:D Enjoy!

Toph was only two weeks away from the moment of truth, and Zuko couldn't get a wink of sleep because of that fact. He imagined the worst case scenarios of Toph's childbirth going horribly wrong, and he looked at her as if she were an explosion waiting to happen. His breathing exercises doing him no good, he still attempted to converse casually with Toph; however, the magnetic attraction that Toph's smirking mouth had on Zuko prevented him from relaxing properly, since he had to constantly restrain his aching desire to kiss her senseless. Falling for an old friend felt weird - and even more weird because it also felt exhilaratingly amazing. Iroh had been constantly nagging him for the past month to pour out his heart to Toph, but Zuko was always struck paralyzed at the thought of doing such a thing.

It was all the more confusing and embarrassing when Zuko found himself eating dinner with Toph, alone. Iroh had sent Akashi with the feeble excuse that he was having stomach problems and decided to turn in early for the night. Irritated, Zuko accepted the excuse because he didn't want to make a scene, especially not within Toph's earshot. After Akashi left, only the sound of forks clinking on plates as they picked up food could be heard.

Zuko cleared his throat and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good," answered Toph. "You?"

"Uh, good."

Toph's brows raised upward, and she leaned toward Zuko with an attitude that hinted she read him far too easily.

"I can tell you're lying," stated Toph. "What's wrong?"

"Well, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while," informed Zuko reluctantly.

Toph's brows arched even higher as a hopeful expression consumed her face. "What is it?"

Zuko waited a moment before he said, "The peace conference with the other nations is coming up, and I'll be gone for a few days."

Toph's face drooped, but she soon glued on a facade of mild interest to mask her disappointment.

"Oh," she murmured.

"I don't want to go though," added Zuko.

Toph perked up. "Why not?"

"I don't want to leave you here. What if you go into labor?"

"Zuko, you can't ditch the world peace conference just to wait around for my baby."

Zuko leaned back in his chair and sighed, since he knew that she was right.

"Though I wish you would," Toph mentally added.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" inquired Zuko concernedly.

"Yeah," responded Toph encouragingly. "I don't need your help. I don't need anyone's help."

"Oh," said a deflated Zuko. After a pause for thought, he commented, "You know, Toph, it's impossible to lean on your own shoulder."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that sometimes you really do need help from other people, whether you like to admit it or not."

Toph frowned. "I know. I'm just so sick of everyone trying to take care of me, the helpless blind girl."

"You and I both know you're not helpless," reassured Zuko. "There's nothing wrong with needing help once in a while. Sometimes people offer to help because they want to, not because they believe the other person is incompetent.

Toph smiled in amusement. "When did you start to sound like Iroh?"

Zuko shrugged and smiled modestly. "I guess he's rubbing off on me."

Toph and Zuko continued to eat in silence as they pondered over the conversation that had just transpired.

Finally Zuko inquired, "So what are you going to do after you have the baby?"

"I haven't quite figured that out yet," replied Toph. "Most likely I'll go back to my bending academy. The students are probably dying without me."

"I think you taught them well enough to hold their ground on their own."

Toph bit her lip. "That's kinda what I'm afraid of."

"Well, my door is always open if you need me."

Toph smiled. "Thanks, Sparky."

On the morning after Zuko's departure, Toph started to feel several pangs in her stomach, but she didn't say anything for fear of everyone getting a panic attack. Thus far any contractions of her womb were irregular and innocuous, not indicating the actual beginnings of labor. Anyway, she was still a week away from her official due date, though the half-minute spans of pain twisting her insides seemed to speak otherwise. She still went about her day-to-day business, but her state of denial had to come to an abrupt end when her water broke.

That moment was the catalyst for the frenzy to begin, with servants running back and forth to prepare for the birth and the maids flocking to a hyperventilating Toph. Iroh scrawled a hasty note on a piece of paper, tied it to the leg of a messenger hawk, and sent it after Zuko. Toph got settled as best as she could, with Akashi and Iroh on either side to provide moral support and motivation. She didn't say so out loud, but Akashi knew that it wasn't them that Toph wanted by her side; unfortunately Akashi didn't know if the Firelord would receive the notice in time.

Zuko's heart stopped beating as soon as he spotted the messenger hawk in the sky; somehow he already sensed what the note had to say before the hawk even perched on his shoulder. Confirming his worst fears, he read the message from Iroh, crumpled it up, tossed it aside, and swerved his startled ostrich horse around.

"We're going back," declared Zuko in a low, authoritative voice.

"But sire - " began one of the servants who was accompanying Zuko.

"NOW!" shouted Zuko heatedly. "Toph has gone into labor."

The servant's mouth clamped shut and he also turned his ostrich horse around to meekly follow his determined Firelord.

All that consumed Zuko's thoughts was Toph, and how she was faring without him. He was so stupid to abandon her like he did; so what if there was a peace conference? His friend needed him, and no doubt the Avatar would have understood the necessity of Zuko being noticeably absent once he heard the news. The sun inched closer and closer to the horizon line, and Zuko despaired upon realizing that he could never reach the Fire Nation Capital before nightfall. He knew that his entourage was yearning to settle down for slumber, but he wouldn't be able to sleep even if he tried. Fervently hoping that he would not be too late, Zuko spurred his ostrich horse to a gallop and ignored the whines and groans of his escorts. He finally had to stop to give his steed a much-needed respite; he continued to pace, fidget, and snarl at his dozing servants until a couple of restless hours had passed and he set off again for home. At daybreak, Zuko finally saw the spires of his palace in the distance and urged his ragged men onward. However, they were too tired to budge and stared stupidly at their master in a cloudy daze.

"Sire, your ostrich horse is nearly dead from exhaustion," pointed out one of the guards. "And so are we."

Zuko sneered irritably before curtly saying, "Fine."

Zuko dismounted, and landed firmly on the solid brown earth beneath him. His servants stared stupefied as he commenced marching in the direction of his home, where Toph was anxiously waiting for him.

"What are you doing?" called out a servant confusedly.

"I'm coming home," responded Zuko, not turning around to answer but rather beginning a hasty sprint toward the palace.

Zuko was hardly aware of the fact that his body was drenched with sweat when he stood panting at the doorstep of his own home. An awestruck maid gaped at her Firelord - at least she was pretty sure it was the Firelord. Zuko's hair being free of its typical topknot, his dusty traveling clothes, and his glistening sweat made Zuko hardly recognizable, but still the maid admitted him entrance. Zuko ran to where the maid pointed when he asked for Toph, and thought only of her clouded eyes reflecting the light of the lanterns the night of the festival.

Toph already knew he had come before he flung open the door, and she beamed in ecstasy. This was a shining moment of comfort compared to the aggravating hours of labor she had thus far been enduring. She let go of Akashi and Iroh's hands to reach out to the sweaty but relieved Zuko standing in front of her bed. Iroh and Akashi stepped aside to allow the duo their longed-for reunion, with Zuko kneeling at her bedside and kissing her hand.

"Zuko," whispered Toph as Zuko rested his forehead on hers in satisfaction.

Zuko sighed happily and brushed her unruly bangs from her face. "Toph."

"Why are you all wet?"

"Oh," chuckled Zuko as he looked at his sweat-soaked body. "That's sweat. Sorry."

"Did you run all the way back?" questioned an astounded Toph.

"Only from the edge of the Capital," replied Zuko, who still couldn't wipe off the grin on his face after seeing Toph again. "My servants are even lazier than you."

Toph started to laugh, and then groaned as another contraction took hold of her. Her fingernails dug into the skin of Zuko's hand, and he inhaled sharply to avoid groaning right back.

"Don't… leave me…" pleaded Toph between heavy breaths.

"Never again," murmured Zuko.

Toph had never known such aggravating, exhausting, endless work as childbirth, but hearing the wail of her newborn babe made it all worthwhile in a mere second. Zuko informed her that it was a girl, and she couldn't be happier when the squirming infant was tucked into the fold of her welcoming arms. She stilled her daughter's whimpering by planting a kiss on her little white forehead and rubbing their noses together.

"How does she look?" Toph asked Zuko.

"Beautiful," exhaled Zuko admiringly.

"I thought as much," said a pleased Toph. "Not that looks really matter to a blind mother."

"Of course not," chortled Zuko. "What are you naming her?"

"Lin," answered Toph after a moment of thoughtful silence. "She's taking on my maiden name, too, just to spite my parents."

"So both of you are keeping the Bei Fong name?"

"Yes. It's the name I'm better known for, and Yuan said he didn't mind me keeping my surname."

"All right then." Zuko looked at the admiration in Toph's smile, and inquired, "Would you like some alone time with her?"

"Actually, I was just going to ask if you wanted to hold her," replied Toph as she offered her daughter to Zuko.

Zuko gulped, nodded, and carefully transferred Lin to his arms; the baby cooed and wonderingly gazed at Zuko, who had to restrain the tears that wanted to flood his cheeks. He trembled slightly as he beheld the round, chubby face of the innocent babe that belonged to the one woman he could never have. For a moment, he imagined that this was his beautiful baby, too. For a moment, he dreamed that this was the beginning of him and Toph spending the rest of their lives together. Only for a moment could he wish it.

*sniffles* So beautiful...