By her fourth year of life Lin had shed most of her baby fat and was now a long, willowy creature with dark hair, bright green eyes, and a personality all her own. She had become so thin, in fact, that Sokka had taken to calling her "Bones." Sokka and Bones spent a lot of time together. The representative of the Southern Water Tribe on Republic City's Council had a lot of free time on his hands while his girlfriend Suki was away in the Fire Nation serving the Fire Lord as a Kyoshi Guard. While it bothered him that she split her time between the City and the Fire Nation, he found plenty to do with one of his oldest friends and champion drinking buddy, Toph Beifong. Especially now that she had a kid. On days off they would take Lin to the zoo, to the park, or just to play with his niece and nephews on Air Temple Island.
Toph loved days like these, Mo hated them. Occasionally, Mo would wake to find a hand written note on the table from Sokka:
Took Lin out for the day- back by dinner.
When Mo complained about it to Toph, she would shrug and tell him he ought to wake up earlier if he cares so much.
"Babies don't sleep in," she would tell him, her tone full of disapproval.
Comments like this from Toph were offhanded and many. It was safe to say they had pretty much given up on trying to make their romantic relationship work. It was a private, unconscious decision to simply stop putting effort into something neither really wanted. They didn't talk about it, but to those who knew them it was fairly obvious they had become mere roommates. They had tried to make it work once, had hoped that if they pretended to like each other long enough true affection would grow between them. In reality, the opposite had occurred. They resented each other. It had been over a year since they had touched one another in any meaningful way, though they continued to share a bed up until one evening around five months ago.
The lights were out and Mo and Toph lay in the dark, silent. He'd just arrived home, well after midnight and crawled under the blankets beside the mother of his child, careful not to touch her. He knew she was awake, though she pretended to be asleep, the pattern of her breathing gave her away. He watched shadows dance across the ceiling for some time, gathering the courage to say what he'd wanted to tell her for over a month.
"I have a girlfriend," he finally confessed in a low voice. More than a minute passed before Toph made any motion to acknowledge his statement.
"Is that supposed to piss me off or something?" she said, breaking her silence. She remained on her side, eyes closed. Casual.
"I don't know. Yes...maybe," he whispered.
"I don't want her around my kid," Toph told him plainly. He nodded, conveniently leaving out the fact that Lin had already met the new woman in his life.
"What does this mean, for us?" He asked after a long silence. Toph gave a small shrug without shifting from her sleeping position, "That you should sleep on the couch?"
Wordlessly, he stood and grabbed a blanket from the closet and made his way down the hall to his new bed. It wasn't the answer he wanted. He wanted Toph to let him off the hook, feeling too weak to do it on his own. So, they continued playing house instead. Pretending to be a family for the benefit of their daughter who even at the age of four realized she was in the middle of a charade.
Mo didn't remain on the couch for long, he eventually took over Lin's tiny twin sized bed piled high with plush badgermoles. Lin began sharing the large bed in the master room with her mother. They had called it a slumber party at first, hoping she would be too excited to question the change in sleeping arrangements. It didn't work.
"Come to bed with us, Dad!" Lin ordered him one night after brushing her teeth.
"I don't think so, Lin. You go ahead," he replied. Lin crossed her arms and scowled. She could scowl like a professional.
"How come you never sleep in the same bed as Mom? Bumi said everybody's parents are supposed to share a bed."
"Its a long story, kiddo," Toph provided, "now get your behind under those covers post haste."
"Can you tell me the story before bed, Mom?" He heard Lin ask as she scampered down the hallway.
"Not a chance," Toph called after her. She looked in his direction, "G'night."
Their life became separated into shifts. In the morning, before the sun even kissed the dark sky with its warmth, Toph would drag her young daughter out to the yard to practice earth bending for an hour. Lin would rub the sleep from her eyes and shiver in the cool air as her mother tied a blindfold around her head and began hurling sheets of earth in her direction. They went hard like this each day and it was a point of contention with Mo, who felt this was far too rigorous for a child of four. Toph would tell him Lin was a step behind already. She was sighted and that was a disadvantage- she would have to practice twice as hard if she wanted to be as good as her mother. Besides, she enjoyed it. When asked if she did, in fact, enjoy training- Lin would reluctantly nod, unwilling to defy her mother whom she considered a personal hero.
After an hour had passed, Toph would settle her daughter at the table with a bowl of cereal and go over a list of praises along with a list of things to improve. When it was finally time for Toph to leave for Police Headquarters in the heart of the city, she would kiss Lin's dirty cheek and depart confident that she was giving her daughter the best upbringing possible.
A weary Lin would crawl into the tiny twin bed with her sleeping father, mud-matted hair and all. They would sleep for a few more hours and when they would finally wake, Mo would take Lin into the city.
He took her to eccentric tea shops, art museums, performance houses and to visit his girlfriend, Rie. She was a bohemian girl that worked in a noodle house, but considered her true occupation to be that of an artist. Rie would join them for some excursions and occasionally they went to her impossibly tiny apartment in Dragon Flats to paint together. Lin had a natural talent for art which Mo encouraged. At home, art was discouraged by her mother who considered it pointless for obvious reasons. Toph's attitude about art bothered Mo to no end. His time with Rie was a relief for him and he believed it was also the right thing for his daughter.
As the sun began to set, Mo would instruct Lin to say farewell to their secret friend and send her outside to wait for him. Lin would stand against the wall outside Rie's apartment for several minutes each time, bored stiff waiting for her father. All kinds of questionable characters would pass her. Most would ignore the little girl, some would smile, and some would speak. On this particular day, Lin was leaning against the wall as she always did when an older woman approached her. She was toothless and babbling. Lin politely looked away, hoping that if she ignored the woman, the woman would ignore her. Unfortunately, the woman didn't seem to understand these social cues and she continued to babble nonsense and curse words at the little girl. When the woman finally reached out to touch Lin's face, she'd been terrified enough to move. She dipped her head away quickly and maneuvered out of her grasp, turning to re-enter the apartment only to find the door was stuck.
She banged against the splintered wood feverishly, screaming for her father as her heart pounded against her ribs frantically. She gave the door another shove as the woman closed in on her and went tumbling into the apartment to the shock of Rie and her father who were mid-embrace.
The woman entered after her only to be chased out by Mo who threatened to call the police. Lin cried inconsolably, begging for her mother. Rie offered her a glass of water and tried to explain that some people just aren't right in the head. Lin refused the water, insisting the only thing she wanted was her Mom, because she was the police. It took nearly thirty minutes for Lin's drawn out sobs to become sniffles and she departed hand in hand with her father.
"I know that must have been scary," he told her as they walked the streets back to their home, "but you can't tell Mom about it. Remember we made a promise?"
"But you even said we should call the police," Lin argued, wiping her runny nose against her forearm.
"I know, but that crazy old lady left anyway. If you told your Mom about it, she would just worry about you. She doesn't need to worry about you, right? You were so brave!" He told her encouragingly. His compliment brought a smile to his daughters face and he squeezed her hand. "Don't you think you were brave?"
Lin nodded, "I wasn't even scared," she announced, suddenly convinced this was the case.
"That's my girl," Mo cheered, scooping her up.
They arrived home and as usual, he started dinner. It wouldn't be long before Toph returned from work. Upon hearing the sound of shuffling metal, Mo would excuse himself. He would tell Toph an edited version of what they had done that day and leave with a guitar slung over one shoulder. He scheduled his performances at evening venues to avoid their uncomfortable domestic situation and sometimes he simply went out to drink with Rie. It would be up to Toph to clean up after dinner, which as far as she was concerned entailed piling all the dishes in the sink, giving them one good spray of water, and forgetting about them.
After finishing dinner, she would take Lin out to the yard again to practice. This time for two hours. Even in spite of her tender age, Toph would not give her daughter much slack when it came to earthbending drills. To Toph's credit, Lin was more skilled in bending at the age of four than many were at the age of forty. Tonight, however, she noticed something was a little off with her daughter who wasn't laughing or taking much joy in her abilities as she usually did.
"What's up, baby girl?" Toph asked as Lin extracted herself from the pile of dirt her mother had sunk her into.
"Sorry, Mom," Lin said quickly straightening herself and taking her horse stance.
"You know what, kid- let's cut it short tonight," Toph told her, sympathetically. She could hear the exhausted resignation in her daughter's voice when she agreed, "Ok. Thanks Mom"
First order of business was bath time, because while Toph felt a nice layer of dirt was healthy for an earth bender, child protective services felt otherwise. It was in the bath that night that Lin said something that would change the course of their lives.
"Mom, can I ask you something?" Lin questioned as she absently walked her toy ducks along the rim of the tub.
"Anything," Toph replied with a laugh as she soaped her daughters back. It always amused her how serious her four year old could sound.
"How come you and Dad never kiss?"
Toph paused, unsure how to answer her, "Why would you wanna know that, huh? That's gross parent stuff."
Lin shrugged, "Bumi says parents are supposed to kiss each other..."
"Boy, that Bumi sure is a fount of knowledge, isn't he?" Toph grumbled under her breath.
"...and his parents always kiss," Lin continued, "but the only person Daddy kisses is Rie."
Toph froze.
"Who is Rie?" she asked, attempting to keep her voice even. She asked, though she knew the answer. Rie must be the girlfriend Mo mentioned, the one he promised not to bring around their daughter.
Lin immediately flushed red, "I'm not supposed to tell."
Toph almost screamed at that, but instead put her hands on Lin's shoulders and spun her around so they were facing one another.
"Listen to me, baby girl. No matter what anybody says to you, no matter who says it, you can always tell me, got it?"
"Got it," Lin said quietly.
"You know why?" Toph continued.
"Because we're same, same." Lin stated, using the phrase she and her mother often used to identify their closeness.
"Exactly," Toph smiled, "now is there anything else you want to tell me?"
There was a brief silence in the room before Lin's words began tumbling out, an avalanche of confessions. She spoke urgently, as if keeping these secrets inside a moment longer would corrode her insides. Toph learned all about Rie, all about the babbling woman, and all about Mo's attempt to revise these events.
When the bath was finished, Toph wrapped a towel around her daughter and lifted her from the tub. She bestowed a kiss on her wet hair as her blood boiled, thinking of the conversation to come. She would be damned if anyone would come between her and her baby.
It was nearing midnight when Mo arrived home. He opened the front door and let his guitar slide from his shoulder and onto the ground. It was a dark in the house- the only light was the soft glow emanating from Toph's bedroom. He heard his daughter's muted voice as well- she was speaking slow and careful. He pushed the door open to find Toph laying back, stroking Lin's hair as she read a stack of papers.
"The female had a one inch con-c-con," Lin struggled to read the word.
"Just sound it out," Toph encouraged.
"Contusion" Lin announced happily.
"There you go!" Toph smiled. Lin continued, "The female had a one inch contusion above her right eyebrow...what is a contusion?"
"Its a bruise," Toph answered.
"Oh."
"I thought we agreed that she shouldn't be reading your police reports," Mo interrupted from the doorway. The girls looked up at him.
"Just like we agreed that you weren't going to bring Lin around your special friend?" Toph asked pointedly. Mo sighed.
"Lin, why don't you go to bed," Toph said, sitting up straight and taking the papers from her hands.
"This is my bed," Lin argued.
"Not tonight. Now go on- Dad and I need to talk," Toph told her as she got out of bed, dragging her daughter along. When Toph set her down, Lin didn't budge. "Go on, Lin." Toph repeated.
Lin crossed her arms and frowned, "I don't want to."
"And I don't want to argue- so go to bed." Lin held her ground. "Dammit, Lin. Go to bed or you're grounded." Lin simply squirmed on the spot, whining incoherently.
"What did I just say?" Toph shouted.
Lin let out an exaggerated sob at the injustice of it all as she turned to stomp out of the room. She gave her father a regretful look as she passed, clearly sorry she had mentioned their time with Rie. When Toph was certain Lin was in her own bed, audibly whining still, she began,
"So..." Toph led.
"So."
"So want to know the most awkward moment of my day?" Toph asked. She waited through a moment of Mo's silence before she answered her own question, "it was definitely the part where our kid asked me why Dad kisses other girls."
"Whatever," Mo mumbled. He made a move to exit, not quite in the mood for this conversation.
"Whatever?" Toph repeated, incredulous. She kicked up a rock wall before him to block his progress into the hall. He bent it back into the floor. "Goodnight," he told her solidly.
"I don't think so," Toph told him as she followed him into the hall, "you listen up, Moochee!"
Toph knocked Lin's door closed as she passed it in the hall. She pursued Mo into the living room, where he was already grabbing his guitar again.
"Don't call me that," he told her, with a hint of laughter. He was drunk.
"Oh I'm sorry, I know you get offended by your real name. But your parents sure knew how to pick it- it describes you perfectly, a mooch!" she hissed at him, attempting to keep her voice low.
"Good one, Toph," Mo replied sarcastically.
"Don't try to be cute with me," Toph continued, "how dare you take my daughter out to some dingy place and let her get attacked by a crazy person!"
"She's fine," Mo whined.
"You are a real piece of work. Send your kid out into the hallway with a bunch of drug addicts so you can make out with your girlfriend without being caught. You are disgusting."
"You don't know what you're talking about!" he snapped, suddenly serious.
"Of course I know what I'm talking about, Mo. I'm the Chief of Police- I know this kind of thing all too well. I just saw a guy today that claimed he had been bloodbent, what if someone had done that to Lin while you locked her outside? What then?"
Mo rolled his eyes. It wasn't even a full moon.
"Rie got a job in Ba Sing Se. Asked me to go with her," he told her suddenly, "I said I would."
Toph scoffed, "And do what with Lin?" He shrugged. Toph continued, a little less confident, "What am I supposed to do with her while I'm at work?"
Mo shrugged again, "Have Sokka watch her? He seems to think he's her Dad anyway."
"Come off it, Mo. You are being an ass," Toph retorted, annoyance dominating her tone.
"You are just mad that I've got someone," he countered. Toph laughed. "I've got someone and you're still waiting for Sokka to leave his girlfriend. Well, bad news Toph- I know you can't see and all, but she's hot and its never going to happen."
Mo dodged a rock that sailed at his head, it slammed against the far wall and shattered.
"Get out," she told him coldly. He lifted his hands in the air as if to surrender.
"No problem," he said walking out the door.
The door closed and Toph sank to the floor, holding her head in her hands. It was a mean thing to say, but not altogether untrue. What she was really worried about was what she would do with her daughter now that her daytime caretaker was out of the picture. What would she tell Lin when she asked where her Dad had gone?
She stood and made her way down the hall, cracking Lin's door open. She didn't stir. Toph listened to her slow, measured breaths assuring her that Lin had slept through the argument.
Relieved and thankful for this one thing, she whispered into the dark room, "looks like its just you and me, kid."