Surprisingly Lin had managed to convince her mother to go see Katara for the day, so she and Zari could talk privately, away from her super-sonic hearing. It wasn't an easy task and for once she could see where she got her stubborn streak from. After politely kicking her mother out. After kicking her mother out, Lin spent the majority of the later morning pacing back and forth across her apartment. She also placed a quick call to the station to let them know she would be back until Monday, and that some personal issues had come up so she wouldn't be available until then. She had no doubt the press would get word of this, but at the moment she could care less. She was more focused on figuring out how she was going to work with Zari on raising the kid and him being now stuck in her life permanently. To say the least, she was freaking out. She was really considering bending a hole in her wall when Zari rang the doorbell to her house. She opened the door to let him in.
"Nice place," he said as he walked across the threshold. He surveyed her house trying to get a feel about her as a person. He knew all about her public persona, but from his experience people tend to be different in public than in private. Most of the house was bare and metal tinted. Work papers were also scattered across the table. She obviously didn't live with anyone.
"Thanks," she said awkwardly as she led him to the kitchen, " do you want anything to drink?"
"No thanks. We can stop the small talk and get straight to business if you want," he offered since he found small talk useless conversation.
In spite of the situation, she grinned. "Ok, so here's the deal. We are strangers who slept together once, and now we are having a baby. I will tell you about all the doctors appointments and update you on what's going on. We can schedule weekly meetings."
"Here?"
"Yep."
"Ok."
"We also need to address what we'll tell the press. Do you want to be mentioned or not?"
He pauses before answering, "It's your reputation that will be damaged. How do you think the press will react to a pregnancy from a one night stand?"
She groans, "They'll react even worse if we hide it."
"We could always just say you've had a secret boyfriend for years," he offers with a look of pity.
She gives him a surprised look. "You would throw away any privacy you have just so my reputation doesn't get ruined?"
"Well… I kind of got you into this mess," he says with a guilty smile.
Lin ponders over the situation. She already knows her family will flip, but she can always tell them the truth. This also solves some questions the press would ask anyways.
"Ok then," she says, "we need to get together our story and learn a little bit more about each other?"
He looks at her shocked, "You haven't run a background check on me yet?"
She chuckles, "Actually that's how I found you."
He grins, "Since you already know a little about me, I get to ask you first. What's your favorite color?'
She looks at him bewildered.
"A lot of stuff about your family, excluding private drama, is public record. You didn't think I would look you up?"
She gives him an impressed look, "Jade green. Are you a bender?"
"Yes and no. I am an earth bender, I just don't enjoy bending so I never do it. Are you and your family close?"
"We were estranged for several years, but recently we've reconciled. Why don't you like bending?"
"When I was 18, my parents were murdered in our art shop. I tried to mend the metal weapons and I still failed to save their lives. Bending can't fix everything."
"Why were they murdered?" Lin asked intrigued.
"It's my turn to ask a question, " he says dodging the answer, "Can you cook?'
"No. Answer my earlier question."
"I don't talk about it."
Lin looks at him and decides to drop the subject, "Ok then, what's your favorite color?"
He looks like he's pondering the question before saying, "I would have to say forest green."
She raised an eyebrow, "They're pretty much the same color."
He looked at her shocked, "No they're not. Forest green is lighter than jade."
She rolled her eyes, "You actually no the difference between shades of green?"
"Mmmm...I feel an insult coming but you're the one who named a specific shade of green as their favorite color."
Lin gave him a small smile, "Touche."
He smiles back, "Ok my turn to ask a question. What do you do in your free time?"
She snorts at the question, "I don't get that much free time."
He rolls his eyes, "But when you do, what do you do?"
She shrugs, "Practice bending. Reading. Occasionally go over to the island for dinner once in a while. Visit my sister. Not much."
He raises an eyebrow, "So you don't do much for fun?"
She shakes her head, "I'm normally busy."
He smiles and stands, "Well you're not busy now. Let's go."
"Go where?"
He smirks, "Out. You said you wanted to get to know each other."
She raises an eyebrow at him like he was crazy.
He smiles, "You kind of have to. I don't remember much about the night we met but I'm pretty sure you took me someplace without telling me where."
"We were drunk!"
"And we're sober now. We can still have fun," he says gesturing for her to grab her jacket.
She stands and grabs her jacket, "Fine."
He gives her a smile and steps out the door, "Come on. It'll be fun."
As they leave the house she walks towards her car. Zari looks at her in confusion, "Um… what are you doing?"
"Driving."
He shakes his head, "Yeah no. We are going to take the train and walk."
"I hate the train."
"Why? The most fascinating people are on the train. Plus, this is me showing you my world."
"Everyone just stares at the chief of police."
"Well it's not like you're wearing your uniform. And normally, if you don't talk to them, they don't bug you."
She groans, "Fine."
Zari shakes his head with a chuckle, "Ok. For today, you are just Lin and not Chief Beifong. Lin is the person I want to show around. Turn the Chief off."
"I can try."
"Good."
About thirty minutes later they stepped off the train into a poorer part of the city.
Zari smiled, "Welcome to my neighborhood."
Lin raised an eyebrow, "It's great."
"Come on," he said grabbing her hand. They dodged different people as he guided her through the crowd. After walking for a bit, he ducked down a side street.
In front of them stood a noodle shop.
Lin looks up at the sign, "This is where you wanted to take me?"
"Best noodles in Republic City."
He waltzes into the shop dragging Lin behind him. Upon entering the shop, Lin was surprised to see so many people in line. Zari gestures for her to follow. They step around the line and walk up to the front counter.
The server looks up and smiles, "Zari! Hey man, what's up?"
"Nothing just came to get some grub."
"Alright. Hey, you may have to wait a while, we're kind of busy."
"Or he can cook it himself!" an old woman's voice shouted from the back.
Lin looked up as a small old woman walked into view.
Zari smile, "Hey Mrs. Kim. How are you today?"
"Tired. Are you going to help or not?"
He looks over at Lin, "You up for it?"
She nods and the old woman and server look over at her. The woman gestures, "Zar, you were going to come here, eat, and cook, and not introduce us?"
"I was getting. Mrs. Kim, Wade, this is my friend Lin. Lin, this is my childhood friend Wade and his mother Mrs. Kim."
She shook their hands, "It's nice to meet you."
"You too," Wade said with a smile.
Mrs. Kim nodded and asked, "Can you cook?"
Lin hesitated before Zari said, "I'll show her how. Plus, we're just making our meals."
"Fine. You know where everything is. Good see you Zar. Tell your Aunt I say hello."
"I will," Zari said as he brings Lin to the kitchen area.
He glances over at her, "You really don't know how to cook?"
She shakes her head, "My mom is blind and I live alone. When I was a kid, Aunt Katara would cook or my mom or Sokka would throw something together. I guess I kind of cooked with him but that was a long time ago."
"Well then, today's your lucky day. Grab the onion over there and start chopping."
She starts to chop while he grabs the noodles and some chicken.
He chops next to her and puts the pieces in a skillet.
"Are you done with the onion?"
She nods and he grabs that. He throws it in with the chicken, garlic, and celery.
He looks over at her, "Now for the noodles."
In a pot he throws some seasonings and some chicken stock into a pot and waits for the water to boil.
"Now we just wait."
Surprisingly, the silence between them is comfortable. After the broth boils, Zari adds the noodles and chicken. It takes a few moments before the noodles are done and Zari slips them into containers.
"See that wasn't hard, was it?"
"Sure. Are we going to get to try it?" she asked curious to why he put the noodles in to go containers.
"Yes, but not here. I have one more place to show you. Come on."
"Fine, but you owe me. I'm starving."
"Trust me, it'll be worth it."
He turns towards the back door and grabs two orange sodas and shouts, "Yo Wade, I'll see you later."
"See you, hey don't forget to come by Ma's house to paint the walls."
"I won't," he says as he ducks out with Lin on his heels.
"Ok, where too now?"
"It's a surprise and it may take a bit of climbing."
"Climbing?"
He smirks and begins walking. They walk around and duck in and out a few side streets. They come across an old part of the city that had been around since her mother had established but had been destroyed. Zari started climbing one of the taller buildings and she mimicked his movements. Once they got to the top, the view took her breath away.
"Wow," she whispers. The view showed almost of all of Republic City. She could see all the way to the island.
"Yeah, I know. I've been coming here since I was a kid."
"I can see why."
He smiles as he hands her, her food, "Yep. This is my favorite place and favorite meal."
"It's good. How'd you discover it?"
He pauses before saying, "My dad showed me. We came here on the occasion."
"Where you and your parents close?"
He shrugs, "It's complicated. Are you and your mom?"
She grunts, "Not really. Our relationship is complicated. Do you have any siblings?"
"I have a little sister named Jiao."
"Are you guys close?"
He nods, "We got closer after our parents died and we moved in with our aunt and uncle. Are you and your sister close now?"
"Not that close. We're better now."
"Are you going to tell her about the babies?"
She raised an eyebrow at him, "Babies?"
He blushed and started to stutter, "I...I...thought….seismic sense?"
"It's been off for a bit and I only felt one heart beat."
"Try again."
Lin gives him a skeptical look, "Ok."
She slams her foot on the ground and she feels the baby's heartbeat. At first all she feels is one baby but upon further concentration she feels another. It was beating in sync with the first one.
She opens her eyes, "Wow, I can't believe I didn't notice it before. I thought you don't bend?"
"My foot hit the metal really hard when we climber up," he said with a shrug.
She nodded and said, "I can't believe we're going to have twins."
He smiles at her, "It's going to be fun."
Zari couldn't help but have a smile on his face that night as he laid in bed thinking about the future and what it might hold. He didn't really care, but he was sure of one thing: He was glad Lin Beifong would be in it.
