Wow, it's been a while since I updated! Sorry about that. School's been killer this semester. Here's a new chapter, thanks everyone!

Toph pushed open the door to the police station, wincing when it made a loud clamber as it smacked into the wall. Her head was not feeling much better.

She approached the desk, sensing how nervous the man working there was.

"I'm here to see the Bossy Law-Man," she announced to him.

Yu nodded, quickly shoving his chair back to stand up, causing the legs to screech against the floor as he hurried off to find the lieutenant. Toph tried to ignore the pounding in her temples and started tapping her foot on the floor while she waited.

Yu returned after a moment, and gestured for Toph to follow behind him. He left her at the lieutenant's door, and Hano called out, "Enter."

She walked through the door and sat down at the chair across from the lieutenant. She was tempted to put her feet up on the desk, but decided between not having her money yet and still feeling whoozy that it probably wasn't in her best interest to do so.

Lieutenant Hano didn't say anything for a few moments; Toph felt that he was staring at her.

"Is there a singing groundhog in my hair or what?" she finally asked him with a huff.

"You look like a mess," he responded, taking another moment to watch her. Her hair was damp and definitely out of place of its normal bun, and her eyes were slightly bloodshot.

"Gee, thanks," she said, rolling her eyes at him. "You're so observant. You a detective now?"

He chuckled, then reached into a drawer at his desk. "Not quite." He pulled out a large bag, and set it down on the desk. It jingled as he moved it and Toph couldn't wait to get her hands on it. "So, did you do some celebrating last night?"

She shifted her focus from the bag of yuans to the lieutenant. "Yeah. Why?"

He shrugged at her, then, unsure if she could see him, said, "Just wondering. You look a bit worse for wear. You get into any more trouble?"

Toph had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes again. "No, sheesh! I was the perfect little birthday girl, okay?"

It was Hano's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, that definitely sounds like the girl who took out six of the city's most wanted criminals for kicks. The most well-behaved drunk you'll ever see."

"Look, no one died, okay," then Toph paused, resting her hand on her chin. "Or at least not that I'm aware of."

The lieutenant groaned at the thought of cleaning up anymore of the blind bender's mess, causing Toph to chuckle lightly.

"I mean, if you want, I'm sure I could find some trouble for you," she offered playfully.

"I'm not sure if I want to take you up on that offer," he answered, finally pushing the bag of money towards her. "Here's your payment. Remember, you need to-"

"Split it with the sidekick, I know, I know," she finished for him, grabbing the bag and feeling the coins tinkling against each other.

Hano smiled at her, and was glad that she remembered not to take all of the reward for herself. She was a troublemaker, no doubt, but she was a good kid. Or adult. Whatever.

"Alright, Bossy Law-Man, am I free to go?"

He smiled at his nickname before standing up and gesturing to the door. "You are free to go, Miss Beifong."

"Please," she said, sticking the bag in her pocket and giving him a dismissive wave. "It's Toph, Bossy."

"Stay out of trouble, Toph," the lieutenant called as she strolled out of his office. He smiled to himself. If only there were more people on the force like her…then he grimaced. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. He really wasn't quite sure what to make of the young metalbender.

"Hey, Sokka…can we talk?"

Sokka paused from devouring his morning meal to glance up at his girlfriend. He smiled at her, and his stomach did a little nervous flip. He nodded, slurping up his last bite.

They meandered out to the back patio area of the Beifong estate. Sokka sighed as he felt the warm breeze play with his wolf's tail. It was a beautiful day. He turned to face Suki, and saw she was tugging on her hair again. It looked like she was working up the courage to say something. They stood quietly for a few moments.

"What's going on, Suki?" he finally asked her with a frown.

She met his eye and he could see she was holding back tears. "I don't know what to do…" she started.

"Sokka…I love you. There's no question about that," she said with a small smile. He wanted to smile back, but his heart was pounding and he suddenly felt nauseous. What was all this about?

"But lately I've been…confused," she said, turning away from him slightly.

"Confused?" he asked, worry on his face. "About what?"

"About everything!" she said with irritation. She took a deep breath before continuing. "It's just, I don't know…I'm confused about a lot of things. What am I doing? Where am I going? The war is over but I'm still unsure of what my purpose is…and…I'm confused about us too," she admitted.

Sokka reached out and softly grabbed her hand, running his fingers over her knuckles. "What about us?"

"I…I don't know." She looked off into the distance, once again not meeting his eye.

"You can tell me anything, Suki, you know that," Sokka encouraged her.

"I know I love you, but I'm afraid I might be falling for someone else," she said, hanging her head down in shame. "I just don't know, I'm really lost…" A couple tears dropped down from her face as she pulled away from his hand.

Sokka felt sick. Curiosity and slight jealousy prompted his next question. "Who is it?"

Suki shook her head, sniffling. "I can't tell you."

"Suki," he said, stepping in front of her and pushing her chin up so she would meet his eye. "Do you want to be with me?"

She stared into his eyes for a moment before nodding and saying, "yes," with certainty.

"Then we can get through this," he said, giving her a small smile. "I love you, and I trust you."

Suki immediately rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Sokka, burying her face in his chest and crying softly. He could hear her muffled voice saying, "I'm sorry," into his shirt. He smiled and combed his fingers through her hair, pushing her head up slightly so he could give her forehead a gentle kiss.

"It's okay."

Poppy hummed lightly to herself as she helped her servant, Ming, begin cleaning up the estate after Toph's party. Since she and Lao had divorced, she had started living a bit more differently. She made a few changes to her lifestyle here and there, slowly easing her way out of her old life and into a new one. Her heart was broken when she thought she had lost Toph due to Lao's traditional views, and now that her daughter was back in her life, she would do anything to keep her there.

"Tut tut," Ming muttered quietly, facing the window. "We're going to need some earthbenders to fix up the yard…"

Poppy smiled to herself; usually, servants and masters have a strict "speak when spoken to" relationship, and they would never group themselves and their master as "we". She was glad that she had such a loyal and dutiful friend by her side after all of her troubles.

"Lucky for us, I know a few," she said with a chuckle.

They spent some time picking up cups and misplaced trash from around the house, Katara joining them briefly to wash the dishes (she was much faster at it, after all). Poppy was just readjusting some portraits on a table when her daughter entered the room.

"There's my birthday girl!" she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "How is my little grown up feeling?"

Toph groaned and flopped herself down onto a loveseat. "It feels like my head might explode."

Poppy chuckled lightly and shook her head. "Someday you'll learn what your limit is, dear…" she trailed off.

"But not likely any time soon," Ming said quietly.

Poppy stifled a laugh as Toph groaned again.

"Thanks, Ming Ming," she said as she pushed a throw pillow into her face to block out the light. Ming smiled at Toph's nickname for her.

"Now, honey," Poppy started as she lightly lifted up Toph's legs to sit herself down on the loveseat with her. "You and I need to have a little chat." She put Toph's legs back in place over her lap, and the two sat there for a moment while Toph remained hidden under the pillow.

"About what?" she finally asked in a muffled voice.

"Well, I promised your friend Sokka that I would ask about it…" Toph let out an inaudible sound. "What are your plans for the future?"

Toph tossed the pillow off of her head and sat up a bit. "The future?"

"Yes, dear, the future," Poppy quickly replied. "I know you have your school, but what else? What are you planning?"

Toph shrugged. "I was just gonna go with the flow for a while…"

"That doesn't sound like the world's greatest earthbender to me," Ming chimed in from across the room.

Toph grimaced a bit as Poppy laughed gently. "She's right, dear."

"What did Sokka have to do with this, anyway?" Toph asked.

"Well, he wanted me to ask you how you felt about Republic City."