A/N: We do not own any of the Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend of Korra characters! (if we did everything in this story would be cannon x10) This is just our first fanfiction story ever! All rights go to Bryke & Nickelodeon.

[Edited May 2014: I hope you guys like this version better, we certainly do! Took a few hours but it was totally worth it, hope you enjoy and let us know if we did better this time around :D]

[Edited again June 2014: Contains slight Book 3 spoilers near the end! You were warned!]

Read and Review, let us know what you think :) now without further ado here is Chapter 1 (again)

- The Present -

Lin Beifong, daughter of the greatest earthbender in the world, was now 13 years old, at this very moment she watched as her mother walked in through the front door from the window of her small bedroom with an joyous look on her face. This was the first time her mother had come back from work early in a while, especially on a Saturday, and she was glad to be able to spend some time with her.

She stood up from the seat, where she sat gazing out the window just a second ago, and ran downstairs to greet her mother.

"Hey Linny" exclaimed Toph back facing her saughter as she shook the gray jacket jacket she wore off her metal covered shoulders and threw it on a nearby couch that inhabited the living room.

"Hey mom" said Lin taking a seat on one of the bigger couches in the room.

Toph smiled and with ease went and sat right beside her daughter and rose her legs up from the ground as she leaned back on armrest of the couch.

"How was your day at work today?" she asked. "The usual, I kicked some bad guys butt, then had to fill out the lame ass paperwork," Toph groaned causing Lin to chuckle lightly.

"Mother we both know you weren't the one filling out the paperwork" Lin pointed out with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah I'm still tired and," Toph threw her arms and feet up in the air and sat up "my feet are killing me" she groaned again then paused as her eyes widened at the realization to what she had just said "I never thought I would say that in my life" she exclaimed then laid back down.

Lin was trying so hard to hold back a laugh but managed to say "Would you like me to massage them for you mom?" and reached out to her mothers feet.

Toph quickly shot up and hugged her knees covering her feet "Don't you dare touch my feet Lin!"

Lin couldn't help it anymore, she busted out laughing. Her mom never did like it when anyone touched her feet, according to her it was awful, she described it as "feeling like someone is trying to poke your eyeballs out."

Lin was receiving the biggest death glare from her mother right now but she knew it was a joke. As Lin calmed herself she let "I'm guessing you never let my father touch your feet either" slip out.

Toph growled and turned away crossing her arms and mumbled "He did way worse to my feet."

Everything suddenly stopped and after a while of silence Lin looked directly at her mother, now serious "Are you finally going to tell me about him?"

"You're still too young kiddo, besides you don't need to know about him."

"Mom," Lin started carefully and placed a hand on her mothers shoulder "I'm almost 14, I think I deserve to know, I do need to know"

That was followed by another silence, a silence that this time that seemed to last forever. Toph felt her daughters light squeeze on her, still uniform coated, shoulder causing her to tense up. Toph didn't think Lin was ready, she didn't think she herself was ready, but something caused her to give in and she let out a deep sigh.

"Alright Linny," She said and as her daughter removed her hand off of her shoulder and she slowly turned around to face her, even though she couldn't see her "what do you want to know?"

"Everything, from the beginning" Lin said with an excited tone in her voice her eyes full of wonder.

Toph sighed once again and started to explain "I met his Uncle first actually, I didn't meet your father officially until everyone from our group was staying at the Western Air Temple" she took a pause and smiled.

"That story sounds familiar-" Lin started but her mother cut her off "maybe you'll figure it out if I tell you that the same day he showed up he asked to join our team as TwinkleToe's firebending teacher and since everyone else rejected him he offered himself as a prisoner," she chuckled but continued anyways "I, of course, saw the truth in him and knew we could trust him but no one listened to me so at night I went out to find him but then the asshole accidentally burned my feet, he did apologize over and over but I promised to get him back for it once he had joined our team" she finished.

Lin's eyes were wide and her mouth formed an 'o' shape but this went unnoticed due to her mothers blind eyes.

"So," Lin tried to gather her words, "you're saying... That my father... My-My father is Zuko?"

Toph simply nodded.

"The Firelord Zuko... who after all these years I have considered as my own uncle?"

Once again she received a nod in response.

"My father has been right in front of me all this time, and I never knew," she paused, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" She was angry. Angry that her mother had never told her that her father had been so near, yet so far at the same time, from her. Angry that she hadn't figured it out sooner, she should of gotten a clue since every time they are near each other the sexual tension is so damn thick I swear I could cut it with a knife. She felt stupid and betrayed, but mostly stupid due to her cluelessness towards them.

Toph tried to roll her eyes as she crossed her arms "I told you, you were too young and didn't need to know"

"We'll haven't you ever thought I might of actually needed to know? I always wondered and now 13 years have gone by, I don't have a father and have never received a valid explanation as to why it is that I don't 'need to know'!" She couldn't help it, she knew better than to burst at her mother like that but right now, she simply did not care. She wanted, no she needed answers and she needed them now.

"Please Lin, will you please just give me a chance to explain myself like shit you really are your fathers child" Toph knew better than to swear at her daughter like that, but she couldn't help it.

Lin stayed silent and sat back trying to calm herself down "Alright fine, but could you please at least explain to me what the hell happened between you two?"

Toph sighed and stayed silent for a while.

"We weren't even married yet, it was the night he proposed we never planned to go that far yet, or to have you, you are as they call it, an accident, but that didn't mean we didn't want to have you and when we did have you we loved you very much, I still do" Toph took a pause.

"Let's just say certain rules regarding royalty and the Fire Nation were found out about days before the wedding forbid our relationship, it was fine really I couldn't of been a good Fire Lady anyways, but I felt heartbroken since I was willing to try not only for him but for you. We called it off, and acted like none of it ever happened, I presented him to you as another uncle so you could at least be close to him and he could be close to you, I know he loved you too Linny, very much, I just don't think things would of worked out any other way, it was best to keep the past in the past and face the future, he is the Fire Lord, and I will always be Chief of Police." She finished with a soft tone that sounded pretty sad. Toph mentally cursed herself, she could not let her know the truth. Fire Nation rules my ass, everyone knows I don't follow any rules besides my own, she thought to herself, Lin probably won't believe it bit right now she was really hoping she would, she couldn't tell her, not yet anyways.

Lin softened noticing her mothers tone, "I-I'm sorry mom- I shouldn't of reacted like that without knowing."

Toph shook her head "It's okay kiddo, you didn't know" she smiled and gave her a light punch on her shoulder. This caused Lin to smile and she took the chance to hug her mother.

In the silence that followed, Toph just hugged her daughter back while she brushed her shoulder length wavy hair, that always seemed to remind her of her own mother, with her hands.

"One question though mom," she paused. "Who is Su Jin's father then?"

Toph laughed. "Now that is something I will talk to your sister about when she is of age, where is she by the way?"

Lin shrugged and her mother shook her head.

"How about you tell me how it all started then?" The 13 year old brought herself to ask after a sigh.

"How what started?" Toph responded confused as she pulled away from her daughters grasp but held on to her shoulders,

Lin rolled her eyes, "You know... you, my father, your relationship, why you separated, why Zu has a different father than me," she stopped for a second looking at her mothers flushed face, "actually better yet- when exactly did you begin to have feelings for my dad?"

"Well Linny," Toph began with a smile, at least this time she did not have to lie to her, she at least deserved to know this truth," it all began a while ago- not too long ago though, I'm not that old-" "Mother you're 46" Toph ignored her daughters comment and continued, "just after he had joined Team Avatar, as we called ourselves..."

A/N: We hope you enjoyed this Chapter, Chapter 2 will be coming soon! stay tuned! Please Read and Review, Thank You!

[Edited May 10th 2014]

[Edited again with some bonus from Book 3 on June 9th at 1:44 am] XD