm so dizzy, I can hardly see." It would take more than the water she just drank to reverse the damage she did the night before.
Toph then felt the rough texture of one of Sokka's hands slip into one of her own with a firm grip. "Then let me guide you," Sokka said, "don't want you waking up the rest with another tumble."
With the risk of her voice cracking, Toph settled for just nodding in agreement. Sokka led her to the kitchen and escorted her to a dining chair just beside the kitchen island. She stayed seated while Sokka went ahead and rummaged in the depths of an ice box, pulling out a small paper package of salted bacon. As he set out the pan for preheating, Toph grumbled in pain as her head rested between her propped-up elbows. "You doing alright over there?" Sokka asked.
"No."
"I would assume so," Sokka teased. "You drank a lot last night."
"Well I wouldn't know, considering I can't remember a thing."
Sokka stayed quiet for a suspicious pause. "Really? Not a single thing?"
"No… why? What happened?" She asked hesitantly. What possible shenanigans could she have gotten into during her first drunk outing in forever?
"Why, Toph, I'm hurt you don't remember," Sokka sighed dramatically with a bat of his eyelashes, "We laid beneath the open, starry sky and made the most beautiful love that the Spirits have ever had the pleasure of witnessing." His poetic monologue only ceased when an orange from the dining table basket came lunging toward his face, barely skimming by and exploding on the wooden cabinet. "Easy, Toph, you're gonna break something. I'm only joking," he sniggered.
"Then tell me what really happened," Toph demanded indignantly, hiding her blushing face from his view. "I'll bet you caused trouble. You always do."
"And the pot calls the kettle black. It was you," Sokka said with a point of his wooden tongs toward the culprit.
"Don't blame me, blame my drunk alter ego. What did she get into? Did she ruin some Airbender relic from Aang's collection? Because I don't have the money to repay that type of debt again."
"Oh, no, nothing like that. No property damage this time. Emotional damage, however…" Sokka trailed off as he laid a piece of bacon on the pan with a sizzle.
"Well, isn't that my specialty?" Toph joked. "Who do I have to apologize to?
"You might not have to apologize at all. If you have no memory of last night then Katara won't either. We'll keep it our little secret," He said with wink.
Ah, of course it was Katara. As much as they had all grown up in the past two and a half decades, Katara was definitely still the mother of the group, and that meant unwanted reprimanding with the subsequent lashing out by the proxy children. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't my fault. "That's nice and all, but it can't be our secret if I don't know what the hell happened." Instead of explaining, Sokka continued with his cooking, humming a little tune to himself as he flipped the bacon. "Well? You gonna tell me or not?"
"Oh, don't look at me. I don't even know what happened. You see, we were playing this little drinking game, where you have to whisper a question to another person and they answer the question aloud without any context. Quite fun, actually, I'd like to play it again some time. The issue is that, when Katara whispered a little query into your ear, I didn't get to hear it. Your answer came as quite a shock to her, and her little tantrum ended the night. You refused to tell me the question, so I'm afraid you have your 'alter ego' to blame," Sokka explained with a shrug. He plated the bacon and brought it over to the table, where the two ravenously scarfed it down in a single breath. The grease and acidity almost had an instant effect on Toph's headache, and she sighed with relief as her hangover began to melt away.
"That hits the spot," she breathed, and Sokka grunted in agreement, his mouth still full. They ate in silence and, when Toph was done, she made her way to the kettle to start some water for tea. "What was my answer?"
"Hm?" Sokka hummed, still intently focused on his bacon.
"To that question, the one that pissed off Katara. What was my answer?"
"Oh," Sokka said with a smirk, "it was my name."
"Now remember, everyone, keep an eye out for this man," Toph announced as she gestured to her assistant holding up a wanted poster. "As long as one of you can spot him, I'll be able to keep track of him, and together we can place him under arrest and safely in police custody."
Her troop of around a dozen officers all murmured in agreement. There was a city-wide manhunt out on a new criminal in town, and the station had gotten tipped off that he might strike in the shops along the southern coast. As soon as the announcements were completed, they would all be heading out together to check out the scene and, hopefully, find this man and end his little crime spree. "I've gotten word that he's dangerous and not afraid to fight back. We're unsure if he's a bender, but keep your wires close at hand, just in case."
And with that, they were off. With the entirety of the officers hidden in civilian clothes, their coils of wire concealed in small leather satchels, they found a tea shop with outdoor seating to sit and observe the street. They were in the heart of the southern docks and it was bumbling with business and chatter. With the war's anniversary coming soon, the people were feeling more sociable and celebratory. Little children were laughing in the streets as they played some sort of new marble game. The strays in the area were the most happy, since they were getting far more scraps of food than before. A fluffy cat rubbed on Toph's leg and she pet it apologetically for not having any food to give.
Since Toph would need to wait until the cue of one of her officers, she took the opportunity to let her mind wander. What kind of mayhem did she cause that night with her friends? All she knew was that Katara didn't like Sokka being the answer to a question, one that no matter how much energy she put into racking her mind she couldn't remember. With Katara's dramatics, it could have been asking Toph to pick her favorite of the two Southern Water Tribe siblings. Yes, of course, that had to be it. What else could it have possibly been?
Suddenly, Toph felt a commotion in the back room of a nearby furniture shop. "Shao," she said, tugging on her neighboring officer's sleeve, "go check out that shop. I think there's an… altercation."
The man's stern face nodded before he made his way to the shop, Toph's seismic eye following closely behind. She had one hand in her satchel, ready to storm her way in should the situation escalate. This is it, she thought, this jackass will finally be caught. It would add to her long list of accomplishments as Chief, but more importantly it would put the citizens out of harm's way. There had been deaths at the hands of this man's crimes. Only one or two, but still, Toph couldn't help but kick herself for being unable to protect them.
As she 'watched' from afar, she had to admit that she was slightly disappointed when her officer returned, informing her that one of the stacks of chairs had just toppled over and made of a mess of the shop's stock room. "You all keep on the lookout," she ordered, "I'm headed to the restroom."
Toph made her way through the inside portion of the tea shop and down a small back corridor that led to the unisex restroom. A man was exiting at the same time she neared the door. Perfect timing. Except that, as she tried to brush past him, he grabbed her by the upper arms and slammed her against the wall.
"Hey!" She shouted instinctively, but then she was suddenly flooded with glimpses of her drunken memories. She had felt the rough hands of a man holding her against a wall before, and remembered the shocking pulse it had sent through her body. "Sokka…?" She murmured, allowing herself to fold slightly in his grip.
"You think I wouldn't notice the famous Toph Beifong staking out my turf?" That grizzly voice definitely did not belong to Sokka, but before Toph could regain her mental footing she felt the ripping pain of a blade stabbing her abdomen. Her legs collapsed under her as she held pressure to the wound, and the man sped away-or, at least, made it down the corridor before she whipped out a metal cord to ensnare his ankles, sending him straight to the ground in the view of all the patrons in the shop.
Toph heard a few shrieks and calls for help at the sight of what was most likely her blood on her attacker. Her officers rushed in and placed him under arrest, while one traced the metal cord back to Toph and found her bleeding on the floor. They were able to control her bleeding long enough for her to get to the local healer. As she stumbled in leaning on the arms of her comrades, the healer sent her assistant to air temple island. "We'll need a true healer," she instructed the young girl. She quickly discarded the soaked rag and began to apply a paste of different herbs to the wound.
"How you holding up, Chief?" One of her lead officers said as he anxiously drummed his fingers on his knees.
"Fucking fantastic. And quit doing that," Toph snipped, swatting at his hands. The movement tugged at her wound and she groaned in pain. The healer chastised her for doing so and continued on with her work.
After what felt like a lifetime, a familiar face walked in the door. "Oh my god, Toph," Katara said as she flocked to her friend's side. "What did you do this time?"
"Oh, shush, I'm fine. I could probably walk home," Toph said as she attempted to stand, only for everyone surrounding her to object and attempt to hold her down. "Spirits, fine, I get it. No standing."
"You're a piece of work, you know that?" Katara said. "Miss, could you get me the most sacred water you have? It doesn't have to be spirit water, just something that didn't come out of a muddy well."
The young assistant nodded and swiftly exited the room.
"I've managed to stop the bleeding with pressure and herbs, but the wound is rather deep," the healer explained to Katara.
"Thank you so much for what you've done so far. Toph, what happened?"
"What does it look like? I got stabbed. Pretty straight-forward if you ask me."
"We were staking out undercover," an officer interjected, "we got word that there would be another attack by whoever has been robbing stores throughout the city."
"Well I sure hope it was worth it," Katara said, frustration laced in her voice.
"Of course it was," Toph said, "We caught him, that's all that matters."
"No, that's not all that matters. You have a kid at home, Toph! What would Lin do if you just didn't come home from work one day?"
"Don't you bring Lin into this," Toph snapped. She loved Lin with all of her heart, she would never intentionally put herself in harm's way. Besides, Lin had tons of family that care for and support her, including Katara and Aang. They were practically her family. If for some god-forsaken reason Toph left this world earlier than intended, Lin would not be alone.
Luckily, before an argument could ensue, the healer's assistant return with forest stream water, which seemed to be up to Katara's standards. She was able to heal the wound, but it took time and a significant amount of pain. By the time she finished Toph thought she might pass out-not that she would admit that aloud. There was a large, irritated scar leftover, which Katara said would need repeat healing to reduce and ensure nothing internally pops open. She offered to pick Lin up from school so that Toph could rest at home in peace, and although Toph felt uneasy about leaving Lin with the news of her injury without showing her in person that her mom would be alright, she agreed.
The next morning, Toph was incredibly grateful for Katara's offer. A good night's sleep rejuvenated her and she felt ready for the day. The criminal was going to be interrogated today and she couldn't wait to jump in on the action.
Except that, when she walked into police headquarters, she was greeted with awkward silence and palpable tension in the room.
"C-chief," her administrative assistant stammered, "good morning. May I, ah, asked what you're doing here?"
"What are you talking about? I'm here for work. You think the chief would take a day off work?" Toph strutted through the main space into her office and sat down at her desk. Her assistant hesitantly walked through the door, accompanied by the Deputy Chief of Police. "Well? Are you going to come help me complete this paperwork, or leave a poor, blind girl defenseless?"
The assistant cowardly backed out of the room and closed the door behind her as the Deputy stepped forward. "Chief, please understand that all of us here at police headquarters admire and respect you. Hell, you're a hero to most of us. I can't imagine a better person holding this position-"
"Get on with the flattery," Toph said with a wave of her hand, "I can tell you're about to deliver some bad news. So, pick up the pace."
The Deputy cleared his throat before continuing. "We just don't understand why you haven't taken any of your collected medical leave. I mean, from the report of yesterday's incident, it seems as though you would need at least a week to recover."
Toph let out a laugh, concealing the pain it caused her wound. "I'm fine, but thank you for the concern. I don't need it! Katara used her magical water powers and fixed me. I'm brand new."
"I don't think it's that simple. A wound of that severity…"
"Deputy, do you see any blood gushing out of my stomach right now? Hmm? If I say I'm fine, then I'm fine. You're not in a position to question my personal medical decisions."
The Deputy paused before continuing once again. "Actually, Chief, that's where you're wrong. With the unanimous approval of the executive staff I can initiate a forced medical leave of absence."
Toph's face froze as she took in the words. "Is that a threat?"
"No, Chief. If it's in your best interest that you leave to recover from a stab wound, then it's within my power to-"
"Of fuck off about your power!" Toph shouted as she violently stood from her seat, ignoring the sharp pain in her abdomen. "I'm the Chief of Police, damn it! I brought my metalbending recruits to this city and completely turned around this department. I shouldn't be questioned like this!"
"Chief, please, if you'll just consider-"
"No, no, you know what? I'll take your stupid medical leave. But just know this, Deputy: I hope you enjoy every minute of your last week of employment." Toph stomped her way out of the building, making sure everyone saw just saw how irate she was, and made her way back home.
"I'm the fucking Chief!" Toph howled in the privacy of her own bedroom.
She practically threw her metal gear back into her closet as she changed. As she grabbed her undershirt to exchange it for a more comfortable, loose-fitting one, she was surprised to find the material wet and quickly realized that her wound was bleeding. "Shit," she murmured as she bundled up the fabric and held it with pressure to her stomach. It was already ruined with blood, she may as well take advantage of it.
How did she even let this happen? She had never allowed someone to hurt her this badly while on the job. Even when cornered like that, she has always escaped unscathed. How did this man, this one man, manage to cause her such a bad injury that she was dismissed on medical leave?
Toph then flashed back to the sensation of being grabbed and held, and when her groin tingled she knew exactly why. She had been turned on! Despite it being a criminal, she had remembered Sokka's touch and became distracted long enough to be literally stabbed. "Mother fucker!" She shrieked as she punched a pillow with her free hand. Thank the Spirits Lin was at school, she couldn't imagine trying to reign in her current rage.
After around 30 minutes, her wound had temporarily closed and the bleeding had stopped. Instead of trekking all the way to air temple island, Toph decided to take a nap in the hopes that she would awaken with a perfectly healed and functional body. That obviously wasn't going to happen, but a girl can dream. Besides, she had all the time in the world to nap now that she wasn't going to work for the next week.