Lin had just gotten off a night shift; she and Tenzin usually had breakfast together at his place before she either went home or slept there before going back to work later. Today she was surprised to find Jinora home on the couch watching tv when Tenzin let her in.
"Hey kid," she said to her, unsure exactly what else to say.
"Hey" was all the response she got back and Tenzin gave her 'I'm going to vent to you about this in a minute' look.
"You sure you don't want anything to eat honey?" Tenzin asked.
"Nah." Jinora said, still watching tv. Lin followed Tenzin to the dinning room to eat to give them a little privacy for the hissed out rant Tenzin looked like he was going to tell her about why Jinora was not at school today. Lin purposely sat at the end of the table facing the kitchen so she could see if they were going to be interrupted and it also made Tenzin sit to her left and not across from her so he could talk lower.
"I don't even know where to begin." he moaned to her when she asked. "She's had a bit of an attitude for a little while but only every so often and nothing major. Then two nights ago she, I guess, got into a fight with Ikki and Meelo and asked to stay with me." He explained. "She went to the nurses office at school saying she was sick and had the nurse call me. I ended up picking her up Pema and I tried talking to her. And in the end we gave in because I don't know and she's with me for the day." Tenzin let out a long sigh.
"She tell you what's going on at all?" Lin asked. Of all three kids Jinora was definitely the easiest going and therefore the one Lin liked the most. She had no idea how to really deal with Ikki and Meelo's energy.
"No, I don't get more than one word responses." Tenzin groaned. "Won't say anything to Pema or Todd either. Just 'yes', 'no', 'fine'."
"Other kids have any ideas?"
"No nothing helpful, according to them they just asked her to play twice and it turned into a fight." Tenzin rubbed a hand through his beard.
"Kids fight you and I both almost killed our sibling on multiple occasions, maybe she just needs space." Lin shrugged, to be honest she had no idea and was well and truly out of her depth with parenting advice.
"Yeah well we'll see. Hopefully she goes back to her mom's after school tomorrow and is back to normal." he agreed tirely.
"You got a babysitter coming or are you leaving her home alone?"
"Home alone I can be back around 2:30 today. I just have a call later and I'll do it from home." Tenzin sighed.
"Do you want me to stay with her?" Lin asked because well she didn't know why either. She felt bad for Tenzin who was clearly worked up over this and she could tell there was something amiss in the way she had seen father and daughter interact.
"If you don't mind, I know she'll probably be fine but it would make the what if the house burns down better." He sighed.
"No problem, I sleep here half the time anyway." Lin shrugged him off, he got up as she finished eating.
"Lin's going to stay here in case you need anything. Let her sleep though please." Tenzin said to Jinora as Lin put her dish into the dishwasher.
"Yeah Dad I'll be fine." Jinora said coolly.
"Okay I love you." Tenzin said, kissing the top of his daughter's head. Lin followed him to the door to see him out.
"Thanks for this." Tenzin told her.
"Eh no problem." Lin waved him off leaning against the door frame.
"I love you." Tenzin smiled at her.
"Love you too, see you later." She said, kissing him before he left. She walked back to the living room. "You good, Jinora? I'm going to go to sleep. I usually wake up around 1 though so if you need anything come and get me."
"I'm good, Lin. I'll be fine." Jinora told her.
Jinora, she probably knew the best out of all of the kids simply because she was calmer and more mature than her siblings and for her age. She still didn't see them a ton but she saw them at least once every time they stayed with their dad. It had been a few months since the dinner she had first met them at and they all knew each other better now. Jinora definitely seemed a little off with Tenzin but at least put on an air of being completely fine with Lin. Although she was still barely more than a stranger to the girl, Lin wouldn't have acted any different if she had been her.
Lin woke up at 1 as she told Jinora. She headed down for some lunch. "Hey did you eat?" She asked the ten year old still watching tv but from a different location on the couch.
"No but I'm good Lin. I had a granola bar and crackers earlier." Jinora said to her. Lin didn't argue and went about the kitchen making her lunch. Working irregular hours was something she had been used to for years since college. It no longer bothered her sleeping during the day or eating lunch or dinner right after getting up. She sat at the counter half watching the cartoon Jinora had on the tv while eating her lunch.
"Thank you" Jinora said out of the blue as she was finishing eating.
"For what?" Lin asked, confused.
"Not asking me what's wrong or anything." Jinora half mumbled.
"If you aren't going to tell your parents you're not going to tell me." Lin said easily. She figured it was best just to put the girl at ease. Lin had the impression that the kid didn't want anyone bothering her when Tenzin had left and she didn't really see a reason to now. The last thing she needed was to push the kid away or get her to hate her, and selfishly she didn't really have a reason to find out. Yeah it would make Tenzin feel better to know but he didn't expect her to ask Jinora about it and she wasn't planning on it.
Jinora nodded absently from the couch.
"Just promise me to eat something before your dad get's home in an hour and half." Lin told her as she got up to wash out her dishes.
"Okay, can I have some of the pasta you made?" Jinora asked almost hestinaly.
"Go for it kid." Lin told her. "Do you mind if I work in here?" She asked, nodding to the recliner in the corner of the living room.
"Sure as long as phineas and Ferb doesn't bother you." Jinora said. They sat there in silence for a while, Jinora watching tv and Lin working on emails and the never ending paperwork. "How can you work after like 6 hours of sleep? Aren't you tired?"Jinora asked after a while and added "Sorry…" sheepishly.
"No, you can ask." Lin told her reassuringly, she didn't mind the kid's curiosity. "It's a bad habit and probably unhealthy, but I don't normally work nights." Lin admitted. "We switch off supervising nights for a week once a month." she explained to her.
Jinora wrinkled her nose. "That still seems hard and annoying."
"Oh you have no idea." Lin agreed with her. She and everyone else hated it but there was nothing they could do about it. It was the fairest system they had.
"Then why don't you quit?" Jinora asked with nativity only childhood could provide.
That was the real question Lin thought cynically. There were plenty of practical reasons like bills and rent but she supposed that was exactly the best answer to tell the ten year old. And it was also not completely true. "I like to do something and wouldn't have anything to do if I quit." she shrugged.
"Why don't you do something more fun then?" She asked as only a child could think of work being fun.
"You got any ideas? I'm open to suggestions." Lin said, in true the kid might be onto something if she could come up with a reasonable idea. Not that she didn't like her job but it had its moments when she wanted nothing to do with it. And a self indulgent day dream never hurts.
Jinora shrugged. "Maybe explore or be an astronaut or something."
"I used to explore kind of." Lin told her, thinking back to her time in the military just after her and Tenzin broke up where she had volunteered for assignments in 4 countries over the year following the breakup.
"Really?" Jinora asked, perking up. "I would love that, it is so boring here." she moaned.
"Yeah it was nice but it's really tiring." Lin told her she had pretty much lived on caffeine for many reasons. Throwing herself into work 10,000s of miles away from home had been the easiest way to get over Tenzin. "It's good to travel when you and your sibling are a little older, ask your dad and he'll take you somewhere." Tenzin did enjoy travel; provided a few very important creature comforts.
Jinora wrinkled her nose."I doubt it."
"He does like it just not for anything longer than a week." Lin laughed. He might have been one of the biggest homebody Lin knew there was a reason he had moved back to San Francisco after they split. It had been the biggest difference between them when they were young Lin had wanted to travel and the adventure and excitement, Tenzin didn't. "Your grandfather travelled a lot, you know. He went to all sorts of crazy places." Lin added sort of absently.
"Gram Gram only told me a few stories of how he went to China." Jinora said excitedly.
"Yeah he was from, well, what is now part of China." Lin told her. "He travelled a lot in Asia." She didn't like to remember Aang. It always hurt even after all these years the emotions she had over his death were still a tangled web for her and for most of Tenzin's family. Jinora hadn't heard a lot about her grandfather because of that pain.
"I would love to go there and to Alaska to see where Gram Gram grew up too and Europe and a Safari in Africa." Jinora told her.
"So everywhere." Lin laughed.
"Yeah it seems so cool on tv and in books and stuff." She explained animatedly.
Lin smiled at the wonder lust on the kid's face. "It is." she agreed.
"When is dad coming home?" She asked after they had lapsed into silence again.
"About 40 minutes," Lin answered.
Jinora bit her lip. "Do you know if he's going to bring me back to my mom's?"
Lin looked at her for a moment weighing her options. "He said his plan was for you to go to school tomorrow and then go home from school with your siblings."
Jinora pulled a face. "I like it better here. Dad's not as nosey as mom, well he is but he's not home all the time." she grumbled in explanation to Lin's silent question.
"I'm here now." Lin pointed up.
"But you aren't nosey." Jinora argued.
Lin would count that as a complement from the ten year old. "They just love you, trust me it's a good thing." she told her reassuringly, think back to her own childhood of a mother who could care less half the time.
"I can handle myself." Jinora muttered.
"Yeah you can." Lin agreed, for a kid she added mentally.
"So they can stop being nosey."
"I'll tell you dad that for you if you want." Lin offered. "But he and your mom only do it cause they love you."
"I don't need it though." Jinora said stubbornly.
Lin shrugged. "If you want them to back off that's fine, nothing wrong with letting them help too."
"Nothing they can help with though." Jinora muttered.
what the hell, she thought and pushed her luck. "Why not?" Lin asked after a pause.
"They can't."
"How do you know? Help comes in many forms." Lin said calmly, almost trying for an air of disinterest.
"Because you can't fix it and I don't want it fixed." Jinora huffed.
"What broke?" Lin asked, probing again.
"You have to promise you wouldn't tell dad." Jinora said seriously to her.
She thought about it. "Okay as long as it doesn't involve anything serious, fine. I won't tell you father." Lin agreed, she wouldn't tell him but she did know him well enough to know how to get him to draw the right conclusion without her telling him nearly anything.
"I think you're lying." Jinora said not believing her.
"I'm not." Lin shrugged. "Look, the way I see it is that your parents are going to look out for you and make sure you're okay. So you'll be fine whether you tell me or not OR whether I tell you dad or not." That was the truth she had little doubt this was something major or dangerous to her even Tenzin wasn't THAT worried over it.
"You still are, all adults do that when they think kids won't pick up on it." Jinora grumbled.
Lin bit down a laugh at that because she wasn't wrong. "You want to know what I'll tell him. I'll say yes she did talk to me and I think she is going to be fine. She is a kid, you can't keep them from every problem and hurt feelings." Lin told her honestly.
"How do you know that's what you're going to say? I haven't told you anything" Jinora argued.
"Because you're fine right now." Lin answered her. "You seem like something hurt your feelings whether it's your siblings or your parents I don't know but that happens it's life we all deal with it at some point."
"It isn't either, one of my friends stopped being my friend and I don't want to be her friend." Jinora sighed, finally giving in and telling Lin.
"Why keep it from your parents then?" Jinora gave her a look like, 'Why are you asking that?'. "You're a smart kid Jinora, you gotta have a reason." Lin told her.
"Her mom is friends with my mom and was friends with my dad too I think before they got divorced." Jinora explained.
"Ah, well I don't think your parents are going to be disappointed that you aren't friends any more. I know your dad wouldn't care." Lin tried to give her some comfort and assure her that she didn't have anything to worry about on that front.
"How do you know that?" Jinora questions not believing her.
"Because if you say I'm happy not being her friend, I don't want to be her friend. He won't blink twice. All he wants is for you guys to be happy kiddo." Lin told her.
Jinora nodded and was quiet for a long time. "You're sure he said I can stay the night?"
"That's what I think he said." Lin said. "How about this, I tell him you want him to stop being nosey and tell him you want to stay the night and you'll be fine to go back tomorrow?" she offered.
"Okay." Jinora agreed.
"Hey," Lin greeted Tenzin when he came home from work. He found her and Jinora sitting in the living room. Lin had her glasses on, working on her laptop. Jinora was curled up in the corner of the couch watching tv right where he left her.
"Hey," Tenzin said, putting his things on the counter.
"Hi dad," Jinora said. Well at least she seems to be in a better mood, Tenzin thought as he headed up to change. Lin followed him a minute later.
"How was work?" she asked from the doorway.
"Boring and long." He said walking over to her and kissing her. "Jinora let you sleep right?"
Lin shook her head at him. "Ten, you know that kid is not going to be a bother."
"That's good, I'm glad."
"She talked to me." Lin said and he refocused on her intently. "She told me what's wrong."
"What really? What did she say?" Tenzin asked quickly, not really believing that Lin was able to get that out of her.
"We agreed that I'd tell you to stop being nosey and she just needs the night and then she'll be ready to go back to school and her mom's." Lin had a completely serious face but there was a twinkle in her eye that made him think she enjoyed the fact that she had managed to get that information out of his daughter. In truth he was impressed, in many ways Jinora was the most private and best at keeping her privacy out of the kids.
"But why is she upset?" Tenzin asked.
"She told me not to tell you." Lin said
"What come on Lin tell me." Tenzin interrupted her and she gave him an unimpressed look.
"She's fine Ten, nothing for you to do." Lin sighed at him. "She just got overwhelmed."
"By what though, Lin?"
"By life. I promise you she is fine. It's not you or the kids or anything bad or dangerous like that." Lin told him.
"Are you sure she's okay?" Tenzin asked.
"Yes Ten, she'll be fine. She's just going through normal kid stuff, don't worry about it I promise." Lin told him, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Tenzin sighed. "You really won't tell me?" he probed.
Lin sighed really not wanting to go around in a circle again with this. "I'll give you a hint, it's not you Pema or her siblings. It will work itself out just give her time and two days don't count as time."
"Fine," he huffed, "it's nothing with school?"
Lin lay back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling fan while she answered him for nearly as many times as the blade had gone around the fan. "Nope Tenzin, drop it. I said it's fine and there is nothing you can do or fix okay."
She could feel him staring at her before finally giving in. "Fine." She fell back asleep for a little while before dinner. Tenzin came in to get her, kissing her cheek and shaking her awake.
"I really don't like when you have to work nights. I never see you." He murmurs as she stretches.
"Mmh," Lin agreed. "I'm done saturday at nine, you want to come over you can."
Tenzin pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly to him. "Yeah, sounds good." Lin let herself relax against him for a minute. She was not a fan of nights either for a lot of reasons but missing Tenzin had been the newest addition to the list.