disclaimer:I don't own atla or mom

Toph opened her eyes. She was under a blanket, she knew that much. She grabbed the cloth and pulled it low to get fresh air. The warmth on her face indicated the sun was shining its holy light on her. The master earthbender just groaned.

She forced herself to sit all the way up. Her hands ran through her black hair, the strands standing up in every way possible. Toph felt past her bed towards the table next to the bed and picked up the brush that she had been using the previous day. As much as she tried to resist growing up, it happened. The feminine parts of her every day life included brushing her hair since she refused to cut it, taking a bath because she knew that appearance was everything to the press, and managing both her finger nails and toe nails because, to be honest, they felt better when they were clean. She pulled the brush through her hair until there were no tangles to stop it. Toph decided it was time to get up and take a bath.

When she stood up, she felt and heard several bumps against the wall to her right. Toph's eyes narrowed knowing that that was the girls' room. Her fingers came to pinch the bridge of her nose, something she had picked up when her frustration grew. She closed her eyes.

Nope. I'm not going to deal with them yet.

And she tried really hard to ignore her two daughters. As she lay in the bathtub, she cringed at the sound of the girls shrieking next door. When getting dressed, she gave the wall a look when her feet sensed earthbending in the room. The only time that the chief of police interrupted her morning routine was when her daughter's heartbeats were nowhere to be felt in the next room. Toph's curiosity overcame her irritation and she made her way to the next room

She started out with a polite gesture. Toph knocked three times on the wooden part of the sliding door. "Lin? Suyin?"

Her girls didn't answer back.

She moved on to busting into the room. Her hand grabbed the door and she slid it all the way open. "Hey. You two lunatics in here?"

There was just silence. Toph made sure they weren't hiding from her and searched the bed for two bodies. There was no giggling, no feet moving around her. The chief of police pinched her nose at the thought of her daughters running on a rampage even after last night.

Toph walked back out into the hallway and began walking towards the main room where the party was held.

Lin and Suyin had received Toph's most terrifying scolding that they had ever experienced: their mother said nothing. With her hands clutched to her daughter's clothes, Toph had walked them back all the way to the room. Without a word, she had signaled to get ready for bed. Lin and Suyin changed and brushed their teeth, giving each other looks when they could. They were surprised when their mother even tucked them in. But that was it. Toph made sure they were comfortable in bed and then returned to the party. The girls could only assume that they were really going to get it tommrow.

"Do you regret it?" Suyin asked her big sister.

Lin closed her eyes but remained facing her younger sibling. "No. Now go to sleep."

Toph arrived in the main room and it looked untouched. The servants had cleaned up fast and good, except for one spot near the doorway to the gardens. When she approached it, she was surprised to find mud footprints going through one side of the doorway to the other returning back into the gardens. The sound of her children didn't even give her the chance to wonder.

Her feet met with earth and she found her girls running around in an open space. Her parents were seated at a shaded patio area having tea.

"Good morning, Toph!" Poppy smiled up at her daughter.

The chief of police just grunted and walked to the edge of the open grass. "Lin! Suyin! You left mud on the floor near the doorway!"

"That wasn't me, Mom."

Suyin scowled. "You were the one chasing me, stupid!"

"Suyin." Lao continued reading the paper in his hands.

"Sorry, Grandfather." The youngest Bei Fong ran towards the entrance intending to bend away the mess their mother had found. Lin crossed her arms before making her way to follow her sister.

Toph began walking towards her parents until she noticed the large metal structure of her was still in her parent's garden. She sat down next to her parents and gave them a confused look. "You guys kept the statue?"

"Yes." Lao answered.

Poppy put a hand on to her daughter's arm. "Isn't it a lovely present from the girls? The guests loved it."

Toph scowled. "You were mad at them last night for even doing it."

"Well yes since the cars didn't exactly belong to us. I insisted your father to pay the men back but he refused." Poppy sipped her tea.

"You aren't going to pay them back, Dad?" The chief of police was intrigued considering it was Lao that considered maintaining good connections were essential. She had even refrained herself from launching the men out of the house. As charming as they made themselves, Toph could see right through that façade and into the snobby rich boys they really were. They'd be nothing without their parent's money, even at thirty years old.

Her father sighed and exchanged the paper in his hands with tea. "No need. I took the girls to apologize to the men this morning while you were still in bed." To both Toph's and his wife's unknowing knowledge he had really taken the girls to an earth rumble tournament instead.

Toph face changed to some sort of surprise. Her words came slightly unsure. "Did they, you know, apologize?"

Lao didn't look at his daughter when he spoke. "It didn't matter. Their families already alerted me of our terminated relationship. Hence," He waved the paper in the air to make a sound.

"Sorry, Dad."

"I didn't like their families very much anyways. They were quite rude, weren't they, dear?"

Poppy nodded. "If I have to hear one more story about their new satomobile, new phone, or their eighth house, I might have ended the relationship myself."

Toph felt her daughters approach the table. The girls stopped right before their mother. Lin still had her arms crossed like before while Suyin held hers behind her back. They didn't speak at all, rather waiting for their mother to make the first move.

"Hey, girls." She said too casually.

Lin avoided staring at her mother's milky green eyes. "I'm guessing you aren't very happy about last night?"

Toph quirked an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

Suyin sighed. "You didn't talk to us at all. You must have been so pissed." Lin coughed. "I mean mad."

"I'd say that's pretty accurate."

"So what's our punishment?" The older Bei Fong sister tried to keep her face neutral. It was her idea after all.

Toph put a finger to her chin and exaggerated her thought process. "Hmmmm. I don't know yet. I'm between persuading Twinkle Toes to have you two clean the bison caves for a month and making you two janitors at the station."

Su scoffed. "We aren't allowed to work at the station until we're eighteen."

"Damn Snoozles and his child labor laws." Toph mumbled under her breath.

Lin shook her head. "She was kidding, Su."

"That's what you think."

Suyin and Lin were quiet once more. They fidgeted with different parts of their body. Toph just scratched her nose.

Lin was more irritated with her mother's way of dragging things out than scared of their punishment. "So? What's our sentence?"

The chief of police let her hands travel to the back of her head. "When we get back home, you two are going to cook dinner. For me, and everyone else. For a week."

Suyin whined. "Cooking?" She was nudged in her ribs. "Yes, ma'm."

"Sorry about the commotion during the party, Mom." Lin apologized on behalf of her sister and herself.

"I just have to ask. Why do you guys have to be dramatic? A coupon to Chang's Noodle House would have sufficed."

"Because you're our mom."

Toph couldn't help smirking at their synced response. "Oh yeah. I forgot."

"Mom!" Suyin groaned.

"Get over here." She opened up her arms for the two to come. Lin and Suyin ran into their mother's embrace. They hugged before Toph let her arms rest on each girl's shoulder. "Thanks for the statue. Tall and important, just like me."

Lin rolled her eyes. "You aren't tall, Mom."

"I'm taller than you, Sour puss."

Suyin watched her sister's expression change. Now that she understood how Lin felt about the nickname, she quickly backed her sister up. "Mom, it was all Lin's idea, you know that?"

Toph perked up. "Really?"

"Yeah!" She turned more so she was speaking more towards her mother. "She even taught me some metalbending so I can help."

"Well, well, well. It's nice to know that you did inherit some of my awesomeness." Toph kissed Lin's cheek. "Thanks, kid."

The older of the sisters let a smile spread across her face.

"Speaking of metalbending, now that Su can metalbend, we can start training all together again." The chief of police enjoyed the groans of annoyance that came from her daughters' mouth.

Su pulled on Toph's arm. "Mom, we're on vacation!"

"Give us a break, Mom." Lin supported.

Toph directed her speech to her mother. "You mind lending me a few coins, Mom?"

"Toph, let the girls enjoy the rest of their days here. Training can wait can't it?" The older woman was already rummaging through her robes for her coin purse.

"Nope." The master metalbender held her hand out waiting. "The girls will get sloppy."

Poppy shook her head. "I want all this back, Toph. Girls."

"Got it." Toph, Suyin, and Lin answered back together.

Lao watched as the three started moving back towards the open area of the garden. "Don't push them too hard, Toph. I don't want a single touch on the house."

"No promises!"

Lao sighed deeply.

Back with the girls, Toph dropped the coin purse on the ground and put both hands to her hips. She leaned forward to keep her speech from reaching her parents. "Alright. Where did you guys go this morning with your grandfather?"

"We went to apologize-"

"Don't give me that. Your grandfather was lying to me. Even Dad can't get away from this lie detector." Toph pointed her thumb towards her chest. "And neither can you."

Suyin looked for some kind of approval from her sister. Lin just shrugged. "It doesn't matter anymore."

The younger jumped in glee and twirled."We went to watch an earth rumble tournament!"

Toph flinched. "What? Without me?!"

The master earthbender was about to turn back to question her father, but Lin grabbed her wrist to stop her pursuit. "Don't"

"I did hear you correctly, right? My father took you two to a dirty old arena to watch guys pumble each other with rocks?"

The girls nodded. Su spoke with kindness. "Grandfather isn't so bad."

Toph pondered on any sort of explanation to why her father would allow her children to attend something so classless. Whether it be her own judgement of her father clouding her mind or denial, she couldn't seem to come up with a response.

"He doesn't let people get away with calling us bastards." Lin informed her mother.

And that was when Toph's heart swelled. She tried hard to conceal the new found appreciation she had for her father. The chief of police was unaware that Lao was staring at the three fondly.

"Huh, I guess he isn't."

old man lao isn't so bad, right. Thanks for reading! Reviews are like meat to Sokka. He loves it. And so do I!