10. The Truth's Out
Sokka rolled out of bed the next morning with an annoyed groan. It was just before dawn but the Councilman knew he wasn't going to get any more sleep regardless if he had stayed in the bed or not. All night he tossed and turned, his thoughts falling back to the kiss he shared with Toph and the argument that followed. He just didn't understand, why was Toph so angry with him? He told her to forget it ever happened, didn't he? That was what she wanted, right? He knew he crossed the line earlier that day when he told her he had feelings for her, then he goes and kisses her! What kind of a friend is he? Just two days ago she opened up to him about her late husband, and now...
Sokka sighed. He couldn't take this anymore, he had to do something to get his mind off this. How about a bath? Sokka's eyes widened at the realization. Yes, a nice relaxing bath is just what he needs. In an instant the Councilman stripped down to nothing but a towel wrapped around his lower half and a change of clothes tucked under his right arm as he made his way to the restroom. Unfortuanely Sokka wasn't the only one with the same idea, just when he turns the corner he bumps right into the very person he tossed and turned all night over.
"Toph," he said in shock.
The blind woman was wearing nothing but a white towel as she stood in front of the door to the women's side of the restroom, her expression was unreadable.
"Sokka," she said in a voice that resembled a parent disappointed with their child. "Good morning."
"Good morning to you," he replied quickly, "w- what are you doing here?"
A scowl immediately took over his friend's face. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm here to take a bath."
Sokka stared at his feet, unable to look the woman in the face after hearing the agitation in her voice. "I'm sorry, I just-"
"Don't," she cut off, "don't say you're sorry."
"But I am. Toph, I just-"
She interrupted him with an annoyed groan. "Did you come here to take a bath or not? Because if you're just here to apologize to me you're wasting your breath." Without another word Toph entered the women's restroom, slamming the door behind her and leaving Sokka in the hall, confused and angry.
Once he was in the bath tub, Sokka was doing his upmost to relax, however, all he could do was think of Toph and her behavior towards him just now. What a bitch, he thought, I try to be a good friend and this is how she reacts. He tried to stay angry at her but he couldn't. Sokka knew he was the one who screwed up his relationship with her, he just needed to think of a way to make amends, if there was one. Sokka sighed as he sunk deeper into the tub. Maybe I'll just give her a day to cool off, he said in his head as he finally let himself relax in the water.
By breakfast there was still tension between Sokka and Toph, which didn't go unnoticed by the others, who were watching the couple in curiosity.
"Um, Sokka, Toph," Zuko said carefully, "is everything okay with you two?"
"Fine," They replied in unison.
Sokka turned his attention to the Firelord. "Why do you ask?"
"N-nothing, it's just you two seem-"
"Seem what?" Toph interrupted, the annoyance clear in her voice.
"Never mind." The Firelord continued with his breakfast, deciding it was better to not get involved in whatever's going on between his friends. While everyone tried to ignore the couple, Lin watched them carefully. For the past year Lin could see what her father's death did to her mother, however, even at her lowest, Toph's demeaner would always change whenever Sokka was around. Sokka made her mom feel good, and it was pretty obvious to her that Sokka had a thing for her mom too.
Lin chewed her bottom lip in both confusion and frustration as she continued to watch them. Toph was silently eating her food, with a weary expression on her face, and Sokka kept glancing over in Toph's direction, looking as if he lost his best friend. Lin sighed. I guess it's up to me to fix this, she thought.
"Hey Mom," she said, "can we go out on the beach this morning?"
"Sure," Toph answered softly.
As soon as they finished their breakfast Toph and Lin excused themselves from the table and left Zuko's house. Once they were on the beach Toph put up an umbrella so she and Lin could sit under it. "So," she said finally, "what do you want to do today, kiddo?"
Lin turned to face her mother. "Is it okay if we just talk?"
"Of course," Toph smiled, "what do you want to talk about?"
"About you, and Uncle Sokka...," she trailed off.
"Huh?"
"How do you feel about him? " As soon as the question escaped her lips she watched her mom stiffen, clearly taken off guard.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
Lin's face immediately turned serious. "Do you love him?"
Toph's lips fell into a thin line. "Sokka's my best friend Lin, we've been friends for thirty years. Of course I love him."
"No, I don't mean friendship love, Mom," she clarified,"are you in love with him?"
"That's none of your business."
"Mom, I could see it at the beach two days ago, and I think we all saw it last night around the fire."
Toph let out an exhausted sigh as she lowered her head. "I...It's not that simple."
"Because of Dad?"
"Lin," she sighed, "no offense, but I don't think this is the type of conversation we should be having right now. You're just a kid, things are a little more complicated for adults." Toph stiffened when she felt her daughter place her hand over hers.
"Mom, it's okay if you love Sokka."
Without realizing a sad smile appeared on Toph's face as she put her hand over Lin's. "That's sweet of you kid, but right now I don't even know how I feel about Sokka."
Lin shrugged. "Well, all I know is whenever Uncle Sokka's around you always have a smile on your face. And these past few days... I don't think I've ever seen you so happy." She watched as her mother's face turned serious. "And he loves you too, I mean- the things he said to you last night, I don't think he was lying."
"He wasn't, but I...I mean...," Toph sighed, unable to finish her sentence. A moment of silence stretched between the Beifongs before Lin cleared her throat and spoke.
"You should talk to Uncle Sokka."
Toph responded by stroking her daughter's hair. "Good suggestion, though I don't think Sokka wants to talk to me right now, I gave him a pretty hard time this morning."
Lin nodded. "Well, is there anything I can do?"
Toph shook her. "Just sit with me for a while." With that said the two Beifongs spent the rest of their morning on the beach, catching up on everything they missed out on each other for the past year.
(***)
Sokka decided to spend the day in town, burying his sorrow in one of his favorite hobbies, shopping. By noon the Councilman was rummaging through a clothing store, not even aware of the familiar face approaching him.
"Hey Sokka."
He turned around to see it was none other than his ex-wife. "Hey Suki. Doing some last minute shopping before we leave tomorrow?"
"Yep, I see you're doing the same." Her smile faded. "You know, I'm glad I ran into you. I wanted to ask if you're okay. You seemed a little upset at breakfast this morning, Toph too. Did you guys have another fight?"
Sokka's eyes shifted. "Something like that."
"Come on," she gestured, "let's go outside and talk." Suki and Sokka found a bench across from the clothing store they were in and sat down.
Sokka's mind continued to wander as he sat across from his ex-wife. We can't keep going on like this, this deception, he thought, if I ever want to make things right with me and Toph again the first thing I need to do is finally tell Suki the truth.
The Councilman took a deep breath. "Suki, there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it?" Seeing the serious look on his face caused her smile to fade. "Oh, is it about you and Toph? Was the fight that bad?"
"What?- Oh no- I mean, yes the fight was- I don't- that's not what I need to talk to you about."
"Then what is it?" Suki asked, "Oh, I get it, you want advice. Look Sokka, Toph may be a lot of things but she's still a woman, just do something special for her and she'll forget what you did-"
"We're not married," he blurted out like vomit.
Sokka watched as Suki started to open her mouth, but closed it from either shock or plain confusion. "What?"
"Toph and I, we're not married," Sokka repeated, "and Lin's not my daughter. Well, she is my God-daughter, but she's not my actual daughter."
Suki continued to stare at her ex-husband for a while, trying to make sense of everything he just told her. "Okay, do you mind explaining? Because as of right now I'm really confused."
The Councilman bit his bottom lip then let out an exhausted sigh. "Okay, here's what happened; when I first ran into you and Jun back in Republic City I panicked. I mean, we haven't seen each other since our divorce Suki, and...I don't know, I always thought if I did see you again someday I wouldn't still be at the same place I was thirteen years ago. But then you found out Lin was Toph's daughter, so I had no choice but to go along with your assumption of us being married." He bowed his head. "Please don't be mad Suki, I know I shouldn't have deceived you and everyone else here, but I really did mean what I said the other night about us being friends-"
Sokka shut up when Suki suddenly burst out laughing. "So this whole time you and Toph were pretending to be married- ha! No wonder Toph was giving you such a hard time when we first came out here." She wiped a tear from her eye as a thought struck her. "So I'm guessing the ring I brought up at dinner a few nights ago was given to Toph by another lover?"
"Yeah," Sokka said as his face began to fall. "Satoru gave that to her on their tenth wedding anniversary, right before he died just a few hours later." Sokka used the next few minutes to explain to Suki everything that went on the past year, from Satoru and Toph reconciling, to Satoru's untimely death, and how Toph had been dealing with it all this time.
Suki remained silent for a while, her mind and her heart going to her old friend who had apparently been through so much. However, her mind also began to wander to how Toph and Sokka were behaving these past few days. Whether they didn't see it or not there was definitely something between them, something far deeper than a mere friendship. Feeling bold, a smile broke across Suki's face. "Well, there at least seems to be a silver lining in all this."
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked.
"You and Toph," she replied quickly.
Immediately blood rushed to the Councilman's face, and he tried (unsuccessfully) to hide it. "I- I don't know what you mean Suki. I told you Toph and I- we're not married, we're just friends."
"It didn't look like you two were just friends last night when you were making out by the fire."
This made Sokka turn an even deeper shade of red. "Well I- I mean, w- we-"
"Sokka," Suki interrupted, "we were married for ten years, don't act like I don't know when you're lying. Why don't you just tell Toph how you feel?"
"I did and you see how great that worked out, she's barely speaking to me." He sighed. "I should never have kissed her, I shouldn't have said anything, I mean, she's just getting over her husband's death."
"Maybe she is," she said, "but she obviously has feelings for you too. I mean, what she said to you last night- the way she said it, if that's not a woman in love I don't know what is. If you two just sit down and talk about it maybe you can figure out your feelings." When Sokka didn't respond her face turned serious. "If you found someone you can love you can't let them get away Sokka, and even if you did tell her once before do it again, you might be surprised."
A warm smile spread across Sokka's face. "Thanks Suki, you're right. Toph and I should have talked about this last night from the very beginning."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" She nodded her head in the direction of Zuko's house. "Go get her."
The Councilman didn't waste anymore time as he stood up and ran straight for the Firelord's house. Once inside he found Lin with Zuko and the rest of the kids playing pi-shao.
"Hey Lin," he said softly, "where's your mother?"
"She's outside in Uncle Zuko's backyard," she answered without looking at him.
"Is she alone?"
Lin nodded, and Sokka acted immediately as he made his way outside, as soon as he was out there his breath caught in his throat at the sight before him. Toph was lying in the yard, her eyes closed as if she were asleep, her hair splayed out on the grass. As the Councilman sat down beside her, he racked his brain for something to say. He could apologize, but it would only make Toph angry, he could also just tell her his feelings, but that may be coming on a little strong, in the end he smiled as an idea struck him.
"Hey," he said, tapping her shoulder, "you know what this reminds me of?"
Toph, who had been awake and well aware of Sokka's presence the whole time smiled. "What?"
"When we were in Fire Fountain City, after you and Katara got into that huge fight and I had to pull you aside and talk to you."
Toph laughed. "Oh yeah, Katara made me so mad- she was snooping through my stuff and found that wanted poster of me."
"And I had written an apology saying it was from you, but Katara knew it couldn't have come from you because you can't write."
This made Toph laugh even harder. "Yeah, Katara told me about that,- ha! You're such an idiot."
"Oh ha, ha," he chided, "everybody laugh at Sokka. You know anybody could have made that mistake."
"Uh-huh, funny how it's always you."
"The point is," he talked over her, "being out here with you reminds me of the talk we had out on that cliff."
Toph's laugh quickly died as she began to think fondly of the conversation they shared so long ago. "It does, doesn't it?" She smiled. "That's what I always loved about our relationship Sokka, no matter what we can talk about anything."
"I know," he agreed. Sokka yelped in pain as Toph sat up and punched him hard on his arm.
"So tell me," Toph said, "why the hell can't we talk about this?" She waved a finger between him and her.
Sokka rubbed the sore spot on his arm. "I don't know. I thought I was doing what you wanted-"
"What I wanted?"
"What was I supposed to think, Toph?" He asked, "You were the one who freaked out."
"Well at least I didn't try to pretend like it didn't happen."
Sokka sighed. "Look, I know you're just getting over Satoru's death, and I shouldn't have kissed you last night, and for that I'm sorry-"
"Please," she interrupted, "don't say you're sorry, Sokka, I don't want you to be. I... I wanted you to kiss me."
A moment of silent stetched between the two as they let the heaviness of their words simmered in the air.
"So," Sokka said finally, "where do we go from here?"
In response to his question, Toph leaned in on the Councilman's shoulder. "Just hold me, Sokka."
He obeyed as he wrapped his arms around the blind woman while lying down on the grass beneath him. Heat crept to his face as Toph snuggled in his arms, her head lying directly on his chest. As he caught a whiff of Toph's hair, feel her skin, hear her breathe, Sokka felt the need to tell this amazing woman how he feels. "Toph,-"
"Shh," she cut off.
"Toph, I just want you to know I lov-"
"Shh, I know you do," she said softly, "but right now I'm not sure how I-"
"It's okay."
"No it's not," Toph argued, "Sokka, I really do have feelings for you, but it's going to take some time for me to... it's not that I don't want to, it's just-"
"It's okay Toph, really," he reassured, "we can take it as slow as you need to, whatever you need."
Toph smiled, and the two remained like that for what felt like an eternity. Once it was dinner time Sokka confessed the truth to everyone, about he and Toph not really being married, and much to he and Toph's surprise, everyone laughed. Howi and Chief Kohana even patted Sokka on the back and told him they both admired his sense of humor, and if he ever needed anything he had their full support. However, none of that even mattered to Sokka anymore, not with the most important person in his life holding his hand.
When the Councilman felt Toph squeeze his hand, he immediately turned to face her, and suddenly it was as if everything and everyone in the room disappeared and it was just the two of them. 'I love you,' Sokka mouthed to the blind woman beside him, and in response, Toph lifted Sokka's hand to her lips and kissed it softly. This made Sokka smile, because despite knowing Toph wasn't ready to establish their relationship, her gesture, as small as it was, proved that someday she will be.
A/N: I'm really sorry this took so long for me to update. My computer broke down on me and erased all the stories I was working on at the time. Anyway, I know a lot of you were waiting for this chapter, and I hope it was worth the wait. As for the ending, even though Toph has dealt with the pain of losing Satoru, I imagine she still wouldn't be ready to just jump in a serious relationship with Sokka. Sure she's acknowledging she has feelings for him, but she's going to want to take things slow. But to all you Tokka shippers out there- don't worry, there is still one more chapter after this one, the final chapter in this story, and I promise you there will be nothing but Tokka in that.
To all the reviewers, followers, and everyone who favorited this story, thank you. This is my very first fanfiction (that I published anyway), and it's flattering that so many of you liked it. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long, it all depends on how busy I am. Until next time :)
Free-Spirited Dreamer