The Forgotten Child

Onesmartcookie78

Summary: "You're," she pauses, "you're orphans? I didn't know you were—"

"You didn't know we—what, did you think we just like hanging around in alleys?"

Or: Lin and Tenzin have a child, but Tenzin doesn't know it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Korra or Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I do own any of the characters you don't recognize

A/N: I've had just one person comment on the most recent chapter of this fic, despite the fact that it's been up for almost three months, and despite the number of followers this fic has. And it's SUCH a pain in the ass to post on FFnet. This might be the last time I cross-post on FFnet as a result. Please find my story on AO3, listed under the same username and title if you are truly interested in supporting me.

LIN

"I didn't see what happened," Rei had told Lin, "it was too dark."

And Lin has to wonder about that, because it doesn't seem likely that neither Rei nor Sarri had seen a single thing. Sure, it had been dark, and sure, they had been scared, but they had to have at least heard something. And yet, both of them had refused to speak any further on the matter. It was suspicious, to say the least, but it didn't necessarily mean anything—after all they were children who had gone through something traumatic. Not trained police officers with uncanny memories. Plus, they were non-benders, at that. It wasn't as if Rei or Sarri had killed Ho or injured Min. And yet here she was, without an explanation as to what had happened to either man. Considering dead men tell no tales, she would just have to wait until Min woke up—though that was seeming less likely by the day: the Triple Threat Triad crony was in a coma.

(And Lin wishes she had been the one to kill Ho and beat Min into his coma, she really does; for Min had threatened her daughter, had been trying to take her on a "test drive" had wanted to rape her little girl. And Spirits does Lin wish someone hadn't beaten her to the literal punch. Even now she aches to pay him a visit in the hospital, even now she wants to punch him, at least once, even if he's unconscious, even if he wakes up and can't remember what he did.)

It was beginning to look like a cold case. Her only other option was to try and bring Shady Shin and some other higher-level members of the Triple Threats in for questioning, but they were a slippery bunch, and even though she knew they had been the ones to give the order, the only thing she had to go off was the testimony of an eight year old girl. It was enough to bring in Shin (if her officers could find him—there'd been a warrant out for his arrest for years) but it wasn't enough evidence to bring him down; not with Ho dead and Min incapacitated.

Lin sighs wearily to herself as she finally leaves the station for the night with Sarri at her side. Her daughter matches her pace, her much shorter legs causing her to have to take two extra steps for every one of Lin's just to keep up. Noticing this, Lin slows slightly.

"Ch-chief?" her daughter begins hesitantly. "I'm sorry."

It's not the first time she's apologized for tonight and knowing how kind her heart is, Lin wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the last. How she was blessed with a girl like Sarri, she'll never know, but her daughter won't even let her kill the occasional scorpion-fly when it somehow manages to infiltrate their home. Talk about being Lin's complete opposite; Sarri must get it from Tenzin, that's the only explanation. Tenzin, who's a vegetarian like his father before him, Tenzin who would have her hold hands with Pema and sing praises to the Spirits if he had his way. Tenzin who—no. Enough about Tenzin. She hasn't seen Tenzin properly in years, hasn't seen him outside of the odd Council meeting where she's called in to consult on police matters. She's not a politician, not by any stretch of the imagination; if anything, her position is apolitical, but to a certain degree, she answers to those yahoos—Tenzin and, even worse, Tarrlok and the other nameless (okay, not nameless, but she definitely can't remember their names) members of the Council.

But that's beside the point. It's not as if it's Sarri's fault. How could she have known that the Triple Threats would come knocking on their door? How could she have known that she would get kidnapped?

No, it's those bastards' fault. Lin tells her as much. "I don't ever want you to apologize, kid," she says in conclusion.

After a moment of hesitation, Sarri nods, but there's something about her gray eyes that's different than before; something darker in them. It's barely been two hours since she got her back and Lin already misses her innocence.

"She's your daughter, right?" Rei had asked. "You really failed her, not teaching her how to defend herself."

And Rei was right. And it was a mistake that would have to be rectified immediately.

As soon as dinner is ready (instant ramen, it's all Lin has ever learned to cook) she goes through her phone book and tries to find a new nanny. The yellow pages offer more than a few options, but after calling some, she realizes none of them have the skills she's looking for. So, she looks into bodyguards instead and finds a firebender named Lee.

At first, he's irritated at being contacted, seeing the job as babysitting since he would be watching a young girl, but Lin had explained what had happened (or, more accurately, what had almost happened) to her daughter, and Lee had been moved. He obviously had a soft spot for children being harmed and that, coupled with the fact that Sarri was largely self-sufficient, had sold him on the arrangement. Lee recommends his brother, Luo, a non-bender, to tutor Sarri, but agrees to protect her on a day-to-day basis. It's not without a hefty price, of course, but Lin can afford it, and it gives her more surety that Pana or any other nanny ever did. That's not to say that she won't have one of her officers watching Sarri even still, but Lee definitely affords her some semblance of security.

Next, she addresses the elephant-gator in the room: Sarri had admitted to going outside, to leaving their home, but obviously it had made no difference. The Triad hadn't snatched her off the streets, but rather from the house. It's natural that the girl be curious, that Sarri want to go out and make friends, but she shouldn't feel the need to sneak out, she shouldn't feel the need to go out unsupervised.

With a pang, Lin realizes she has failed her daughter and that, worse still, she's subjected her to the same fate her own mother had faced. Caged up inside all day, no friends to speak of—wasn't that what Toph had gone through as a child? Lin's mother had rarely spoken of her childhood, preferring instead to reminisce about Twinkle Toes and Sugar Queen and make blind jokes and belch, but Lin knew that she'd been sheltered. And as a result, Toph had been too lax a mother, acting more as a friend than a parent to Lin and Suyin, giving them too much freedom—and look how that had turned out, look how Suyin had turned out. And here Lin was, repeating the same mistakes.

So, she makes a compromise. "Take Lee with you if you must go out," Lin says as she claps her daughter on the shoulder. "Take him wherever you want, just don't go alone."

And with that, she leaves Sarri for another day.