"Holy s***. Glad to hear, that everyone is alright, physically. That's all what counts." Yeah, it was a the best scenario that could have come from something like that. "Take the time you need, to deal with the results of this accident." I write fics to cope lol. "My best wishes for you." Thanks, my family's gonna need it tbh.

"It seems, that the shocking truth has also had an impact on her mother." It helped her to see that Mai's actions weren't just petty acts of rebellion. "She has started to search for things again, which are fun to her and which she could do for herself." This is very important for her. She needed to open up and find small things to appreciate. "when she's talking with Tom-Tom is wonderful. That's so good to see." I really enjoyed typing Mai and Tom-Tom dialog, lots of sweet and wholesome lines. "It's good to see, that she also starts to move on and to talk with Zuko about their old relationship." That was another big step that needed to be taken.
"I like the idea, that he's costumizing his teacups with the chips, he has earned." Thanks! I was trying to decided what I wanted him to do with the chips. I figured that he could make a little something that his uncle might like. "He has trust in his future now and it's so good to see, that the family has grown so strong together." He's more optimistic these days. "Talking thinga out with Mai seems to be still an important step for him, but a step, he can handle now." It is for she and him both and they are finally in more stable positions to do so. "The trials have brought his character and his crimes uo to the surface and this fact has cost him everything." His assholery is finally catching up to him. "He'll blame them for that for the rest of his lofe, cause I couldn't think of Ozai as awell person, who would accept himself as a reason or would even search within himself for reasons, why he had lost." Oh yeah, Ozai definitely blames them, but is losing the power to do anything about it. He definitely isn't one for taking responsibility.
"Rest well and take a breath or two to deal with the shock." Thanks, it's just kinda hard. I'll PM you a bit about it when I get a chance."I had a car accident some years ago, a lot of trouble and scrapped metal." That sounds about right for a car accident. But like you said, at least no one got hurt.

She couldn't believe that she was missing her first day of senior year. Katara was going to kill her for sure, if the stress didn't get there first. She squeezed her mother's hand, happy to have it there. For as much as the woman vowed to not get involved with the raising of her baby, the woman was doing a bad job of sticking to her word.

Not that Suki had an protests there.

Breathing and body temperature problems were an on and off again problem since Jing-Zao's birth. The baby hadn't enough body fat to protect her from hypothermia. And her lungs had formed as immaturely as she.

'How is Jing-Zao?' Katara texted the question.

'I'll let you know when I figure it out.'

Suki had been allowed to take her baby home a month after having her but she was right back in the ER almost immediately with some sort of flu. And then a case of whooping cough. They had told her after the third trip that this was the result of a poor immune system.

She would be surprised to find that Jing-Zao's immune system had failed again.

They had already been at the hospital for over an hour. She hated having to call Sokka again. He was probably already in the middle of a morning class.

But their baby was having breathing troubles again.

Over and over again, in her head, she wondered what she could have done to have prevented the preterm birth. But when it came down to it, the only thing she could have done was not have a baby at all. She squeezed her mother's hand.

Even going back to Wan High was a better option than this.

.oOo.

Toph frowned to herself, according to Katara, Suki would be missing the first day again. She was glad she didn't have babies to deal with, it seemed like such a handful. The only baby she'd have to worry about was Appa.

"Don't let him bite anyone." Poppy cautioned. "We can't afford another lawsuit."

"I know, mom." Toph grumbled. "Appa's a good dog, he won't bite anyone."

Poppy pulled her into a crushing hug. "Don't push yourself too hard today. If you have any trouble, if they aren't accommodating…"

"I don't need accommodation." The less they accommodated, the better. The less changes that were made, the better. "And, don't worry, I can walk myself to the bus." Before Poppy could protest, Toph took off. She sprinted down the sidewalk, eyes locked on Aang.

"Hey Twinkle Toes!" She greeted.

He jumped.

"Any higher and I'd think you were practicing hurdles for the track team."

"Soccer is good enough for me." Aang replied.

One of these days she was going to have to find a way back onto the team. "Guess what?"

"What."

Toph whipped out a brand new backpack. "Now that Mai's family dropped the lawsuit, things are getting back on track. I can go to better eye doctors now. The kind that don't try to mess the whole thing up." She reached down to hand Appa a treat. "So, Twinkle Toes, what kind of drama do you think Wan High has in store for us this year?"

"Hopefully none." Aang rolled his eyes. "We got more than enough of it last year. I was hoping to have a quiet year with Haru."

"A quiet year? With me? I don't think so, Twinkle Toes!" She rolled her eyes. "Yeesh, all of that drama, and I missed it." She had gotten the tail end of it, but it seemed like all of the action seemed to happen when she was gone. Frankly she would have loved to have been around to witness exactly what had led Azula to come to Katara's party so many months ago. But then again, she couldn't have promised that she wouldn't have made an ill-placed comment or two.

"Trust me it's not the kind of drama you would have wanted to be around."

"Eh...I suppose that I got enough of my own last year anyways." Toph shrugged. She was just glad to be returning to school at all, especially after so many threats from her mother about being transferred to a specialized school.

The bus pulled into the stop. "Ladies first." Toph motioned Aang ahead.

Aang stepped onto the bus. "I missed your jokes."

"You missed my jokes?" Toph replied. "I missed making them!" She missed almost a whole year's worth of witty jokes and opportunities to be sarcastic. "Don't worry, I've saved up a whole year's worth of 'em. Gotta make up for all of the jokes I missed. I've even come up with some new nicknames for everyone." Of course they didn't know it yet, but they would as soon as an opportunity presented itself. "Spike better like hers."

Frankly she was looking forward to getting to know her better, the amount of Usha jokes they could make together...she saw so much potential. Alright, so it was more like, she sensed so much potential.

She hoped that there was as much potential in the partnership her father was considering with Teo's father. "So, Haru is friends with Teo, right?"

"Yeah." Aang replied. "Why."

"I hope he has a sense of humor because, we're about to get to know each other pretty well."

"Teo can take a joke." Aang replied.

"Perfect." Toph grinned. "If I don't run into him today," which with Appa as her eyes was a real possibility. "Can you ask Haru to mention my name?"

"Sure thing, Toph."

"Knew I could count on you, Twinkle Toes."

.oOo.

Sokka stepped into the hospital. The commute had taken much longer than he had anticipated. "Hey, Suki."

Suki pulled him into a hug. "I'm just so tired of the hospital."

She looked exhausted. Not that he didn't share her sentiments. But he was only missing move in day. This hospital visit was costing her the first day of school. "Are you sure you don't want to go to class, I think I can take over this one."

"It's just icebreaker and syllabus day. They're the same every year." She declined. "I wouldn't be able to focus anyways, Sokka."

"She's gonna be fine." Sokka assured. "If she's anything like you then she's not going to give up that easily."

Suki sighed. "You're right…"

So far Jing has pulled through everything else. He didn't see why this case would be any different. He motioned for Suki to sit in his lap and squeezed his hand. "Hey, my days of cleaning up highway and trash and garbage under bridges are almost over. By the time she's able to get on her feet and walk, I'll be around to help her do it."

"Well I hope so." Suki muttered.

The look on her face still said he was in deep waters for making her endure most of the crying over the summer. And her mother still had to warm up to him. "Hey, I promise. I let Katara down, I'm not gonna let you and Jing down too."

.oOo.

Aang held his head as high as he could as he walked passed Hide.

"How's my favorite priss? Did you boyfriend treat you like a princess over the summer?"

"You bet he did." Haru took Aang's hand. "With a mustache this majestic who wouldn't feel like royalty after a kiss." With his free hand he locked a finger gun on Hide.

"That's disgusting." Hide scrunched his nose.

"Someone isn't handling the single life very well." Chan put in.

"Since when did you play for the geeks?" Hide scowled.

"Since my ex decided to go and be one of them, I guess." He shrugged.

"Whatever." Hide muttered. "If you want to let the faeries feel you up, that's your deal."

"Boy, underclassmen are wild these days." Chan noted.

"Says house party guy." Aang interjected.

Haru burst out laughing. "I love you Aang, but I think Toph has a thing or two to teach you about insults."

"Your mustache is an insult to your face."

"Better." Haru replied.

"I don't know, I thought that one was pretty clever." Chan replied propping himself up against a locker.

"What brings you to this part of the hallway?" Haru asked.

He held up the sheet of paper showing his locker number.

"Looks like we're going to see each other a lot." Aang noted, motioning to the locker two away from his. It would seem like luck was on his side this year. Chan was still gorgeous, but this time without the disastrous personality. If he got really lucky, the ex-jock might even act as a line of defense against Hide.

Heaven knew he was going to need that now that he was in a more open relationship.

But he had promised Haru that he wasn't going to let anything scare him away from sneaking kisses in the hallway or on the bleachers during games-that is, if Haru could ever convince him to get near a football match.

"Hey, thanks for sticking up for me."

"No problem. I've decided to put my assholery to good use." Chan shrugged.

"You going to be hosting more parties?" Haru asked.

"Yeah, still hosting the homecoming and Halloween ones." Chan replied. "Guest list is gonna be more exclusive though. If you and your guy haven't been traumatized, you can come again." He paused. "One rule though."

"Yeah?" Aang asked.

"No sheet ghosts allowed." Chan said. "Gotta be more original than that since we're going to have less costumes to choose from. Don't worry, you've got a whole month and thirty-one days to think about it."

"Thirty days." Haru corrected.

"Whatever, dork."

"Alright, no sheet ghosts." Aang replied. He'd have to settle for curtains.

"I gotta get going." Aang replied. "I heard Zhao is awful."

Chan visibly cringed. "Good luck little loser. You're gonna need it."

But Aang didn't think so, so far everything was going well. If anyone could suck up to Zhao and get a good grade, it was him. He didn't think he had much to worry about, he had a good feeling about this year.

.oOo.

Jing-Zao squirmed around in her arms. It wasn't good news, but she supposed it was much better than she had fretted. After hours of monitoring, the doctors had declared that the girl had a case of asthma. Another good hour or so was dedicated to learning all about how to care for the condition.

"I'm going to drive with Sokka, mom. If you want you can take my car." She leaned in and let the woman hug her. "Thanks for coming today. It means a lot to Sokka and I. Right?"

"Absolutely." Sokka agreed. "Jing would like to have time with two gran-grans."

Suki rolled her eyes. She had to get him to stop calling them 'grans'. Granted it was much better than his first idea, 'the gran squad'. "And two grandfathers."

Her mother sighed. "He'll come around Suki. Just keep rocking the baby in front of him and he'll come around."

Suki didn't doubt that. He had the same reaction when she'd brought a stray cat home as a child.

Back in the comfort of her home, she tickled Jing's tummy, relieved and elated to hear the baby's coo. She was mostly healthy and she was happy. And that had to count for something. Even if she and Sokka had a long way to go.

A really long way.

She sent Katara a text. 'Everything is okay with Jing. I'll be in school tomorrow, mom said she'd babysit.' She hit send and added. 'I'm still on for tonight.'

Granted Katara's idea of 'on for tonight' was a night at home watching dumb chick flicks and laughing at the drama from the safety of their couch. But that was fine by her, it was a baby-safe night out.

"You going to come with us Sokka?"

"I would, but I've got some trash to pick up. I'm trying to get that out of the way."

"That's fine, it was a girl's night anyways and we have Jing to fill in for you."

"I'll be sure to crash girl's night next time." Sokka vowed.

"What if we're inviting guys next time?"

"See now you're making things difficult." Sokka replied, holding out his arms.

She passed Jing-Zao over. She supposed that he could have the honor of rocking her to sleep this time. He beamed down at the baby, booping her on the nose. Suki smiled. They certainly didn't have it completely together. But she had a good feeling that they'd be able to work it out.