A swarm of tourists surrounded Toph as she stepped off the ferry onto Air Temple Island. What the heck was going on? The ten-minute ride had been full of furtive whispers about her own presence, which was silly. She rode the damn thing three or four times a week, these days.

The crowd made a beeline for the temple while she headed for the house, finding Katara outside hanging up laundry.

"Is there something going on at the temple?" Toph asked.

"Aang's doing his class today."

"...Ok?" Toph said, confused but not really caring that much. "Is Lin still napping?"

"Uh-huh. And you should know we had quite an eventful day." There was a distinct edge to her voice. "She said her first word."

"What?! Aw, man. Can't believe I missed that! I knew I'd regret going into work today! What did she say? Ooh, she better not have called you 'Mama'!"

"What did she say?" Katara mused, definitely sounding annoyed now. "Hm. Let's see. Why don't you give it one good guess?"

"Huh?" What is she going on about?

"Here's a hint: Tenzin has now added a very colorful word to his vocabulary, and will not stop saying it."

Toph covered her mouth in a half-assed attempt to hide a snort. "Did she swear? What was it?"

"I think you know!" Katara said shrilly.

"Did she say 'fuck'?" By this point, Toph was barely containing her amusement.

"Good job! I hope you're happy!"

Giving up, she threw her head back and howled with laughter. Katara's irritation only made it better. "I am!" she managed in between breaths, wiping tears from her eyes. "I'm so proud."

"It's not funny! I don't want her talking like that around my children! You need to nip this in the bud or she can't come here anymore!"

That sobered Toph up quickly. "Oh, c'mon. You can't be serious. She's only eight months old, for fuck's sake. She doesn't even know what's she saying."

"She wouldn't be saying it at all if you didn't say it around her constantly!"

"Listen, Sweetness. How I raise my kid is my business. Why do you care so much? It's just a harmless word."

"It's rude and inappropriate. What happens when she starts school and every other word out of her mouth is a cuss word, huh? She's going to get in trouble and she's not going to understand why."

"You're overreacting. That's literally years away."

"And the longer this goes on, the harder the habit will be to break."

"Ugh! This is ridiculous. She said it once. Give it a rest."

"No, Toph. She didn't say it once. She said enough times that Tenzin picked it up, despite my efforts. They don't listen to 'no' at this age. They just repeat what they hear. That's my whole point. And if it keeps up, you better believe I will discipline your child for having a foul mouth in my home around my children."

As annoyed as she was, Toph had no argument. "Well what the fuck do you want me to do?" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"I want you to moderate your language around her."

"Yeah, well good fucking luck with that. Like I said, she's my kid." It didn't escape her awareness that she was only proving Katara's point. It was a hard habit to break, especially when she was riled up. Not that she had ever actually tried that hard. "I've accidentally sworn around Bumi and Kya plenty of times. They know not to say those words, don't they? You let me worry about Lin and mind your own business."

"What are you two arguing about now?" Sokka asked, coming outside.

"Nothing," they both snapped at the same time.

Figuring Lin would probably sleep for another hour, Toph stalked away to blow off some steam.

"Hey, wait up," Sokka called, following.

"What?" she growled, maybe a little too aggressively.

"Whoa, hey, I was just coming to say hi."

"Ugh. Sorry. I'm just annoyed."

"I guess you heard the news," he said with a sheepish laugh.

"She managed to take something that should make me happy and turn it into a permanent shitty memory. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't even here for it."

"I'm sure Lin will say it again for you plenty of times."

It wasn't enough to dissipate Toph's bad mood. "Trying to tell me how to parent my own kid," she grumbled. "Lotta fucking nerve."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later. But maybe give her a break this one time. It's been a long day. The kids have been kind of a nightmare and Aang's been so busy getting ready for that air nomad seminar that he couldn't help."

"Is that what's going on at the temple?"

"Yeah. I only just got here a few hours ago, so she's finally been able to get some stuff done around the house. She was really hoping Bumi and Kya would attend and get out of her hair for a little while, but they threw a fit about it so she sent them to their rooms, instead. I think it kind of hurt Aang's feelings that they didn't want to learn about his culture."

"This seems like a big deal. Have a missed something? I'm here all the time but I don't remember hearing anything about it."

"I'm not sure how. He's been talking about it for weeks. Then again, you do have a tendency to zone out when he talks. I can always see it on your face. He mentions one thing about air nomads or spirituality and your face goes slack."

"That's because it's booooring. I don't blame Bumi and Kya for not wanting to go. They're kids. They should be running around playing, not forced to sit still for hours and hear about a dead culture that they're never going to be part of."

"It's still part of their heritage. And someone's got to learn that stuff. Otherwise, it'll be forgotten."

"Isn't that what the acolytes are for?"

"Well, sure, but it's not the same."

"Whatever. I don't really feel like arguing about this."

"Ok," Sokka said simply. "How was your day?"

They were rapidly running out of ground, coming up on a cliff. Toph came to a stop and just stood there, unable to shake a sudden feeling of deja vu. It was like they'd been transported back in time to when they'd been a happy couple. Gentle waves crashed below them. Seagulls cawed in the air above them. She felt like she could almost anticipate each moment as it came.

Her hand twitched as if to reach out and take his, an almost unconscious gesture, and then the feeling faded and she was back in the present. Things were different now. More complicated. She'd already decided she didn't want all that again. And yet, the memory of their happiness was so sharp in this place and this moment.

"Toph?"

"What?"

"I asked how your day was. Instead of answering me you just stood there and now you look like you're about to cry. Did something bad happen at work?"

"No, I was lost in thought. Work was fine. Just a lot of tedious crap."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

She knew the flat denial would only make him more curious, but to his credit, he didn't press the issue. Instead, they stood there in silence for a few long moments until she decided to sit down. He followed suit and neither of them spoke for a while. Toph let her mind wander, ruminating on how they'd ended up here.

"Do you think–"

"Do I think what?" Sokka asked.

"Never mind."

"Aw, c'mon, don't do that to me."

She shrugged, not entirely sure how to verbalize her mental ramblings. "Well...I was just thinking about how every time we do or say anything, make a choice, whatever. Anything and everything we do, it changes what happens next. Not just for us, but for everyone else, too. What if every possible version of our lives are out there somehow, all overlapping each other? Every possibility of how life could have been."

"Wow, you are thinking some deep thoughts there, T. I was not expecting that. You been hitting the cactus juice?"

"I'm being serious. I can think of so many times in my life, so many pivotal moments that would have changed everything. How is it that this version of reality is the one that made it through? What about all the other millions, billions, trillions? Are they out there? Are they real?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Probably not in any sense that we could see or experience them, but maybe in a greater, cosmic sense. You should ask Aang. He could probably give you a more philosophical answer. What made you think of this, anyway? Are you unhappy about where life took you?"

She had to think about the question for a second, and her answer surprised her a little. "No. I guess I'm not. When I try to picture a different outcome – like not having Lin – it's like trying to remember a dream. Doesn't feel real. It's like she's always existed. Would have existed no matter what choices I made."

Sokka sighed, a marked heaviness behind it. "I'm glad you've adapted," he said, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"You seem upset."

The delay in his response was as good as confirmation. "When I try to picture different outcomes for my life, the experience is a little different."

"Are you really so unhappy still?"

Minute vibrations rippled through the ground as he shrugged. "It's not that. I guess I've been thinking a lot about something you said when I first got back. About how you had just been surviving. Not looking for happiness, but not necessarily miserable, either. I guess I'm content, more or less, but..."

"What?"

"Agh... I'm worried that finishing that thought will upset you."

Toph made an exasperated noise. "Well you can't go and say something like that and then not tell me."

"I guess…it's a little hard to see you accepting motherhood so gracefully. I'm glad you're not unhappy, but there's a part of me that wishes I'd tried a little harder to make you visualize this outcome back when I still had the chance."

Well, he'd been right – it wasn't something she wanted to hear. It sounded an awful lot like he was saying it was her fault that they'd broken up. That she'd been too stubborn to accept the idea that having a kid wouldn't be so bad after all, and that her stubbornness had ruined everything.

But the thing was...it had been bad. It had been completely miserable every step of the way and had only, in the last few months, started to become even remotely enjoyable every now and then.

"You really think I would have been ok with being pressured into it?" she said. "I accept Lin's existence now, sure, but that doesn't mean my life wouldn't have been easier and simpler without her, which is what I wanted at the time. And what I would still want if she'd never happened in the first place. I was fully justified in wanting that, and I won't apologize for it."

"Doesn't change the fact that we could've had a really happy life together if things had happened differently."

"You may believe that, but I'm not entirely convinced things would've worked out if we'd stayed together and had a kid. We might have ended up breaking up anyway."

"You– You really think that?" he asked, sounding hurt. "I thought we were happy together? I thought the only thing standing in our way was the kid issue?"

Toph dug her toes into the dirt, a little reluctant to answer him. "Have you considered that maybe part of the reason we were happy was because there were no kids?" She paused but he didn't say anything. "We have a tendency to fight when things get tough."

He didn't seem to have a response to that beyond a soft noise of air leaving his noise, which Toph interpreted as mild indignation concealing the fact that he knew she was right.

She sighed, regretting taking the conversation in this direction. "I try not to dwell on it. It is what it is. We live our lives, we fuck up sometimes, we do what we can. I'd rather focus on the future and all the ways I can avoid further fuck-ups. The stakes are higher now."

"Kinda wish I could get a hint. Five, ten years from now, will we remember this conversation and laugh at ourselves?"

"Well...why don't we come back here in five years? We'll come and sit on this cliff and have this talk again and try to imagine that our past selves – us, here and now – are part of the conversation. Tell them how it all plays out."

"I wish we could ask them now. Time is an illusion, right? That's what Aang's always saying."

"Personally, I don't want any spoilers," she said, thinking of her dream in the hospital and how much it had affected the decisions she'd made. "I'd rather not know ahead of time."

"Make good choices, T," he said with a wry laugh. "Otherwise you're going to get an earful from your future self."

"I'll do my best. No promises, future me."

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"Alright, you little potty mouth," Toph laughed, lying on her stomach on the floor of her living room, propped up on her elbows. "I'm supposed to be discouraging that, otherwise Aunt Katara won't let you play with Tenzin anymore." A wooden block suddenly hit her square in the nose. "Ow, fuck!"

Lin giggled hysterically. "Fuck!" she squealed.

"Oh, Spirits, what have I created?" Toph muttered, rubbing her face. "Now you're throwing shit at me, too? I guess at least you've got good aim. You're going to be a little terror soon. Sora will get fed up and quit. I'll be blacklisted and no other nannies will want to work for me. I'll have to quit my job and we'll have to move to some dingy little one-bedroom apartment to avoid spending the rest of our lives on the Island. Is that what you want, huh?"

In response, Lin scuttled around and climbed onto her back. It had become one of her favorite things to do.

"You won't walk a step, but you'll try to sit on my head," Toph grumbled while Lin bounced up and down. "I'm not getting up, Spider Monkey. Too tired."

"Up!"

Instead, she reached back and took hold of Lin's arms, pulling her forward onto the floor. Then she lifted Lin's shirt and blew a raspberry on her stomach, causing a fit of giggles.

"Omnomnom!" Toph said, pretending to eat her chubby fingers.

"Eeee! No!"

"Too late! I ate 'em!"

Lin retaliated by reaching up and grabbing two handfuls of loose hair that had fallen out of Toph's bun.

"Ow, fuck! Ok, ok. Enough of that," she said, prying Lin's fingers away. "I shouldn't have gotten you so riled up." She got to her feet and picked Lin up. "C'mon. Milk, then bed."

"Bik?"

"Oh, nice," Toph muttered, going to the couch. "You can almost say 'milk', but you won't say 'Mama'. Good grief."

In the quiet that followed, her mind once again wandered to the conversation she'd had with Sokka a few weeks ago. If she could choose between this life and the life she would have if she'd never met Kanto, or the life she would probably have if she'd stayed with Sokka...what would she choose?

It wasn't an easy – or especially pleasant – thought exercise. There were so many factors, so many unknowns. And she kept shying away from the idea of Lin not existing. Lin was an immutable fact. Trying to imagine life without her was bizarre and uncomfortable.

While Toph didn't always enjoy her daughter's company – not to mention the burden of responsibility and constant worry that went along with it – she had to admit that she'd reaped plenty of happy moments from Lin's existence. But there were still times, usually on the weekends when it was just the two of them for the whole day, when she deeply mourned what motherhood had taken from her.

She sighed and tried to clear her mind to avoid going in endless circles with those thoughts. It was easier to just accept that, in the grand scheme of things, she was content with the way things were now.

"You a little calmer now?" she asked when Lin sat up, getting the usual nonsense babble in response. She checked the time and sighed. "You need to start eating faster. Are you even sleepy?"

"Bibi."

"Slee-py."

"No!"

"Ma-ma." She took Lin's hand and tapped her own chest. "C'mon, I know you can say it. It's easy. Ma-ma."

Lin leaned forward and pressed her little palms against Toph's cheeks, squishing them. "Mama."

Her breath caught, a lump unexpectedly forming in her throat. "...Well, fuck. You actually said it." She took Lin's head in her hands and kissed her forehead, a little surprised by how something so simple could affect her so much. Another happy moment to file away for those darker days.

"Mama. Mamamamama."

"Well now you're just showing off," Toph said with a wide grin. "I hope you do it next time we're on the Island so I don't look like a liar when I tell everyone."

As it turned out, that wasn't what she needed to be worried about. By the end of the week, Lin had decided that Sora and Katara were also 'Mama'. 'Dada' popped up in her vocabulary, as well, directed at both Sokka and Aang.

"I swear, I did not teach her that," Sokka protested with a laugh, though he seemed immensely pleased. "She must have picked it up from Tenzin."

"Well, don't encourage it! She'll be so confused."

"I think she thinks all women are 'Mama' and all men are 'Dada'."

"Gee, I feel so special now. And here I was thinking I'd actually bonded with my kid."

"Of course you have. Don't be so cynical. She'll figure it out soon."

"I hope so. People might start to get weird ideas if they hear her calling Twinkle Toes 'Dada'."

Sokka laughed heartily. "Ah, yes. The perfect plan to populate the world with new airbenders."

"Gross."

"Hey, you brought it up. And how is it gross? It's not like you're related."

"We might as well be."

"No more than you and I."

"Ew. Stop it."

"I know you two aren't talking about what I think you're talking about," Katara said, coming into the room.

"Mama!" Lin called from Sokka's arms.

"No, Lin," Toph said sternly. "That's Aunt Katara."

"Hard to discourage them from saying things once they get started, isn't it?" Katara said, a definite smugness in her tone.

Toph just rolled her eyes and took Lin. "Whatever. I'm going home. Thanks for babysitting."

‹¤›‹¤›‹¤›‹¤›‹¤›‹¤›

"Ladies and Gentleman, welcome, welcome! You may not recognize me, as it's usually my business partner, Mr. Zihao, who does these things. My name is Riju, and six years ago today I hosted the first-ever Sport Bending match right here in Republic City!

"Now, I originally meant to have this extra special exhibition match on the much more elegant fifth anniversary, but unfortunately the star of the show – our very own Chief Beifong – was slightly unavailable at the time."

Waiting in the wings, Toph rolled her eyes as the crowd laughed. Such the showman, he had become. Probably showing off for Sora, who had surely only come because of him.

"But now, she's back in fighting form and raring to go. Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome back into the ring, for the first time in fifteen long months, the Blind Bandit, Mother of Metalbending, Chief of Police, the Legend herself, Toph Beifong!"

She walked into the center of the ring where Riju stood and waved to the adoring crowd as they cheered for her. Boy does this feel fucking good. Fuck, I've missed this. Out in the stands, she knew exactly where her friends were. Where Lin was, sitting on Sokka's lap.

"I've kept many of the details of this exhibition under wraps," Riju said to the crowd, "and I won't spoil the surprise other than to say – forget everything you know about Sport Bending! Welcome to Republic! City! Rumble!"

The crowd went absolutely nuts, probably just because of his enthusiasm. Then Toph heard the lights shut down and the sounds from the spectators shifted to surprise and even a little fear, followed by more excitement. She knew what was happening. Small lines of light within the ring had been activated, as well as roving spotlights. It was all part of Riju's planned theatrics.

Gradually, the crowd grew quiet. Toph waited in the center of the ring, immensely enjoying the attention. She could feel the warmth of the spotlights that stayed still – the ones that shone on her from every direction. It was meant to highlight her ability to fight without seeing her opponents, who could by contrast see her very well.

Not that she couldn't see them, of course. They were coming. Creeping from the stands, from the side doors, from underground. Converging on her. Earth, fire, and waterbenders. This would be the toughest match she'd ever been in. Almost all Sport Bending rules were out the window, with the exception of some safety-related ones. She lifted chunks of the ground into the air and set them spinning in six tight circles around her in a protective shield. It was the waterbenders she had to watch out for. They would have to be dealt with first.

Four pairs of feet landed in the ring. Three of them were too slow to escape her earth shackles, though one of those three was an earthbender and broke free easily. He and the fourth sent what appeared to be a coordinated attack of earth and water. Toph sidestepped and shook the ground under their feet, then shot two pillars at two backsides, sending them sprawling. The whole thing took about five seconds; she hadn't broken a sweat.

The next wave had six, and Toph had to get a little bit more creative. This time, she was a little more patient, waiting for them to get closer. As soon as she identified the waterbenders, they got Dai Li-inspired rock cuffs. A few fire blasts got dangerously close to singeing her, but her protective shield gave just enough warning. The other four were dealt with swiftly by some cleverly placed ramps that made them tumble into each other, landing in a heap.

The crowd was loving Toph, and she was loving them. This was the most fun she'd had in a long time. The waves kept coming, topping out at ten attackers each. Not even she knew how many fighters Riju had recruited for this event. Nine waves in, she was sweating and breathing hard inside her protective gear. She had to make better use of the space now, constantly moving and dodging, but soon the last attacker fell and she had a moment to catch her breath.

Without any warning, more feet than she could quickly count rushed into the ring – some from out of nowhere. There had to be at least twenty people, if not more. The crowd went wild but Toph barely noticed. She was a one-woman machine, tossing boulders left and right, barely even aiming. It didn't matter; she would undoubtedly hit someone.

A sudden blast of air rushed past her cheek as she spun and dodged a waterbending attack. What?! Was that...Aang?! Well, that's just fucking cheating! She went down on one knee, lifting herself onto a pillar, and violently shook the entire ring below her. A second later, she was back down, leaping and rolling away. A quick count told her only seven remained. Seven, plus Aang, who was probably hiding in the air. One by one, those seven fell. Toph never stopped moving or attacking, and they were not cooperating with each other; one waterbender actually took out a firebender on accident.

Finally, it was just her and Aang, who had lightly touched down on the other side of the ring. They stood and faced each other. The crowd had grown eerily silent, as if everyone were holding their breath. It was the showdown Toph had been waiting for since the two of them had met. So far, he had been sticking to airbending. Would that last? There was no way of knowing.

The sound of concentrated air caught her attention and suddenly his feet left the ground, the noise rushing towards her. The rock beneath her feet rippled as it carried her around the ring. It was like a choreographed dance, the two of them chasing each other. Many blasts of air hit her, but she was too rooted and he clearly wasn't putting all his strength into them.

"Stop playing around, Twinkle Toes!"

The rock that carried her lurched abruptly and she very nearly lost her footing. That's more like it. He was combining earth and air now, trying to distract her. It was a much more focused fight than their usual sparring matches, where he often lost because he wouldn't shut up. Rocks flew and crashed together between them. Aang's feet left the ground often, but Toph was fast. She knew his tricks.

It was utter chaos. The crowd was screaming; it seemed like they were divided on who to root for. But Toph was getting tired. Very tired. She'd already been tired when he entered the ring. This fight needed to end. Now.

Swiftly changing direction, she rushed towards him, splitting the ground open under his feet. He did exactly what she expected – jumped into the air, outside of her awareness. She lifted her arms and sent an explosion of small rocks out in every direction. They found him, directly above her, and she pulled all the pieces to her arm, forming into a giant hand that grabbed his wrist.

But she miscalculated his trajectory and the pull that was meant to slam him into the ground brought him hurtling right at her. There was no time to react. They collided in a shower of rock shards, him landing across her, knocking the wind out of her.

"Ow," he groaned, rolling away.

"Fucking ow," she agreed, gasping.

A moment later the crowd erupted into what sounded like total confusion. There was cheering, to be sure, but a lot of shouting, too. Aang stood and helped her to her feet.

"I don't think that was the ending anyone was hoping for," he said with a chuckle.

"Why not? I thought it was pretty exciting."

"Pretty sure there were a lot of high-stakes bets riding on the outcome of this match. Unofficially, of course."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that. Mostly because I don't give a flying fuck."

"Well wasn't that thrilling!" Riju exclaimed, coming out into the ring. "Sit tight while our judges try to figure out who exactly won because, honestly, I'm not sure! Either way, I think our contestants deserve one more round of applause for the rocking show they just put on! Give it up for Chief Beifong and Avatar Aang!"

"I was going to let you win, you know," Aang said in her ear while the crowd cheered for them, "since you're a little rusty, but you obviously knew I was going easy on you so I decided to put some real effort into it."

Toph responded by punching him in the arm. "You didn't even use water or fire. Or the Avatar state."

"I also didn't have to fight a hundred people before fighting you."

"That's true. I guess it was a fair fight then."

Riju sauntered over to them while they waited. "Seriously, Aang? I thought we agreed she was supposed to win this?"

"Fuck off," she scoffed. "I can't believe you told him to let me win! That's just insulting!"

"He was supposed to only use air. I'm not questioning your abilities. I honestly didn't think he'd be able to beat you under those conditions, and he agreed with me."

"Oh, really?" she said to Aang. "I thought it was because I was 'a little rusty'?"

Before he could respond, five people – the judges, presumably – hurried over to them.

"Well?" Riju asked. "What have you decided?"

"Normally, we would say draw, but we know that's not an option here. So...we voted 3-2 in favor of Chief Beifong, based on it being her attack that knocked them down."

"Yes!" Toph said, pumping her arm. It was apparently enough for the crowd because they went crazy again.

"And there you have it!" Riju called, grabbing her wrist and lifting it in the air triumphantly. "Chief Beifong wins!"

She didn't think it was possible for the cheers to get louder, but they did. The noise was thunderous, assaulting her heightened senses in the best way possible. Not just sound, but vibration. The stone – the air itself, even – hummed with stomping feet and clapping hands. Through it all, Toph could somehow pick out Lin's gleeful laugh. It was a shame she didn't really know what was going on, and would have no memory of this moment. But Toph knew Sokka would tell her, one day.

‹¤›‹¤›‹¤›‹¤›‹¤›‹¤›

"Mama!" Lin's shrill voice called, jolting Toph awake.

"I'm up, I'm up," she grumbled, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Lin started rattling the bars of her crib, which had long since been moved into Toph's bedroom, ever since Lin had outgrown the bassinet and refused to sleep in the crib in her own room.

"Up!"

But Toph just leaned on the crossbar, letting Lin put her grubby hands all over her face. "Happy birthday, kid. We survived the first year, somehow."

Once Lin was changed, dressed, and fed – all of which took nearly two hours – Toph took her downstairs and they did some training together. It wasn't real training, of course, but it was better than the idiotic baby games. Besides that, it was further encouragement to make Lin use her damn legs instead of crawling and scooting around all over the place.

"C'mon. You can do it," Toph said, standing in the middle of the room while she held Lin under the armpits. "Put your legs down. Lin. Put your legs down." She kept going lower and lower until Lin's bottom hit the floor. "You're killin' me, Scoots. You stand up all the time. I know you can do it!"

She lifted a little rock pillar, which Lin loved, clapping happily. Without any prompting, she scooted over to it and pulled herself up to a standing position. "More, more!" As soon as she was steady, Toph pushed the pillar back down and made another one a few feet away. But rather than walk to it, Lin plopped down and scooted over.

"You're ridiculous," Toph said, exasperated. She did that for another twenty minutes, eventually giving up and cycling through the rest of her games until Lin was thoroughly exhausted and ready for a nap. Four hours later, they were on the ferry to Air Temple Island.

"See Tenten?" Lin asked.

"Yep."

"Unco Sock?"

"Uh-huh," Toph said, chuckling. The way Lin said 'Uncle Sokka' never stopped being funny, no matter how many times she said it.

Once back on solid ground, Toph shifted Lin to her other hip and rubbed the small of her back, groaning. "Ugh, you're getting so heavy. You sure you don't want to walk up the hill for me?"

"No!" Lin cried when she tried to put her down. "No!"

"Fine," Toph sighed. "Guess I'll just carry you for the rest of your life."

As they neared the house, she became aware of a strange noise that she couldn't identify. It was so bizarre, a dull hum that didn't seem to have a source, but it put her on edge. Then Lin suddenly started bouncing up and down in her arms, making excited noises.

"SURPRISE!"

Dozens of feet hit the ground all at once. Between that and the noise, the shock prompted Toph to step back and throw a wall of rock up, clutching Lin tightly against her chest.

"What the fuck?!" she screeched, smoothing the ground back over after a moment and stalking the rest of the way to the sizable crowd that was gathered, many of whom were now laughing. Lin was no longer happy, but clutching Toph's coat and sobbing into her shoulder.

"I told you two this was a bad idea," Katara said, sounding exasperated. "You've upset Lin."

"She's only upset because Toph freaked out and scared her," Sokka insisted.

"Oh, so it's my fault?" Toph fumed.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Aang said with a sigh. "Sorry, Toph."

"Were you– Were you airbending everyone off the ground?"

"Heh. Yeah."

"For how long?"

"A while…"

"Did you fucking use the Avatar state for this– this insanity?" His silence was as good as an admission. "I thought this was going to be a small, family thing?"

"Blame Sokka," Katara said without hesitation. "I had my plans but he ignored them without telling me."

"Aw, c'mon. I just wanted to do something special. Hey, Lin. C'mere. You want to come to Uncle Sokka?" He plucked her from Toph's arms. She had calmed down by that point and went willingly. "Happy Birthday, Scoots. Look at all these people here to celebrate."

Toph frowned at him, still annoyed, but decided to let it go for now.

"Someone get this woman a drink! Something nice and boozy."

"Sokka–"

"Loosen up a little, T. It's just one drink. Lin can have a bottle of regular milk today, can't she?"

"...Fine."

"Look," he said softly, for her ears only. "I'm sorry if I upset you. I only wanted to do something a little different for you and Lin, something that you'd always remember."

"Well, I'll definitely remember. You could've just told me you were planning on making it a big party. I'm not mad about the size, I'm mad that you felt the need to amuse yourself by scaring the shit out of me. You're all lucky I didn't attack first and ask questions later."

"Surprising you isn't easy. It was a calculated risk. And anyway, Aang wouldn't have let anything bad happen."

"Here," Riju said, handing Toph a drink. "Congrats."

"Congrats?"

"On surviving a whole year of motherhood. This party's not just for Lin, you know."

"I hate surprise parties," she grumbled. "And it's the fucking middle of winter. Not exactly a great time for a massive outdoor party."

"We've got fires going. Everyone's bundled up and the weather's mild. None of the kids seem to mind. It's not like it's freezing or anything."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she muttered, taking her first sip of alcohol since...well, she didn't really want to think about that.

The crowd that was gathered turned out to be mostly people that worked for Toph in one capacity or another, as well as many of the Sport Bending competitors she had fought with and against. Little knots of conversation came together and pulled apart. Children ran around them, shouting as they chased each other. There were even a few people dancing to the music of a nearby gramophone.

"Did you actually go out and buy another one of those things?" she asked Sokka at one point.

"Of course not. That's just a rental. And I see you tapping your foot, there. Ready for some dancing?"

"Hah. I'm not nearly drunk enough for that."

"Well, Lin and I are going to go dance. Say bye-bye to your boring mom."

"No!" she squealed as he walked away.

"C'mon, Lin. It's ok. We're just going right over here. See?"

"Uh-oh, birthday girl doesn't sound happy," Michi said, joining the group.

"She'll be fine in a minute. She's still super clingy, but she likes Sokka." Toph wasn't about to admit it out loud, but she kind of enjoyed it. While Lin usually got very upset when Sora left in the evenings, she still seemed to prefer her mother in every other situation. It was oddly gratifying.

A bit later, before Lin got too tired and cranky, everyone gathered around to watch her open her presents. Once she figured out how to rip the paper, it was all she wanted to do, not giving two shits about the gifts themselves. Toph wasn't sure how she was going to get it all home; Appa would definitely be required.

Most of it was clothes and toys, though Sokka had gone all out, unsurprisingly. From him, there were no less than four new records for their gramophone, Lin's first pair of shoes – which he thought was hilarious on many levels – and an expansive wooden train set that he seemed very eager to participate in putting together.

"This seems more like a toy for you than for her, Meathead. She's only one."

"She'll love it, just you wait and see."

"Something tells me it's going end up scattered across my living room."

A little while later, Toph found herself in a conversation with Sora, Rinna, Michi, and a few other women that she worked with. They were all watching Lin and Tenzin playing on the ground nearby and the discussion quickly became nauseating to the point that she tuned them out while she tapped her foot to keep up with what was going on everywhere else.

"Giving you baby fever, eh?" Michi joked when Toph's attention returned to the conversation.

"Heh, nah," Sora said. "I mean, I'm not even married."

"Fun fact," Toph drawled, a little buzzed from her drink. "You don't have to be."

The other women laughed, though there was a scandalized edge to it.

"I'm sure you will be soon enough," Lanfen said pointedly.

Sora gave another awkward laugh but didn't respond, which Toph understood. She knew that her nanny and Riju were a couple – as did everyone else – and that things were supposedly going well, but Riju had privately, albeit vaguely, expressed a small amount of frustration with the speed of progression. Or rather, lack thereof.

Before the silence stretched long enough to become truly uncomfortable, Lin crawled over to them and started whining a little. The reason was pretty clear to Toph's sensitive nose. "Ugh. You reek, kid," she said, picking her up.

Sokka suddenly appeared from nowhere and plucked Lin from her arms. "I'll take care of it. Go have another drink."

"Stop trying to get me drunk, Meathead," she called as he headed inside, instantly regretting her words when the women around her laughed. So much for Ludo's rules. I wonder if he knows about this little party, full of people who will witness me and Sokka socializing. And me saying dumb shit like that.

"Does Lin still call him 'Dada'?" Michi asked.

"He doesn't seem to mind," Lanfen said mischievously.

Toph sighed. "She's confused. She does the same thing with Aang. It's pretty much fifty-fifty these days whether she uses their actual names or not." It wasn't something she was eager to discuss, being far too close to the taboo 'dad' topic. "I think maybe I will have another drink," she said to escape from the conversation.

When said drink was half gone, she slipped away from a group of officers that were starting to get a little rowdy. Sokka was still inside the house with Lin, sitting in the living room with her. It was very quiet, as Katara had deemed her home off-limits to the guests.

"Are you hiding or something?" she joked.

"She wanted a bottle. I think she's getting tired."

"Yeah," Toph agreed, checking the time. "I'm not surprised." She plopped down on the couch next to him and leaned back.

"How much have you had to drink? You're a little flushed."

"This is only my second one. Making me kinda sleepy."

"Is it your naptime, too?"

"You joke, but half the time, I do nap when she does, whenever I actually get a full day off on the weekend." She put her feet up and laid her head against his shoulder, yawning. "I could easily fall asleep right now."

"It's supposed to be your party."

"No, it was supposed to be Lin's party," she corrected. "Before you hijacked it."

"You seemed like you were having a good time, anyway."

"Eh. Sure. I guess."

"So you're not still mad at me?"

"I'll give you a pass this one time. But only because I'm a little tipsy."

"I can tell."

"Hm? What's that 'sposed to mean?"

"...Nothing."

Toph sat up. She knew exactly what he meant; she wasn't drunk enough to be that oblivious. But she couldn't ignore the fact that he was right. The alcohol was making her show something she'd worked hard to hide. "I guess I should get back out there so my adoring fans don't wonder where I've gone," she said with a sigh, getting up. "Unless you want me to take over."

"Nope, I've got her. Go have fun. But maybe slow down on the drinks," he added with a soft laugh. "You've become a real lightweight."

"Yeah. I noticed."