Right after the man knocked, an audible growl came in response. The esteemed chief gritted her teeth and Tenzin could practically hear this when she began to speak, or rather snap at them through the door.

'These bastards...Tell them if they try to talk to me one more time...they'll find themselves in jail...in the blink of an eye!'

Lin, of course, would have actually know that it was Tenzin who stood at the door, had she not been completely sleep deprived. Those featherlight footsteps of his were something she had been feeling for all her life after all and she could easily recognise them in a second with her seismic sense, even if he was seemingly miles away.

Tonight she wasn't in her best form though. The tough Chief would never admit, but she was exhausted and needed some rest and did not want to deal with a visitor. Especially not one who would exhaust her emotionally. Her former lover noticed this as well, not needing any kind of special senses, as he was seriously considering to cower away.

'Lin... It's me...Tenzin...', he barely managed to get out of his mouth before the door opened fast, revealing a very tense looking Lin. The skin under her eyes had turned into a dark shade of purplish blue and her eye was twitching slighty. Still, she seemed very well put together despite probably not having slept for days. It was a miracle that she could still sand straight, really, but to Tenzin she was beautiful nevertheless.

'Councilman...' , she uttered with the coldest tone possible. The airbender was taken aback by the formality, but still noticed how her pupils dilated when she was looking at him, betraying her repellent demeanor. She was glad to see him and Tenzin knew. He always knew and this might just be a tad unfortunate, in Lin's opinion at least.

After slowly blinking a few times she began speaking in a fast pace, clearly somewhat worried, '... what is it? Did something happen? Why would you knock my door at this time of the day? Or...night, for that matter?'

With much effort she tried to bite back a yawn. Tenzin eyed her while the smile dissappeared from his face.

'I want to talk.', he simply stated as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

She rolled her eyes. 'Sorry but it seems I don't have time for chatting right now. If you would excuse me, I have work to do.'

Just as she was about to close the door and by that dismiss him, the airbender created a small gust of wind to keep it open and stepped inside and laid his glider against the wall with an uncharac-teristic amount of confidence. Lin knew that he wouldn't listen when being told she was busy. He never listened. And then again he had succcesfully irritated her and she could only huff at that. Tonight she would not be fighting to keep Tenzin out of her office. A moment after, she shot the curious guard a warning look which caused him to step back and eventually leave when she closed the door.

'They get so damn nosy at times...', she mumbled quietly.

Her old friend noticed how tired she really was and tried to unstiffen her while he smiled and put his hand on her shoulder. A gesture that he had been doing an awful lot lately, Lin noted internally.

'What is my smart, trustworthy friend doing at such late hour? Don't you think you should go to bed, Linny?', he almost cooed with a grin on his face.

He didn't know why he suddenly used her childhood nickname which he had constantly called her when they were just toddlers. It belonged to his first words right after 'Daddy' and 'Mommy' and that's why he had always been so genuinely proud of it. Everybody had laughed and joked about the special bond the children shared, and Tenzin had always become mad because he had not been able to understand why they were laughing about him and how much he loved his best friend in the entire world.

The friend in question was massaging her temples and looked at him angrily. Tenzin knew this behaviour all to well. She was secretly pleased but didn't dare showing it. It was amusing to him, but he didn't risk getting all too chummy with her now. There were still boundaries that needed to be respected, and he didn't really want to be shoved out of her office just yet.

With her signature scowl gracing her features, Lin whispered warningly. 'If you say that one more time I swear to the spirits I will-'

He held his hand up in the air in order to silence her. 'I was only trying to lighten the mood. Pardon me, I don't know either why I suddenly had the urge to use it.'

At that she attempted to hide a crooked smile which didn't really work well. Her eyes darkened again and she calmed down, speaking with a much more gentle tone which made the airbender relax too. Just as he thought he had reached his goal, Lin's face changed again, and she looked rather troubled.

'You should leave. I can't deal with anymore press who want gossip.'

Her childhood friend did not understand and slightly furrowed his brows. 'Gossip? What do you mean?'

Lin shot him an intense glare even though Tenzin really had no idea. 'You must be kidding.' , she sighed, her mouth turning into a thin line.

Tenzin slightly shook his head. 'I seriously have no idea. Would you be so kind to explain?'

Lin scoffed. So the reporters weren't bothering him, bombarding with their questions who hit bellow the belt far too many times to be considered polite?

The questions she raised in her mind ought to be asked, so she did exactly that.

'They don't ask you the same questions? They don't ask you out about an affair?'

Tenzin shook his head, visibly confused. Beifong crossed her arms infront of her bossom and pouted a bit. How could he be this clueless? Typical Tenzin.

'The newsletters?... You have read them, no?', she growled while bouncing her leg up and down in a fashion which made Tenzin nervous. It was so easy for them to be affected by one another. Maybe too easy to be considered appropriate.

He frowned at her, trying to comprehend what his friend was telling him. 'Lin can you please come straight to the point? I obviously have no idea what you are saying.'

The earthbender placed her hands on the table while gazing at him long enough to make him feel a rising heat. It's probably just the lamp... right? It's surely only the lamp that makes him feel warm.

'There are newspaper articles. Talking about you...and...me...having an affair... we spent so much time together since Korra came here, I guess they saw this as an oppurtunity to give the people some dirty rumors.'

She looked unimpressed and waved her hand in a dismissive way while talking, but he knew it was bothering her.

'But don't worry. I threatened them and made clear that I'm already seeing someone else.'

Now that came as a surprise. His face as red as a tomato, Tenzin completely ignored the first part of Lin's statement and only concentrated on one particular sentence.

'You...You're seeing someone?'

It almost sounded dangerous. Even though he was an airbender, Tenzin always leaned towards losing his temper really quickly, which might as well be a sideeffect of spending most of his childhood with Toph, Su and Lin.

The chief drummed her fingers on the table and wrinkled her nose at his perplexed face. 'Yes. Why do you act so surprised about it?'

Tenzin didn't even realise how upset he sounded. A cold breeze was whirling around in the room, despite there being no open window and Lin was very well aware of its' meaning. Maybe it shouldn't have, but it pleased her.

'How are you seing somebody else?!', he kind of shouted at her. Lin hated being shouted at. So for his sake, she tried her best to stay calm, but whether he liked it or not, she also began to get annoyed. What a damn triggering man he is.

'With my eyes, Tenzin! What kind of stupid question is that?', she sarcastically spat back at him.

Right then Tenzin actually realised how improper his reaction was, he inhaled, trying to contain his anger. 'Lin...Why didn't you tell me?'

His distaste towards this topic was still evident as he couldn't hide it and still furrowed his brows while biting the inside of his cheek, looking slightly irritated. Lin on the other hand was consantly rolling her eyes. She did not want to be babied by him.

'Listen...If you wanna baby someone, I'm certainly not the person you're looking for. You can't just burst into my office in the middle of the night, interrupt my work, distract me and then shout at me for doing what most grown woman do which is dating someone! Grow up Tenzin!'

The airbender's expression changed. He started to calm down. Shaking his head he decided to not shout at her anymore and just listen for a while. They always had to listen, but sometimes, in their heated moments, they just tended to forget.

'I'm sorry...for reacting so inappropriately. Would you mind telling me more about your... partner? I just...I was just upset...because you didn't think of telling me sooner.' He swallowed. Wow. Why was it so hard to ask that question?

His old friend's eyes were roaming around her office while she was pursing her lips slightly. Tenzin couldn't help but smirk at that. She still seemed so young despite her 54 years of age.

'Why would I tell you? In case you haven't realised...We had grown apart until the point in time when the Avatar came...She needed us, that's why we worked together. There was nothing before that.'

She furrowed her brows slightly. Saddness was evident in both of their intense gazes.

'And...now that you've asked... I'm dating a man... from the fire nation...slightly younger than me...not a 16 years-age gap, but hey, it works...'

She pouted even more at her risky statement. Tenzin knew what she was reffering to and decided to tease her out of his annoyance.

'Much simpler with a younger person, am I right?'

Lin clenched her jaw and clawed the desk with her hands until her knuckles went white.

'Yup...he actually listens to me...He listens to my wants... respects my job...and my wishes...'

She uttered while waving her hand once again. The earthbender was frustrated and a bad liar on top of that. Tenzin glared at her. He was obviosly not happy with the things she said, but he quickly fathomed that his old friend wasn't being serious.

'Well, that was completely unnecessary. I know you're not seeing anyone. You're practically married to your work and when you're not working, which itself is pretty rare, you're either alone or with us.'

Lin cocked an eyebrow. 'Oh so you're saying I can't be in a relationship because of my job? That argument is getting kinda old now, isn't it? But still... It's ancient history. I guess one could say I'm married to my work and you are obviously married to Pema, so that's that. Everything is fine. It was her biggest dream, no? Glad that she got to fulfill it. Glad that you got to carry on your legacy.'

The tint of melancholy in her voice said otherwise. To him, Lin was visibly somehow hurt and tarnished as she was still avoiding his gaze and biting the inside of her cheek, a habit she picked up from Tenzin himself. She internally cursed herself and shut her eyes feeling humiliated for sounding so bitter.

'I didn't mean for it to sound so harsh... I'm just so sleep deprived...You know I'm...happy about your marriage with Pema... I'm grateful that she gave you Jinora, Ikki, Meelo and Rohan... you know how much I care for them...'

She ran a hand over her face in an attempt to wake herself a bit and not unwillingly say anything that could sound so abrasive, again.

The tense atmosphere quickly subsided when the master noticed that there was something not quite right with Beifong.

'Enough with this... I know you love them...I would never question it... that's why I came here to tell you that my wife and my children wish for you to live with us. They adore you Lin. Please consider this. Do not immediately turn this offer down.'

She rubbed her foot against the floor in an attempt to calm herself down, being rather surprised that the airbender's wife also wished for her to be with them. Why would she? What could the reason be?

'I haven't slept properly in 5 days, or maybe 6, I don't even remember. Even though I hate to admit, I'm tired, exhausted and I still have so much work to do here. I'm thankful for the offer but I don't think it would be the smartest idea if I lived with you...at least not with my current emotional state...I also do not want to disturb your family Tenzin. As much as our relationship is left in the past from our point of view, it still wouldn't be appropriate for me to be with you at the temple. Even if we...forgot and moved on, Republic City obviously hasn't. I do not want to risk mine and your reputation by going with you and shoving material into these lousey journalist's laps. I know that if your wife and kids were to be confronted with this issue as well it would likely be very unpleasant. They shouldn't have to deal with our problems. The new airbenders are on a trip to the other temples right now, I know, but when they'll be back I also don't want to turn social unrest, for their sakes. Plus I can't stand to keep seeing my name on these tabloids. Especially not in the context of me being a homewrecker...or...floozy...'

Tenzin listened and finally saw her point, even if he wished not to. His desire was to be friends with her again. So he waited for her, hoping that she might change her mind... hopefully in a short amount of time.

After a while he laid his hand on her shoulder. His former lover swallowed and her tense shoulders loosened. The childhood friends couldn't deny it. They couldn't deny their connection.

'Tenzin go home. Your family is waiting.' She suddenly whispered with a slight smile while nudging him.

Typical Lin. He knew this game. He knew that it was a maneuver. Suddenly he became very sentimental, being reminded of their romance, took her hand and held it so tight that even Beifong was shocked. It sent shivers down her spine, and she thought of herself as a fool because of it.

'Lin...I'm not leaving without you...I won't leave you behind...never again...'

'Don't be so dramatic airhead, it's alright.'

Lin wanted to pull her hand away, but even to her own surprise, she couldn't. Always playing the strong woman who really needed no one in her life was hard, especially when it came to Tenzin. It had wounded her and turned her into a hardass. A cold woman. A 'lonely, bitter woman', how Su and Korra had put it. She let her eyes wander away in order to not meet his gaze while he squeezed her hand.

'You...You have always...been my family too, you know..'

That was too much. The stoic woman took her hand away as though Tenzin's grasp had burned her, ashamed of the way his statement made her feel...even after all those years, her heart still fluttered at these kind of sentimental moments with him, which were not happening often anyway. But naturally Lin did not let him see how he made her feel. She had perfected this in the past decades when she had to face him after their break-up, having to be professional in meetings with the council for example. It was hard for her reliving these emotions again and actually showing them, as they had been bottled up for years. She was just scared that because of this, they could one day overflow...

'Family...of course...'

a/n: As I said before, feel free to give conctructive criticism, your ideas/thoughts and ,of course, favs and follows. :)