Chapter 11: Departure

A/N:Hello everyone I finally got time to update. Thank you everyone who takes the time to read and review. Almost to chapter 15 then you guys can read some brand new chaps and continue with this fic. Oh and I do not own Legend of Korra.

On the snowy plains of the South Pole, the thudding of footsteps and steady breathing, was the only thing that could be heard over and airbenders' cry of triumph. "Ha! I got you mom!" Jinora declared with a grin on her face, proud of her accomplishment. The duo were currently engaged in a game of tag.

Lin chuckled at her daughter's enthusiasm. The other exhausted airbending children stopped playing a while ago. Jinora wouldn't until she had finally got the Chief to be 'it'.

"Not if I get you back!" Lin declared. They have been at for a while and even though the Chief was not as young as she used to be, she could still run for a long period of time.

The earthbender was just a few inches from tagging the airbender when Tenzin's voice interrupted her concentration.

"Lin!" He called from a distance.

"What?" Lin asked still running, but with her footing not as steady is it would be on solid earth, she slipped and fell harshly on the ground with an "oof" ,in front of the airbender that she almost got.

Tenzin cringed a bit and hurried towards his best friend and former lover.

"Are you ok?" Jinora asked helping the earthbender to her feet.

"I'm alright, but I would appreciate a break from running around like a headless Turtle-duck." Lin confirmed once she was once again back on her feet.

The thirteen year old smiled and said: "You mean being beaten."

The Chief only snorted at the comment.

"Was she always like this? Like me?" Lin asked herself and felt a slight pang of regret. Where have all the years gone? Sometimes she wondered if the decision to protect her daughter's life, could be done differently than how she did it thirteen years ago.

"Lin I-it is the only way." Tenzin said ,dropping his gaze to the ground beneath him.

Not even bothering to reply, she turned around and left him behind and everything they had together, but she never forgot the times she had with the man she loved the most. At the time she was still unaware of the challenges and acceptances that lay on her path.

"I don't have another option." A thirty five year old Lin insisted. "You know they are after her. I don't know why. I don't even know how they crossed over to the mortal world."

"No! D-don't go." She pleaded, sitting near the almost lifeless figure ,where what now was a City in ruin, sobbing with tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry. I never , wanted to things to end like this..." The earthbender whispered to the sleeping figure in her arms.

"Mom." Jinora said, only loud enough for the earthbender to hear.

Lin snapped out of her thoughts. "Yes."

"Are sure you alright?" Jinora asked a bit concerned.

"I'm fine I was just thinking." She stated simply, but continued when the airbenders worried gaze didn't change. "I was just thinking about some times before and after you were born."

"How did you find out?" She asked out of pure curiosity.

"When I had you?"

Jinora nodded, with not much her expression on her face.

"Well it was my mother that found out exactly, I had no idea back then. While I was at her apartment for a visit, she thought that I was with someone else. It was your heartbeat that made her think that, I was completely shocked when I found out I was pregnant. To tell you the truth I was unsure of how to feel ,but now that I finally got a chance to be with you..." Lin explained calmly with a ghost of a smile on her lips, she looked at the airbender who was listening intentionally. "...I know I'm happy. The thought of my daughter ,safe and sound kept me sane through all these years."

Jinora's face lit up in a genuine smile. "I'm glad I found you too. A question she hoped to ask Lin one day were threateningly close to being asked, but shoved it away and she continued to enjoy the moments, where her life made more sense. Where she felt more like herself.

At last Tenzin caught up with the two. He could've used his airbending to meet up with his daughter and Lin faster, but wasn't too concerned. After all Lin was the most protective person he knew, but even he wasn't aware of everything she gave up and did for them. Not to mention how to repay her for everything she did for him.

"Lin are you alright?" He asked just to be sure.

"Why wouldn't I be ?" Was her answer to the airbender's question. Tenzin then turned to Jinora.

"You should get on the ship we will be heading back to Republic City in a few minutes."

"Ok dad I will be going in a- wait." Jinora said with her eyes wide. "I almost forgot I wanted to borrow some those books of grandma Katara." The airbender then sped off back to the village.

Lin smiled and shook her head. Just like Jinora, Lin too loved reading, whether it was on her own or to her mother, when she was her age.

"You know she reminds me a little of you when we were young." Tenzin confessed. It might be little details, but he picked up her liking for books and her rather...bold attitude from time to time.

The comment made Lin froze for a few moments.

"Are you alright? You seemed to be a bit uncomfortable .You are not getting sick are you?" Concern was clear in Tenzin's voice, but more than anything else, Lin felt like she was getting annoyed and really fast.

"Are you alright? Are you this are you that. Can't he find something else to talk about, that doesn't have something to do with me and my personal life."

Lin though to herself frowning deeply. "Airhead stop worrying I am fine!" She insisted. "I have dealt with criminals, murders and the most dangerous triad members in the City and you are worrying if I might get sick?"

"I'm sorry I shouldn't be fussing over you like this, but after I thought I lost you at the beginning of Amon's attack, I am afraid I might lose you again."

If Lin was a normal person she might have found the confession touching, but she wasn't. She was the Chief of Police in Republic City. Instead she told him that he could worry when she was on the verge of death. Which wasn't an option the airbending master would resort to any time soon.

"You know I can't stop worrying about you."

Lin didn't reply, instead she looked in to his familiar grey eyes and said: "We should get going , Bumi and his fleet would be leaving anytime now."

He nodded and they both boarded the ship and headed back to Republic City. Back home.

"Home." Lin thought and stared at the airbending children who was running wildly around. At Tenzin who was currently holding Rohan in his arms and she smiled. Kallik was playing Pai Sho with Asami while drinking a concoctions which was most likely to be alcoholic , since she was losing so badly. She asked Korra first, but even she didn't have the patience for the game. Besides she was keeping Mako some company.

When they got home her life would never be the same again.

A/N: Ta da!