Thanks for all the comments, here is chapter 12.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar TLA or its characters; I only own my idea and writing.

Prison, Rescue and Life

Chapter 12


Toph jerked back slightly when the cold water touched her foot. This always seemed to happen when she bathed. No matter how many times, the water around her feet made her uncomfortable and jumpy. It was a natural reaction she guessed, after all she couldn't swim but it still made her somewhat insecure.

Taking a deep breath she lowered her foot and felt the squishy, water clogged sand suck against her foot and swirl around her ankle. Toph took another step and the water rose to just below her knees. She shifted her grip on the piece of wash cloth she was holding that contained her soap. Sokka had said that the soap wouldn't harm the waterway because he had bought ones made from natural ingredients. She wasn't particularly concerned by the 'health' of the water, but it seemed important to Sokka.

The ground beneath her slowly turned from sand into gravel and then into large pebbles. Toph stopped, the water level was at her mid-thigh and that was as far as she would go. When she had been travelling with the Gaang, she would never have gone out as deep as she was now. But her confidence had grown since then and she was also taller. A part of Toph's mind also knew that it was because Sokka was watching over her and she trusted him completely.

Toph unraveled the soap from the wash cloth and wet them both in the water. She then began to clean her sand covered skin with the cool liquid and soapy bubbles.


Sokka caught himself staring and quickly looked away. He had already had his wash and was now letting the suns rays dry his skin and clothes. It was just after midday and the shadows of the forest were just starting to creep up on him. Sokka shuffled a little closer towards the water where the sun was warming the grass. He looked up again.

He was in a difficult position, he knew he had to watch Toph because she wasn't confident with water but he was finding it harder and harder to not let his mind wander when he looked at her. She had defiantly grown up. Now that she was standing and walking all by herself, Sokka had noticed how tall she had gotten. The top of Toph's head was just above his shoulder. The perfect height for kissing, he thought momentarily.

Toph had her underclothes on, but Sokka could still make out the slight curves she had grown into. Though it was clear she still had weight to gain, he could see some of her ribs quite clearly. It was strange in a way, to think that he had watched Toph grow from 12 to 16 and yet he hadn't ever noticed the changes. Sokka decided that from now on he would defiantly pay attention to changes.

Sokka had often been known to make sudden decisions and now he was ready to make another one. Although he had known it the moment he had almost fallen out of that tree at Toph's first training session, now he realized it. Not only was he, Sokka the warrior, in love with Toph. He also wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. It was a big conclusion to come to for some people, but for him it was simple. He loved her and he was pretty sure that she loved him. Surly that was all that mattered?

Sokka jumped slightly when Toph called his name.

"Yeah?" he responded after noticing that she didn't seem to be in danger.

"Stop staring" she commanded.

"What?" Sokka asked, confused.

"You're staring at me," Toph stated, "It's making me uncomfortable"

"But I-, I mean-, I didn't-," he became caught up in his excuse.

A small laugh escaped Toph and Sokka looked up to see that she was facing him. "It's ok Sokka, I'm not angry. I appreciate you watching over in case I get into trouble. But I would prefer it if you didn't stare," she explained.

"How did you know?" he asked, "I didn't even realize it myself"

"You know that feeling you get sometimes when you are being watched? The hairs on you neck stand up?"

"Yeah…"

"Well blind people get that too," she told him.

"No, Toph I wasn't implying-, I just-," He fumbled with his words again. Sokka hated how she always managed to turn his questions or comments into something to do with her blindness.

Toph laughed again, "Chill Sokka, you know I'm just teasing"

"Well I wish you wouldn't" he said, sulkily.

"Oh really?" Toph asked in a slightly different tone.

"No," he answered in a defeated voice.

"Didn't think so," A winning smile grew on Toph's lips and she returned back to washing the soap bubbles of her arms.

Sokka breathed out. This was what he loved about Toph, the fact that she knew his buttons and how to push them. Sure it got annoying but it just showed how much she knew about him. To him it showed that she cared and that was always something Sokka had wanted to have in the woman he would share his life with.

Suddenly he was stirred from his thoughts when Toph came and stretched herself out on the grass to his right.

"Tanning session?" he inquired.

"I don't tan, or so I've been told," she stated.

Sokka looked at her pale skin and shrugged his shoulders. "Well don't stay too long in the sun, you'll burn."

"I know, I just want to dry off"

Sokka watched as a deep blue and greed butterfly came to rest on Toph's wet hair. He gently coaxed it onto his hand and felt the strange sensation of the creature's tiny hairs on his skin as it walked across his fingers. Toph rolled over to dry her back and the insect flew away.

"Toph?"

"Mhmm?"

"Where were you before you got the wedding invitation?" he asked.

"What?"

"I mean where were you when you got Katara and Aang's wedding invite? What were you doing with your life? I hadn't seen you in ages." He questioned further.

"I was living in Ba Sing Se. I had been for about 8 months when I got the invite."

"But I thought you hated Ba Sing Se." Sokka stated, slightly confused.

"I did when I was younger, it reminded me too much of my home life. But it grew on me during the time I spent there," Toph explained.

"So who did you stay with?" He asked for more than one reason.

"No one. I had my own house and job. I competed in a few earthbending tournaments until they banned me because I kept winning every time"

"I'm sure they were just jealous. Where did you work?" Sokka continued his questioning.

"I had odd jobs here and there, building houses and helping with repairs to parts of the city. I often visited Iroh's tea shop, he always insisted I never pay and that it was on the house."

"I don't understand. Why did you have to work? I mean because you know, your…well rich."

"My family is rich, not me," Toph clarified, "I went back to my parents shortly after Zuko and Mai's wedding. They told me that they had had enough of my running away and disrespect. They cut me off."

"I'm sure they still love you," Sokka attempted to make her feel better.

"My mother perhaps, but I don't think my father could ever see past my blindness."

"You still shouldn't have had to work for money anyway. You're the worlds greatest Earthbender! You helped end the war. And you could have always come back to us," Sokka referred to the Gaang.

"But I didn't want to, you all were getting on with your own lives and besides I wanted to know what it was like," She explained.

"What it was like?" he asked her.

"To live like a regular person. All my life I had lived in luxury or been running around in wild adventure with you lot." A flick of her wrist indicated she was referring to him.

"You're not a regular person"

"Thank you. But that be as it may, I still wanted to know. Just out of curiosity I guess." Toph got up and Sokka watched her as she made her way over to the shade.

"Now enough talking," She said, "I think it's time for my massage."

"Just one more question?"

"One more," she permitted.

"Can you read or write?"

Toph's eyebrows met, "What kind of a stupid question is that! Of course I can't read or write." She waved her hand in front of her eyes to make an extra point.

"Just checking"


Sokka carefully placed his footsteps as he helped Toph to make her way over a fallen tree. Normally she would have been fine by herself but at the moment she seemed a bit out of it. The massage must have relaxed her a lot, he thought. Having Toph in a world all by herself had given Sokka some of his own time to think.

"Toph"

"Mmhmm?" came her lazy reply.

"I have an idea," Sokka continued.

"That's nice"

"I know what we are going to do for the next week or so," he left the statement hanging to arouse Toph's interest. It worked.

"What?" she asked in a semi-interested tone.

"I am going to teach you how to read and write, and we are going to build a house," Sokka told her.

Toph seemed not to have heard him, but after about a minute or so of walking in silence, she turned to face him. "Wait, what?"


Woo! Another chapter up. Sorry this one took a while, I've been a bit busy lately.