Tenzin's phone had buzzed in the meeting and he silenced it. They should have been done already but one of the mayor's aids had been droning on and on about policy this, policy that. He didn't see the point and his area of law was government policy. He taught government policy and even he could care less about what they were saying. It wasn't like he even needed to be here; he had reviewed the policy proposal and had said it was legal. There was nothing more for him to do here. The only consolation was that Lin was also stuck in this meeting. Apparently being new meant you got the short straw of all the boring meetings someone from the department had to be represented at. She was sitting on the other side of the room next to a deputy fire chief that looked like he was half asleep.
It had been going well between this past month. They still were only sort of kinda dating, Tenzin was still questioning the fact that he had realized he was falling in love with her. He didn't dare bring it up to her but not talking about it was fine for now. They didn't really have a reason to anyway, they were both happy and comfortable with what was going on. He didn't want that to change that.
His phone buzzed for the third time and he checked and internally cursed. He quickly texted back the babysitter with his kids right now. He looked back up to see Lin watching him. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly in a silent question, 'is everything okay?' he blinked slowly inclining his head ever so slightly to tell her it was. The meet couldn't go on for much longer then he could run home and deal with a sick kid.
When the meeting finally did end Lin and the fire chief made for the door first. Tenzin followed after picking his way around the staff. He saw Lin opt for the stairway instead of waiting for the elevator and followed her. She was waiting for him just inside.
"Hey" she said.
"Hey" he tirely. "I can't talk right now, Meelo threw up, the babysitter texted me." He explained as he walked down the three flights of stairs.
"Ah, I was wondering what happened." She said understanding. He knew she could easily read him, he was almost as good at doing it to her.
"I'll call you late tonight." He told her when they reached the bottom.
"Ok, talk to you then." She said as he kissed her briefly before they went their separate ways. The babysitter had been right about Meelo being sick; the kid had a mild fever although throwing up twice seemed to clear some of what was in his system as he now insisted his stomach felt better and he didn't need the medicine.
"Meelo! Meelo, come on!" Tenzin gritted out trying very very hard not to yell at the boy.
"But Dad, I don't wanna. It tastes yucky." Meelo whined.
"But you have to if you want to feel better." Tenzin sighed.
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy look!" Ikki chanted as she cartwheeled across the living room.
"Ikki! Please be careful!" Tenzin shouted over his shoulder. "Meelo, come on. Weren't you just telling me how you were a big boy now?"
"Yes!" Meelo exclaimed. "But NO medicine!" He pouted. The doorbell rang before Tenzin could try again.
"I'll get it!" Jinora called jumping up to get the door. Tenzin let out a sigh as he hurried after Ikki who had also ran to the door. He wasn't expecting anyone. Jinora already opened the door when he was down the hall.
"Thank you!" Jinora said to whoever was at the door. She brought with her two pizzas as she shut the door.
"PIZZA!" Ikki all but screech.
"Who dropped these off?" Tenzin said, confused, taking the pizza and stepping into the dinning room to his right.
"The door dash dude." Jinora said as she and Ikki hopped up to try to get some. Tenzin opened the pizza for them before examining the recite.
"I didn't order Door…." He let the words die in his throat as he saw the name on the bottom of the recite. Lin had ordered them pizza.
"So who ordered them Dad?" Jinora asked, now curious.
"Lin" Tenzin responded, picking Meelo up to let him eat some too. "She's an old friend of mine. I was with her when Beth called."
"Lin?" Meelo asked, narrowing his eyes. "How come we've never met this Lin?"
Tenzin laughed. "She just moved back to the city and you will but not until Meelo's better so you are going to take that medicine before you get another slice, got it?"
"Ugh, fine dad." Meelo gave in.
Lin was going through board proposals when he called. "Hey," She said, picking the phone.
"Hey, Thank you for the pizza." Tenzin said, he sounded tired to her through the line.
"No problem couldn't have you running around like a chicken with his head cut off." Lin brushed him off.
Tenzin laughed. "Yeah well I was only doing that for 20 minutes at least."
"mmh, is your son feeling better?" She asked.
"yeah seems to be at least he went to sleep without too much of a fight." Tenzin said tiredly and he yawned. "My kids want to meet you by the way."
"What? How'd that come up?" She asked, surprised, putting her paper aside to focus on what he was saying.
"They asked who Lin was and why she ordered us Pizza." Tenzin explained. "I said you were an old friend by the way."
"Mmh, well that is true and probably a good thing." Lin said. She didn't know if they were ready to acknowledge what exactly their relationship was to each other nevermind Tenzin's kids and kids were worse than parrots, repeating everything to everyone. She did not need or like that. It was good between them right now despite the ambiguity. Hell she thrives on the under the radar of their relationship. She much prefers that to people, namely, Tenzin's family and her sister bothering her about it.
"What about you? you finally relaxing" Tenzin asked her changing the subject
"No, my grandfather sent over board proposals that he needs an opinion on." Lin told him. Her grandfather had been pressuring all of them, her mother, her sister and herself to take more and more of the business since the death of her grandmother. Lin really didn't want to but neither did everyone else. Her mother flat out wouldn't and her sister had actually had a point by saying she already had control and oversight of the development company the family owned. This of course left her to run the rest of the estate which was the last thing she wanted to do. And reading this much in Chinese gave her a headache.
"Fun stuff." Tenzin sympathized. "I'll let you go so you can finish then. Can you grab lunch with me tomorrow?" he asked her.
"uh yeah I think so it has to be early though around 11." She told him.
"Perfect. See you tomorrow Lin."
"Bye Ten."
"So I was thinking about it and I think Meelo's right. You should meet the kids." Tenzin told her over lunch. Lin had known he had something in mind when he had suggested lunch last night but this was not what she had expected and certainly not hoped for. She was more than happy pushing this off as long as they could.
"Why Ten? we don't even know what we're doing." Lin pointed out her walls immediately coming up to the idea. She was generally adverse to anything out of her comfort zone and this was far beyond it. In fact in a perfect world she'd never have to deal with this. They could just go on how they were but she knew that was wishful thinking. Still wasn't it still too soon.
"Yeah but it would mean you can come over when the kids are here which is going to be more often because their mom's pregnant again." Tenzin explained. He wished Pema all the best but the three kids were more than enough for him, divorced or not.
"Really?" Lin asked, she hadn't known that and figured that she must be getting up there for having kids.
"Yes she remarried last October and they want a kid given her age they've been trying. Anyway she asked me to take the kids more often when they get further along. I don't mind and I want to see the kids more so I want you to meet them." Tenzin told her. He didn't mind only seeing her for lunch when the kids were in school but it would be nice to not have to worry about the two biggest parts of his life not overlapping. He also knew this was definitely a hurdle for both of them. Lin hated anything remotely emotionally straining and meeting your boyfriend's? (Weren't they too old for that term?) kids definitely fell into that category. For him, while the kids had gotten used to Pema's new husband Todd, it was still awkward for him and he didn't know how they would feel and react to him dating or Lin in general.
"Are you sure Tenzin because-"
"Lin I miss you. Yes I'm sure." he cut her off. He did want this. He wanted both parts of his life to be able to coexist not only for pragmatic reasons but both Lin and his kids were huge parts of his life that he wanted to share them with each other.
He could see her hesitation "what day do you have off next?" he asked. This would likely take another conversation; it wasn't worth pushing now. Lin needed to sit with and think about the idea, he could see that.
"All day friday but I'm on call this weekend." Lin said, trying not to sigh at the prospect of talking about this more.
"Can I come over and we can talk about it?" He asked.
"Yeah sure Ten." Lin said, giving in to him. He would take that and change the subject to something lighter.
It would have probably been smarter to come up with a plan before he got to Lin's place, but he didn't. All he had to work with was that he was going to bring up her meeting his kids again and convince her; how and when he was still working on. He was nervous about how it was going to go. It wasn't like he didn't feel equal as intimidated at the idea but he wanted this to happen. He was also nervous about what he was probably going to have to admit in order to convince her. It wasn't that he wanted to hold his cards close to his chest but laying them out on the table like this when it had only been a month and a half was not something he was eager to do.
"Hey" Tenzin said smiling when she opened the door.
"Hey" she returned, kissing him lightly.
They went through the basic small talk before Tenzin asked straight out, "Can we talk about it?" There was no point in avoiding the subject. He understood her hesitance, he really did. He hadn't been chomping at the bit for this to happen or imagine it happening so soon either. But then he had found out Pema was pregnant again and needed less stress and when she offered him more time with the kids he jumped at it because they were his kids and he missed not having hearing about their day every night and seeing them every morning. He didn't want to sacrifice spending time with either of them just because this was a big step for everyone.
"Tenzin I really don't see how this is a good idea or needed." Lin sighed.
"Lin it's important to me." Tenzin told her seriously.
"I know it is so why push it Ten? I need a reason cause it's not like I'm going to see them much either way." Lin argued tiredly.
"But you could and I don't want to feel like I'm running around behind their back or something." He told her. He did kinda feel weird about being vague with them when they asked about what he had been doing. He had slipped to them about his time with Lin almost once already playing it off as a friend hangout like they did with theirs but he didn't want to do that if he didn't have to.
"I don't know, Ten."
"Why not Lin?"
"What do you mean why not? What if they don't like it? I never liked anyone my mom slept with and I have never heard you or your siblings mentioned if your mom ever moved on." Lin pointed out.
Tenzin glanced down, she wasn't wrong there but none of the kids have ever been like that that he knew of with Todd. "It wouldn't be like that." He said firmly.
"How could you possibly know that, say you're right what if this doesn't work out why do it so soon." Lin argued.
"That's ridiculously Lin! Are you going to end it again?" He pushed back.
"Well no not right now but I don't have some magic ball" She shot back sarcastically.
Tenzin was silent for a long moment staring at the wall clearly wrestling with something."I lied to you the other night when I said I liked you. I don't, Lin it's always been stronger than that with you. I love you, yes I want you to meet my kids. No, I don't care if this doesn't work out again. I still want you to meet them and be able to have you and them around."
"Tenzin I didn't even think about a serious relationship before coming here. I was happy about that before now" Lin was at a loss. "I don't know what to think, I didn't ever see this happening again and now I don't know."
"I know Lin I'm right there with you. Believe me I'm trying very hard not to freak out over all of this too." Tenzin told her turefully. He had struggled on how to actually confront and deal with that fact for awhile now. It bothered him when he had time to think about it but when he was actually with her it was the last thing on his mind. "Do you want to end this?"
"No" that was an easy answer for her. "I just don't know how to feel about how I feel about you and this whatever." Lin tried to explain because she did want him around as illogical a stubborn part of her brain made it seem. "I think I'm falling in love with you again whether I wanted to or not. I'm just not ready for it yet."
"I'm not there you know where we were, how much I loved you back then even right after we broke up if you asked me I'd do it. I'm not there yet but by the way we're going, well keep looking at me like that and it'll be next week." He laughed ruefully, his heart still pounding in his ears.
Tenzin wasn't wrong; she knew she wasn't far away from not being able to deny that she was falling for him again too. It's just so calming and nice to have him there next to her. She felt better with him for no reason she could explain. He had always been like that for her. He'd always been calmness and he had been home to her for years when they were younger. When her mom and her fought or when her sister caused trouble he'd always be there and let her vent or just spend time with her later when they got together he held her even read to her once or twice to get her mind off it. She did love him, it was impossible for her not to if they spent time together. But she was also prideful and stubborn and that part of her said that door closed a long time ago.
"Please Lin"
"Fine." Lin gave in. What the hell it wasn't like she'd see them much anyway what's one extremely uncomfortable dinner.
Tenzin didn't know what to expect when Lin finally came over to meet his kids. He was nervous of course. The kids at least Meelo and Ikki seemed to be excited. Jinora seemed to be annoyed as of late and had yet to let him know why that was. He had told them they were dating, Lin had reluctantly agreed to come over for pizza before Todd, Pema's husband, would pick them up. The kids' reactions to Lin was good although not for the reason he thought.
"So you're the one who bought us pizza?" Meelo asked, narrowing his eyes at her after he had introduced them. Which was comical as the skinny five year old was barely three feet tall.
"Uh yeah." Lin said awkwardly, taken aback by him for a moment.
Meelo straightened and crossed his arms, "So can you always buy us pizza?"
"Um, somehow I doubt that's what your father considers a balanced diet." Lin said, holding back a laugh.
"No I don't." Tenzin agreed.
"Which is why I'll buy you pizza more often than he does." Lin offered to them.
"Yay!"
"Yes!"
"Lin..." Tenzin groaned and Jinora just giggled.
"What? How often am I going to see?" Lin pointed out to him.
"You should see us everyday then." Ikki jumped in, while Tenzin glared at her as if to say look what you started.
"I don't know about that." Lin told the girl before it could go any further, Jinora yelled at Meelo.
"Go away!"
"I wanna see!" Meelo whined back at his older sister.
"You don't even like picture books, why do you want to look at Harry potter." Jinora shot back pulling the book away from him.
"Meelo," Tenzin groaned. "Leave you sister alone and Jinora be nicer to your little brother." Lin fought the small smile that threatened to play on her face as she remembered Bumi doing the same thing to Tenzin about every time she went over to his house when they were little. "Sorry." Tenzin muttered to her after he managed to usher Meelo away from Jinora.
Lin waved him off. "He's like Bumi."
Tenzin rolled his eyes at that. "Too much sometimes."
"Wait, you know our Uncle?" Ikki askes.
"Yeah I knew him for most of my childhood." Lin confirmed.
"Yes, Lin grew up with me. She knows your Aunt Kya, Uncle Bumi and Gram Gram Katara too." Tenzin chuckled at them.
"Wait really," Ikki said, interested. "Does that mean you knew our grandpa too cause we never met him. What was he like? Ooo was Uncle Bumi also soooo funny? Aunt Kya says dad was always strict is that true?"
"Uh" was all Lin could say to the onslaught of questions from the seven year old.
"One question at a time Ikki." Tenzin reprimanded light. "And the answers to them are yes, I'm sure she'll tell you if you ask nicely, no and No." He said.
Lin felt the need to correct him. "Well your dad's memory has clearly suffered as much as his hairline. The right answer Ikki are, yes, he was a nice man, not as funny as he thinks he is and half the time yes your dad was serious."
Tenzin was surprised how easy Lin adjusted to answering Ikki's and Meelo's million and one question about Tenzin and his siblings as well as they're grandfather which he was surprised about. They had rarely ever questioned him about his Dad and only asked his mother a few times that he knew of. Then again Lin was never caught off guard; he had only seen that happen a few times in his life. He supposed he could be proud he was the cause of one of those. He enjoyed sitting across from her with his kids, to him it was the most surreal and natural thing in the world. Of course he had figured that they would have eventually gotten married and had a kid when they were in college. That even then had seemed a long way off and eventually that dream faded with their relationship.
"You want a beer?" Tenzin asked when he came back from the door after saying goodbye to the kids.
"Sure." Lin said as he took two out of the fridge and slid one to her as he started cleaning up from dinner. There wasn't much, only a few plates and the pizza boxes but Lin got up from her spot at the counter to help him anyway.
"I hope it wasn't as bad as you thought." Tenzin said as they cleaned.
"No, it wasn't." Lin conceded reaching over the counter. "They're good kids, Ten seriously." Taking a sip of her beer.
"I know they are," He said smiling as they finished up putting the dishes away. All in all he was right the night had not been nearly as painfully awkward as she had thought it would be. He came up behind her wrapping his arms around her and kissed her cheek "Thank you" he murmured against her.
"Thank you?" Lin asked teasingly, "That's all you're going to do thank me." She turned to face him.
He smirked and kissed her quickly, picking her up to sit on the counter evening out their heights "mmh yeah not done yet…"
Lin was half asleep when Tenzin finished his shower. He slid into bed next to her and slid his hand underneath her shirt and wrapped it around her stomach pulling her closer to him. Lin turned her head to look at him like to say she wasn't in the mood for another round tonight.
"Let me hold you, Lin." He whined to he nozzling her hair with his nose
"Fine." Lin said, giving him a fake huff at it as she wiggled back against him. She remembered as a teenager she hated it when he was finally taller than her but now she enjoyed the fact that his height meant she fit perfectly underneath his chin.
He raises his head to kiss the corner or her mouth. "I love you."
"I love you too." Lin said quietly. She wasn't as comfortable saying it to him again but loving him was easy. Both had dealt with their breakup differently, Tenzin had grieved it like the death of an actual person. While Lin had felt it mainly through anger at first before letting herself grieve and heal. To Tenzin the end of their relationship had been like an extinction slow and painful but one he had seen had been slowly dying. To Lin it had been like a car crash fast and sudden and painful. Neither felt like they could do anything to avoid it, stop it, or change it. Yet here they were trying to do it again and not crash this time.