When Lin woke, she felt groggy. She tried to open her eyes, but the light from the window was bright. She groaned lightly, quickly shutting her eyes again.

"Lin?" A soft voice came from beside her. It made her realize her hand was in someone else's. "If you can hear me, squeeze my hand." Lin focused enough to lightly squeeze the other person's hand. "I am so happy you are awake. I am just going to run and get the healer."

She felt the person, woman according to tone of voice, leave the room.

Lin was unsure how much time had passed before a cooling sensation was felt around her head. Her migraine eased quickly and she breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing into the pillow.

"Can you try opening your eyes again?" Came another woman's voice.

Lin tried and found on the second blink, she could focus. She looked at the women in front of her, both familiar. "Aunt Katara? What are you doing here? Where is here? Su, what about Korra and the airbenders?" Lin asked, trying to sit up.

"Calm down Lin. Everything is okay now. We are here at the capital of the Northern Water Tribe." Katara put a hand to Lin's shoulder, putting enough pressure to get her to lay down again. "As for me, I was asked to come to check on you and the others. I came quickly through the Spirit Portals."

"What happened?" Lin asked, looking at Su as Katara started running the healing water over her body.

Su stepped closer to Lin's head and knelt down beside the bed, now that Katara had moved away from her head. "We were fighting P'Li and she blasted one of the rock walls you bent. It threw you back, but you didn't seem to be injured. I was able to take her out and get to you… Ugh then you basically begged me to get to Korra and proceeded to pass out." Su tried smiling at Lin. "I had Kuvira stay with you and watch over you while I went with the others. We retrieved Opal, Korra, and the airbenders. Only Korra, Kya, Tenzin, and Bumi were seriously injured."

Lin tensed at hearing that they were injured. "Are they okay? Why are you with me instead of them?" She posed the question to Katara.

Katara smiled gently at Lin. "The healers here have already healed most of the wounds. Korra is the only one who is going to need months worth of sessions. She will be coming to the Southern Tribe with me later." She turned back to her task of running water over her stomach. "I was actually called in to look at you specifically."

Lin was confused by this. "I- what?" She glanced between her sister and pseudo-aunt, trying to understand.

"Uh, well I didn't fully trust what the healer had said about you, and so I asked him to reach out to Auntie in the South, as I knew with the Portals open, it wouldn't be a lot of effort for her to come. If Kya was well, I would've just asked her…" Su said, suddenly finding the floor very interesting.

"What's wrong with me?" Lin asked, trying not to let fear rise in her. She had seen her fair share of injuries in her line of work, both personally and of her officers. "Surely it can't be that serious.."

"Well it isn't an injury." Katara said finishing up. "However, it is a serious matter. I will have to pull you from work as a precaution."

"What! For how long? You can't be serious! There is so much to be done right now, I can't take time off."

Katara looked very serious at the older Beifong sister. "You will be taking at least a year. It is not just your life that we are concerned about now."

"Can someone please just tell me what in the spirits is going on?" Lin asked, getting frustrated with the non-answers.

"Have you been with anyone in the last 4 or 5 months?"

Lin blushed at being asked this by her aunt. "E-excuse me?"

"You heard the question Lin, answer it" Su said.

"My private life is just that, private. I don't see how that question is relevant to what is wrong with me." She said, glaring at her younger sister, as she couldn't very well glare at Katara.

Katara took Lin's hand in hers. "It has everything to do with this. But perhaps a different question. When did you last have your moon cycle?"

Lin looked at her incredulously. "Like 6/7 months ago? Maybe more? But it's never been regular with the stress of my job. Not to mention I'm 51, I figured I had finally aged out of them… Again what does this have to do with what's going on?"

Su seemed to have enough with the runaround too. "For spirits sake! You had unprotected sex thinking you finally entered menopause, but now you are pregnant!"

Katara sighed disappointingly at the younger sister. She was trying to break it to Lin slower, trying to get her to figure it out herself.

Su realized her mistake when she took in her sister's bloodless, stricken face.

Lin couldn't believe what she just heard. 'She didn't just say I was pregnant. I'm hearing things. Maybe I am still passed out. Yes that's it, I'm just dreaming. More like a nightmare.'

Lin started to laugh. "Good one Su- me, pregnant? At my age? That'd be a laugh." She stopped when she didn't hear either of the other women laugh. She saw them exchange a concerned look. "No, you're joking. Tell me you are just playing a joke on me like old times Su." Lin practically begged, which was out of character for her.

The women's expressions grew more concerned at her begging.

"I'm sorry Lin, I am afraid it is true." Katara said softly, catching her hand again. "You are just over 4 months pregnant, going by the size of the fetus." Katara then placed Lin's hand on the small swell on her lower abdomen. "Feel how different this feels? The hardness is caused by the pressure of your uterus growing and putting pressure on your abdomen. I suspect due to your fit nature that is why you aren't very big at all."

Lin looked down at where her hand was placed. She instantly saw a difference than what her body usually looked like. For being in her early 50s, Lin had the body of a 30 year old and she has always been proud of the fact that she was still so fit. She was at a loss for words, still not knowing how to comprehend what was happening.

She looked up at Su when a hand was placed on her shoulder. "It's going to be alright, Lin. We are all here to support you."

Katara nodded. "I know you did not have plans for children Lin, but unfortunately due to your age, we cannot offer for you to abort. It is too risky in geriatric pregnancies to do so after 12 weeks. You will have to carry till term, however there are options if you do not want to-"

"No… I - I can't… I," Lin took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. "I couldn't give up a baby to live with someone else, not knowing their parents… Spirits knows how that turned out for us not knowing our fathers." She didn't glance at Su, just continued to stare at where her hand was still covering.

"Is.. is it okay?" she asked softly, suddenly feeling very anxious.

Katara smiled, "the baby is very strong, just like their mother." Lin glanced up at Katara, her lips twitched slightly up at seeing her honest expression. She felt relief at the words.

"Can I sit up now?" At Katara's nod, Su helped prop her sister up. However at the change of position, Lin felt a wave of nausea. She slapped a hand over her mouth and looked desperately at the others. Thankfully a garbage pail was placed in her lap quickly by Katara, just in time for Lin to retch into the metal pail.

Once she felt like she wasn't going to throw up any more, Lin sat back against the pillows Su propped behind her. She blushed at the knowing looks from the other women, and nodded her thanks to Su when she was handed a small glass of cool water. She rinsed her mouth and spat into the bucket, before sipping the rest of the water slowly.

Katara took the pail away and placed a new one near the bed in case, before sitting on the side of the bed, near Lin's feet. "Now I would like you to tell me any symptoms you've been having? Nausea, vomiting, food aversions, mood swings, headaches, cravings, breast tenderness? Those are a few main ones."

"I, um, well nausea and vomiting for the last couple months off and on, no specific time of day. I'm more exhausted than usual, even when I can get decent sleep. I did have a tension migraine last week, but I don't think it was necessarily related to this. Some meats have been a little off putting, though I seem to be okay with fish. I've been eating a lot more fruit recently, so I guess that could be a craving…" Lin thought more, then blushed. She cleared her throat, looking away from the two others. "I guess there has been some… tenderness… but all of these things, well I never thought they would be this. I just thought it came with age or stress."

Katara patted Lin's pelt covered leg. "That's understandable, dear. Now, I was serious about being off work. Due to your age, you are deemed a geriatric pregnancy - which goes for anyone over the age of 35. In your circumstance, your job is too stressful and physical for you to be able to safely continue. Your pregnancy is at higher risk due to the more likelihood for issues to arise during gestation."

Lin nodded, as much as it pained her that she would have to give up the reins.

After a moment of silence as they let her process everything, Su speaks up. "Are.. Are you going to tell the father?"

Lin froze at that. "Shit. What do I even tell him? Surprise, we're going to be parents in our 50s!? We're too old for this! What- What if he doesn't want the baby? I-" She started to panic.

Su grabbed her sister's face between both hands and forced her to look at her. "If he can't accept this, it says more about him than you. You are going to be a great mother, and you will have so much support. With or without him. I love you Lin, and I will be there every step of the way."

Lin couldn't help it, she started crying. She allowed Su to pull her into a tight hug.


Once calmed down, Lin was released to go to a guest suite and rest.

The first thing she did upon entering the room was change into the warmer clothes laid out on the bed. When she bent off her metal shoes however, she realized that she could probably feel the baby's heartbeat through seismic sense. So she slammed her foot on a non fur lined patch of the cold granite floor and closed her eyes. The sound was like a small thrumming deep within her. She let out a small sob of happiness.

After another minute of freezing her foot off just to hear her baby, she slipped on the thick socks and laid down on the bed. She fell into a light sleep quickly, with her hand resting protectively on her belly.

After a few hours, Lin got up and made her way down a deserted hallway. She was thankful for the warmer clothes that had been laid out for her. She found the dining hall, with almost everyone in it already eating a late dinner. The only ones missing were Tenzin's children (who were sleeping, having eaten earlier), Korra and her parents - Senna had made the trip with Katara.

"Lin! You look much better. We are glad you are okay." Tenzin said in greeting as she took an empty seat across from him, between Opal and Su.

"I do feel better, thank you." She glanced at everyone around the table, taking in that only the non-airbenders were in warmer watertribe clothing as the airbenders could regulate the air around them. They all look tired, but relatively okay. Kya had a pair of crutches leaning against the table and she was favouring one hip, and Bumi had his arm in a sling, bandaged tightly. Tenzin looked like he may have a few cracked ribs, but otherwise seemed almost back to his usual self. "I am glad you are all okay." She said to them, also looking to her niece beside her, put a hand on her arm with a gentle squeeze.

She shocked most of the people who knew her well, by grabbing a bowl of sea prune stew, which she normally avoided like the plague. It just smells delicious to her tonight.

She started eating it quickly, then refilling the bowl from the dish. "You sure you are alright Linny? I've never seen anyone willingly chow down on sea prunes like you are right now." Bumi called out, teasing her.

However, this made Lin feel mortified about her eating. She dropped the spoon into the bowl, some splashing onto the table. Her face both drained of colour, and blushed brightly at the same time. She could feel herself start to panic, and logically she knew this was silly and that Bumi was just joking, but her brain decided to stop letting logic rule.

She calmed when Su put her hand on her thigh and squeezed slightly. It brought her back enough from her panic that she could calm herself.

"Shut it Bumi, you're one to talk. Airbenders are supposed to be vegetarian." Su called back at him.

"Yeah, well, when you go almost 60 years eating meat, you don't really wanna change." He replied smirking, though Su could tell he was concerned about how Lin reacted.

The two quickly started talking about other things to distract attention from Lin, who appreciated this greatly. She glanced at the bowl of stew in front of her, unsure if she should finish it.

Su, not breaking her conversation with Jinora, pushed the bowl closer to Lin. Lin ducked her head slightly, but picked up the spoon and slowly finished the bowl.

She quietly excused herself fairly soon after, and made it back to her room a few moments later.

She took off the heavy outer layer of the outfit she was lent and laid it across a chair, thankful that the fire in the room had been relit, and there were more logs to add to it through the night. She was just about to change to go to bed, when a knock came at the door.

She didn't feel like talking to anyone, but went to the door anyway as she figured they wouldn't leave her alone if she didn't.

"Bumi?"

"Hey Linny. I just wanted to apologize about dinner. I didn't mean to upset you or anything," he said awkwardly, but sincerely as he used his good hand to rub the back of his neck.

Lin opened the door wider and motioned for him to enter. She closed the door behind them and went to her bed and sat on the edge.

"I know Bumi, I am sorry I reacted that way." She said, sighing.

He came and sat beside her on her left. "You sure you're okay Linny?" She looked up at him with fear in her eyes, it is the first time in a very long time that he has seen that look in her eyes; not since they were children. "What is it? You can tell me anything, I will be right here," he said, taking one of her hands in his one good hand.

Lin stared down at their hands. Hers looks so tiny in his large one.

"You may change your mind once you know what is happening." She said softly, not looking up at him.

"Not likely." He replied, confident in his answer.

Lin took a moment to gather her thoughts, not really knowing where to start.

"Lin?"

'Just say it Beifong' she scolded herself. "I'm pregnant."

Bumi's eyebrows shot up and he leaned back slightly in shock. "You're what?"

"Pregnant. Knocked-up. Bun-in-the-oven." Lin replied, slightly self-deprecating.

"How?"

"Didn't your mother teach you the birds and the-"

"I'm serious Lin. Aren't you too…" He hesitated not wanting to offend her again, but unsure how to say it.

"Old? Apparently what I thought was the beginning of menopause about 6 months ago, was actually just my body not bleeding due to the stress I was under with Amon and losing my bending…"

"What are you wanting to do?"

"I'm keeping this baby. I know what it feels like to be abandoned, and I will not put an innocent life through that." Lin finally looked up at Bumi's shocked face. Drawing confidence from somewhere within her, she set her shoulders back. "I won't hold you to anything. You can be as much or as little involved as you want. I know you never wanted to settle down or anything, so I am not going to put pressure on you to stay or anything."

"You're wrong."

Lin couldn't help but sag slightly in disappointment. But she tried to offer him a smile. "It's okay." She said, trying to pull her hand from his.

"You misunderstand Lin. The reason I never settled down and had a family was because the only woman I could see that happening with ended up being with my brother for 20 years…"

Lin looked up at him in surprise.

"Lin, I have always been drawn to you. One of the reasons I stayed in the United Forces was so that I didn't have to see you with Tenzin. I know I never said anything, and that's because I wanted you both to be happy. After you broke up, I felt like it was inappropriate to say anything."

He gave her hand a squeeze. "I want to be involved in everything Lin. I know it won't be easy, but I think we will do alright. I know children were not in your cards when you were planning your future, but I will support you in all of this. You won't be alone."

Lin swallowed, feeling herself choking back tears at his heartfelt confession. "I am glad it is you by my side, Bumi." She sniffled.

He let go of her hand to use his good arm to pull her into his side, arm around her shoulders. "I'm glad it is me too."

"I-I actually always wanted a child… Just one or two… But I was always scared to turn out like my mother. She… wasn't the most caring mother. Tenzin never asked why I was hesitant… he just always tried to force it down my throat… and he wanted more children than I was willing to have."

Bumi squeezed her to him a little tighter, resting his cheek on the top of her head.

After a few moments of comforting each other, Bumi looked down at her. "How do you want to go about this? I will be here in whatever manner you want." He paused before continuing, "I want to be honest with you though. Those few weeks before I went to the Glacier Spirits Festival were the happiest in my life."

Lin pulled back and smiled slightly at his sincere facial expression. She lifted her right hand to rest on his left cheek. "I felt the same." Before pulling him into a gentle kiss.

When they pulled back, Bumi beamed at her. "So we'll do this together then?"

Lin smiled fully, his happiness catching. "Together," she nodded.

He slipped from the bed and knelt in front of her. He pulled her shirt up gently, and placed a kiss on her belly. "Hello baby, I am your daddy. I can't wait to meet you. We will have so much fun together!" Lin laughed softly.

Lin pulled him up and they laid on the bed. She curled up on his right side, avoiding his injured left arm. They kissed gently again, before falling asleep. Both were extremely exhausted, so it came easily.


Book 3 Ages - Year 171AG

Suyin - 45

Baatar Sr - 47

Baatar Jr - 21

Huan - 19

Opal - 17

Wei - 15

Wing - 15

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Lin - 51 (4 months pregnant)

Bumi - 58

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Tenzin - 52

Pema - 36

Jinora - 11

Ikki - 8

Meelo - 6

Rohan - 6 months

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Katara - 86

Kya - 54

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Korra - 18

Mako - 19

Asami - 19

Bolin - 17

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Toph - 83.5 (I am keeping her reentrance as canon so it wont be till Korra meets her)

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Zuko - 87/88

Izumi - 62

Iroh - 38

Ursa - 22