The vehicle hadn't even stopped before Lin was out the door and sprinting towards the scene.

She had been in her office when the call had come over the radio.

"Small explosion caused building to collapse, multiple officers unaccounted for."

She was brought up to speed on the drive over. Apparently about a dozen of her officers, including Mako, had been dealing with a hostage situation in a bank downtown when something had gone wrong and the building had collapsed on top of them. She quickly found the Captain in charge of the scene, barking an order for a report on the current situation.

"Hey Chief, we've got almost everyone accounted for. But we're still missing 2 officers. Detective Yung and Detective Mako."

He was still talking to her and she nodded absentmindedly, not hearing anything else he said.

"Chief?"

"Hmm, oh. Sorry, Captain. I missed that last part."

"I was just saying that the building is secure and we've been the okay to start the search operation. Should I give the go ahead?"

"Yes. And I'll be joining the effort myself. My seismic sense should be able to pick up on where they might be trapped."

He gave her a look that she chose to ignore. He was obviously not very confident that the officers were still alive but she wasn't going to even entertain the thought until she was proven otherwise. She made her way through the police barrier and took up a position just outside the perimeter of the building.

You better not be dead.

She slammed her foot the ground, closing her eyes as the ripples shot out away from her. The earth reported back to her. There was one heartbeat somewhere nearby.

Just one?

She tried not to think about it too much as she motioned for others to come with her as she led them to where one of the missing officers was buried.

It has to be him.

They were moving too slowly. Another earthbender was taking a tedious amount of time to slowly move the debris away. Mako didn't have time for this. She had personal experience being trapped beneath the earth. The loss of air was the most dangerous aspect of the situation and the only solution was to get the buried person out as quickly as possible. She would have died that day if Tenzin hadn't been able to summon trickles of air to them through the microscopic spaces between the rubble they had been buried beneath.

Lin gruffly pushed the others aside took her bending stance, checking once more for the location of the beating heart before quickly and crudely pulling the earth up and away from him. There was a loud, spluttering coughing fit and Lin closed her eyes for just a moment before facing the reality of who she had just saved.

Mako was done for.

He could barely breath and felt the weight of the rubble slowly crushing him. He knew they wouldn't just leave him but search and rescue efforts could take hours. Especially since he wasn't sure what state the building was in. They would have to secure it first before digging around in the crumbled remains.

But then he thought he heard voices. And then he heard the earth above him moving.

He tried to move, to yell to them that he was there but all that got him was a mouthful of building and a tightening feeling in his chest. He started to panic. They were right there, he just had to hold on. But it was getting harder to breath and he couldn't move.

Just as the panic started to get the better of him the entire space above him shifted before lifting entirely, the bright sky painful against his dirt filled eyes. They adjusted and he couldn't help but smile at the sight of Lin Beifong still holding her arms up as she moved the debris, her eyes shut tightly in strained concentration before she opened them hesitantly.

"Hey, Chief."

His voice came out in a croak and he could have sworn that her shoulders sagged as she looked at him. There were others there and they quickly worked to free him completely, grabbing his hands to yank him out.

She was there then. Pulling him to his feet as she looked him over. Fussed over him was more like it. And he could have almost sworn that her eyes had gotten a little teary as she practically patted him. She had just prodded him hard in a very sore rib when he finally brushed her off.

"Ow! Okay, Chief. I'm fine, okay. Just a little banged up. I'll be sure to see a healer."

She narrowed her eyes at him as if not completely convinced he was okay.

"Why don't you come with me to see Kya. She can check you over."

"Chief, that's okay. Really."

"It wasn't a question, Mako. She's going to want to see you anyway so we may as well get it over with now."

He didn't argue further, neither of them speaking much as they made their way to the small apartment she shared with Kya. He followed her inside, pausing when a voice called to them.

"Lin, is that you? I was just- oh. What on earth happened to you two?"

"A building collapsed downtown and we need your healing expertise."

Kya scowled as she went to Lin, immediately summoning her water and poking the cranky police chief.

"Stop it! Not me. I'm fine. Mako's the one who got buried alive."

She gestured to him and Mako looked to his feet sheepishly. Kya didn't waste any time, moving her attention to him.

"You know, cleaning up after Lin's reckless behavior is enough of a task without you joining in. I'd appreciate it if you don't make this a regular occurrence."

"I'll try."

"Well, that's more of an effort than Lin's ever put in. There, you should be all set now. You really got lucky from the sounds of it. Why don't you go use our shower to get this disgusting dirt off you."

Mako didn't even really have time to process what she had said before he was being pushed into the bathroom by Kya. She made to close the door behind her but it didn't quite latch and he heard a brief conversation before pulling the door shut.

"I was so worried, Kya. I thought I'd lost him."

"I know. It's okay. He's okay. I promise."

"I would never be able to forgive myself if something had happened. He's… he's like a kid to me, Kya."

Mako's eyes got wide, his hand still on the door after he had closed it. He had become very close with both Lin and Kya in the last year. And though he imagined she would have never let him hang around as often as he did if she didn't like him at least a little bit, she still had never shown any kind of real affection towards him.

But then again, displaying emotions was never Lin Beifong's forte. He stripped off his clothes before stepping into the warm water.

And now that he thought about it…

She did things for him that he didn't think she did for anyone else. All those nights she worked late with him, claiming that she had paperwork to finish when he knew full well that she had finished hours earlier. Or when Kya would call her and just happen to "force" her to invite him to dinner. And she had spent hours training him one on one, allowing him to even beat her a few times. She thought he didn't know, but he did.

He heard Kya talk about love languages before. How every person has their own way of showing affection and that sometimes it came in the most unconventional little gestures. He had never really understood what she meant by that but he was also notoriously bad at picking up on the feelings of the people around him. He always seemed to be saying or doing the wrong thing.

But now, now he realized he may have finally figured out the Chief's supremely unique love language. He turned on the shower and started getting undressed, smiling to himself. She thought of him like a son. And he supposed she had come to be somewhat of a mother figure to him too.

So as the water washed away the dirt and grime of his very long day Mako felt a warm feeling in his chest. And he finally supposed his life wasn't so bad after all.

A/N: The next chapter has a much less happy ending. If you want to end on a happy note, don't read on