Capital City Police Station, 8th Precinct
3 South Walnut Ave

"Whose cock do I have to suck to get an answer around here?" Kenton yelled before turning to the small window in the waiting room again, speaking to the women behind the desk there. "Can you PLEASE tell them we're waiting!"

"I've told them already! You're just going to have to wait!"

"This is bullshit!"

"As you say, sir. However, it doesn't change the fact that you're going to have to wait."

He groaned heavily, rolling his eyes with a sigh as he made his way back to the gathering of his friends and family. "This is bullshit." He huffed again, sitting next to Iroh.

"It's just protocol, they will be calling us back soon." The statement had come from a woman sitting next to Lu Ten. She had dark skin and a halo of natural dark hair around her head, a kind look in her eyes. "We just need to stay calm, Kenton."

"I'm trying Rose." He sighed, "It's just bullshit. I mean…"

"I know, but causing a scene will only make things worse." She was so calm in situations like this, as was her job. In addition to being a friend of the couple for years, she was their lawyer. She had helped them with the papers for Lily, and even had gone to China with them to get her. "They can't just take her and then not give you both the right to defend yourselves."

"I swear if this has anything to do with that we're gay, I will fucking kill someone."

Rose twinged, "Not the right thing to say, Kenton."

Zuko finally spoke up, pulling himself out of the daze he seemed to be in, "And I don't think it has anything to do with that."

"It better not." Kenton growled, "I don't know why else they would take her. We have a good home, I make more money that any of these shit heads ever will, so what's the issue?"

"Again… might wanna tone down that kinda talk."

"I don't really give a fuck."

"Don't be rude to her." snapped Lu Ten, who was sitting next to Zuko. "She's just trying to help. And she's right. Talking like a crazy person isn't going to help the situation. If it is about being gay then the last thing you wanna let them see is you being a stark-raving-faggot."

"Don't use that word." Iroh sighed at his son, "You know I hate it when you say it."

Lu Ten sighed, letting his head slide into his hand. "Sorry, dad…"

"I know that this is all very emotional, but we need to remain calm. It's the best thing that we can do for Lily right now."

No one said anything, but they all knew he was right. Emotions were so high and out of control that it was getting ugly. They were all feeling ugly.

"When will your parents be here?" Rose asked Kenton, "We might need them."

"Need them?"

"Sometimes when a child is with CPS they will only let a non-direct family member see her." She motioned to Iroh, "Normally he would do, but considering how your relationship works, Iroh would be seen as a direct family member, as would Sokka and Suki, even though they're not blood." Zuko felt his heart skip a beat at the mention of his ex's name, an ever more dramatic reaction at the thought that she was his ex.

"My mom and dad are taking the first flight in, should be here in the morning." Kenton sighed, "And my sister Mary will be here in a few days."

"Good, the more people we can get here the better." Rose made a note of something in a clipboard she pulled from her bag.

"I called Azula and Sokka. If we need anything from them they will be here in a heartbeat."

"Good. Suki too?"

Zuko groaned heavily, going limp in his chair as his head flopped back onto his shoulders.

Rose blushed a bit, "Oh…"

"Yeah. No Suki." Kenton mumbled, looking across the small sitting area at his husband. Lu Ten had been crying most of the time since they'd gotten there. He'd also been not talking as much as he used to. It was like something had been sucked out of him. He hadn't told Lu Ten about the way that Lily had been ripped from his arms, that was for Zuko to share. Zuko had to make the account of every painful moment of the scene to Kenton, the way that Lily was screaming and crying, the way that Zuko couldn't move Lu Ten from the ground in front of the house till Iroh had gotten there. He had accounted all of this to him, mostly out of necessity.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Kenton asked his husband as they stood in front of a vending machine.

"What is there to talk about?" Lu Ten mumbled, feeding quarters into the slot.

"Well this has been pretty much the worst day ever and after people have a day like today they usually talk about it."

"Well there is nothing to talk about. It just happened."

Kenton reached out and placed a hand on Lu Ten's shoulder, "I'm not mad at you."

Lu Ten looked at him with a frown, "Why would you be? I didn't do anything wrong."

"Well, they did take her on your watch."

"Right…" Lu Ten laughed, "Cause I was gonna take on armed police officers with my bare fucking hands."

Kenton sighed, pulling his hand away and running it over his fine blonde hair, "I know it's not your fault."

"Oh, now I feel so much better."

"Don't be a smart ass." Kenton growled. He froze for a second before reaching out and wrapping his arms around Lu Ten's neck from behind, pulling him in close for a hug. "We're gonna get her back." He whispered. Lu Ten replied by placing his hands on his husband's arms, squeezing them lightly.

"I know…"

"Guys!"

They looked in the direction of the waiting room, Rose walking towards them. "They're ready for us."


Lu Ten drummed his fingers on the table as Rose sat on his right, looking through the papers in a brown folder, her lip worrying between her teeth. He had a feeling it was something like this.

"It's my fault."

"There is no way that you could have avoided this." She commenced, making a note in a piece of paper.

"I should have just let her see her."

"I wouldn't have let her see her." She mumbled, "You made the right call, I think."

Lu Ten nodded, "I wish Kenton were in here…"

His husband was in the next room, waiting for his turn to talk to the investigator. They had just been told fully about the situation, about why Lily had been taken away. Alina had filed a claim for custody of Lily, saying that Lu Ten, and by extension, Kenton, were not fit parents for the little girl. They did not yet have a reason for the claim, but simply sighted 'past behaviors' with no other reasoning.

"Did you know that she went to Law school?"

He turned to his friend, nothing the look on her face, "I didn't."

"Yeah. Looks like both her and her husband are lawyers."

"Is that bad?"

She sat the folder down on the table, "Well… I've heard of the firm; Skylark and Hensom."

"He's a partner?"

Rose nodded, "And looks like she's a fellow."

"So that is bed?"

"Well…" She swallowed hard, brow line creasing, "It's not good."

The door opened, the woman from the house walking in with another, older woman. Awkward pleasantries were exchanged before they go to the point.

"There has been issues raised about your effectiveness at raising a child."

"And what are these issues? We went through extensive background checks and even classes before we even got her. If the country of China thought that we were fit, how can she take issue with this?"

"Her issue was with your mental state."

"My mental state?"

"Did you, or did you not try and commit suicide when you were 19?"

Rose looked over at Lu Ten, eyebrows raising.

Lu Ten simply blinked a few times, looking down at his hands on the table, "Is that why she was taken away? Cause you think I'm gonna off myself?"

"Please just answer the question."

"Then yes… I did try and kill myself." Rose's face next to him softened, reaching out and taking his shoulder into her hands. "I found out that my mother, who left me, without warning, for simply being who I am, had not only re-married, but had twins. She left me, and then replaced me.

"So yes. I did try and kill myself. I couldn't deal with the pain and the shame that I felt so I found the only outlet that I could for it. I took a handful of sleeping pills and just…. went to sleep. Dad found me, saw the pills, called 911 and they pumped my stomach. I spent a week in the hospital and then went to a treatment facility for over a year."

"Has there been any relapses in the past 17 years?"

"That's irrelevant." Rose snapped, "He told you that that was 17 years ago, so it's pointless for you to ask about it now."

"We don't see it that way, and neither does Mrs. Skylark."

Lu Ten went to say something but was cut off by Rose putting her hand atop his, "Mrs. Skylark hasn't even been involved in Lu Ten's life for over 20 years. We are unaware of how she gained knowledge of the suicide attempt, but it was simply not her's to know about. She isn't even in any legal position to claim the child."

"She still remains the legal parent of Lu Ten." The one woman said, "Those rights were never forfeited through the divorce. She has just as much right to file this claim as Iroh Kasai does. It's why we had to take it seriously and follow through."

"Was it necessary to take her though?" He croaked, "I mean for fuck's sake you could have asked about her well-being."

"Which is another thing." Rose started, "Normal protocol is to do an income investigation before action is taken. You don't just come into someone's home and rip the child out of her parent's arms."

"We acted as we felt was needed for the safety of the child."

"Safety?" Lu Ten laughed, "You take a girl, little more than a baby, out of the home that she's known for almost a year and put her someplace where god only knows who's taking care of her? All under the request of a woman who has never seen the girl, or the home in which she lived in. Is that what you call necessary?"

"We did as we felt necessary."

Lu Ten shook his head, looking away as Rose asked the woman a few more questions.


Kenton was pacing in the barren room, hands running through his dirty blonde hair. It was like every second that nothing happened was another second that he was losing his mind. What was worse was that he had no idea what was going on in the next room. He still didn't know why this was going on, but just knew that Lu Teen had been in the room with Rose and the social workers for some time.

He sat down, thinking that it would help clear his mind. Fingers massaged his temples with a frown, his thoughts wandering.

He hadn't wanted her. The baby thing had been Lu Ten's idea. He dealt with enough babies day in and day out and he had decided a long time ago that it wasn't for him. Lu Ten had mirrored his thoughts, at least at first. However, eventually things had gotten a bit boring for him. It first happened when they moved out of their small place and into the big house out in the country. All that space made him go a little stir-crazy. He could only plant so many flowers or serve so many cups of tea. He'd just gotten bored. Then he'd started looking into stuff about adopting babies and Kenton just went along with it.

He did love Lily, though. More than he thought he would even. He loved the way that her face would light up when she saw him. The way that Lu Ten smiled when he held her. Yeah, he did love Lily. And he missed her already.

Rose joined him in the room at last, briefing him on the situation. He wasn't surprised; saddened but not surprised.

"Why didn't you tell me Lu Ten tried to kill himself?"

Kenton shrugged, "It's not something he divulges freely. Many of our friends don't know."

She nodded slowly, "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Well… the story has always been that-" He was cut off by the social workers coming into the room. They asked him some basic questions; job, income, home situation.

Then things turned a bit more personal.

"Could you tell us how you meet Lu Ten?"

Kenton tensed up, arms crossing over his chest, "I don't see how that matters."

"We are just trying to gathering information that gives us the big picture of your life."

"I still don't see how this is how anything to do with how I raise my daughter. In fact it has nothing to do with it."

"Well we do think it matters and we do know how you meet and we want you to tell the truth."

Kenton laughed, "This isn't happening."

The older of the two women spoke, her words sharp and accusing, "We are simply trying to ascertain rather or not you make it a habit of sleeping with your patients."

All expression dropped from Kenton's face, his entire demeanor taking on a grim look. "Are you a member of the Medical Ethics Review Committee?"

"What?"

"I said…" His voice deepened, words clear and sharp, "Are you a member of the Medical Ethics Review Committee?"

"No. I'm not."

"Then you can go fuck yourself." He stood up from his metal chair, "This interview is over." He left the room quickly, hands running things his hair as he tried to steady his nerves.

"Patient?" Rose hissed from behind him, having followed. "Lu Ten was your patient?! I thought you meet while you were both Volunteers at a camp?!"

"That was always the story we told." Kenton mumbled.

Rose grabbed his shoulder from behind and pulled him to a stop, shoving him against a wall. She was much smaller than the tall, well built man. But the look in her eyes showed that she meant business. "If I'm gonna do this then I need to know everything. Now tell me, was he your patient when you first met?"

Kenton took a deep breath, his shoulder shrugging, "Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"After I finished my undergrad I took a summer off before med school. I got a job as a junior counselor at a treatment center, the same one he was at after his suicide attempt. He was one of the young men that I was assigned to. We fell in love. We never did anything until after I was no longer working there.

"So no. He... yes, he was my patient. But I was not a doctor at the time so it's not relevant to anything."

"Still… you need to explain it to them. Being angry and evasive isn't going to help anything, it's only going to hurt."

Kenton nodded, a frown on his face. "Fine."

With a hand still on his shoulder she lead him back to the room, "Come on. Let's get your girl back."


They walked into the waiting room, hand in hand with Rose beside them.

Sokka and Azula had joined those in the room, their faces fixed in worried looks. "What happened?"

"They have to contact some people. Make sure that we're on the up and up." Kenton mumbled, "Just may take some time."

"How much time?"

Lu Ten sighed a bit, "They said it will be at least two weeks before they can think about releasing her to us."

Iroh frowned, "And where is she? Where's Lily?"

"She's in a home." Rose said with a sigh, "She's safe though. As soon as Amli and Nauren get here tomorrow they will see her."

"And until then?"

Rose gave them all a sad look, her bottom lips worried between her teeth. "We just have to wait.."

Lu Ten lowered his head as Kenton pressed his lips to the side of his head, a hand sliding up his back. "Don't worry." Kenton mumbled into the side of his head, "We will bring our girl home…"