Thank you for reading. As is becoming a habit with this story, I'm sorry that it has been so long since the last up-date.

Normally he felt the air moving around and it made him feel free, light. Like he could do anything. Go anywhere. Now as he walked the seemingly endless path that lead towards the main door of the Bei Fong estate, it seemed to be pressing down on him. Making every step that he took seem like a great effort. Toph who walked beside him seemed to be under the same pressure. Though he thought that it was more to do with the extra weight she was carrying.

He glanced at her, seeing her tense up a little more as they got closer to the large house. They didn't know how much of the events of the past two years, since they last heard from him, Toph's father knew. Did he know about the miscarriage, Ozai and Azula, Toph being pregnant again. The last he thought Toph may be trying to keep hidden. Over a simple green tunic dress worn over quarter length brown trousers, she was wearing a long dark green jacket that she was pulling tightly around her. The five mouth baby bump could still be seen, but when she sat down he thought she might get away with it.

Once they reached the main door, they took a minute to collect themselves before the knocked. Not even a second later the door was opening in-front of them. Standing behind it was Toph's stepmother Poppy. The nine years since Aang had first seen her didn't seem to have touched her. She looked almost exactly the same. He would not be surprised if she was also wearing the same dress. Seeing them together he saw that she had a similar face shape to Toph long with a slight pointed chin.

"I saw you from the main gate. You never realise how large this house is till you run from one floor to another." She smiled. Placing a hand on Toph's back she led her into her childhood home.

Toph only nodded in reply. Aang felt he had to say something. "It is very….."

"Extravagant. For two people it certainly is."

She spoke in good humour. He had never spoken to her really before. He didn't know if she was trying to make an effort with him or was having a slight dig. From the small smile she still had on her face and her tone, he believed she was trying to be nice. This made him relax a little, but only a little.

"I'm afraid your father is sleeping. He has been given very strong drafts, he will sleep for the rest of the day. You can see him tomorrow."

Toph herself seemed to relax a little at this. "How is he."

Poppy was quite for a while. Trying to find the best words to explain. "Tired, but aren't we all." She tried to joke. "He'll get better, but…."

"He will never be fully recovered."

"The decline has begun. The healers say he still has years left in him."

For a second Aang worried that Toph would ask the question that he too was thinking, but dared not ask. Why were they here then, if he was going to get better. Case the answer was very simple. He wanted to see his daughter, or Poppy thought they should talk after four years of silence, and the five years before that.

"Why don't you go to your room." She was speaking to Aang, but looking at a man that walked over to them, clearly a servant. "You must be tired. Toph and I can have a chat while you rest."

This was clearly not a question, but an order. Even Toph didn't seem to be going to say anything against it. With a nod he turned and followed as the servant led him away to his room. For a brief second he wondered if he was going to be led to Toph's room, which he realised he had never seen before, or if he was going to be shown to a guest room like the last time.

Poppy led Toph into a small room just off of the main hall. Once she closed the door behind them the older women turned to face her pregnant step daughter. She took in a deep breath as she prepared herself to say all that she had planned. All that she had wanted to say for some time now.

"Toph. You are my daughter. I may not have given birth to you, but I have always loved you as my own child. Your father and I may not have loved you the way you wanted us to, but there should never have been any doubt that we loved you."

"There wasn't."

"You can hate me, be angry that we kept this from you. You have to know that is was what we thought was for the best. We wanted you to have a family. Your mother was my cousin. We thought it was what she would have wanted."

"For her to be erased from my life."

"She was always going to be a part of your life, but you needed someone…I was there when you said your first word. Took your first step. Earthbent for the first time. I have watched you grow into a young women. Seen you get married, see you now pregnant. As I said you can hate me." The more she spoke the stronger she sounded. Toph had never heard her sound this forceful before. "You can think I'm nothing to you, but I am your mother….."

"No you're not….."

"Toph. Please don't…"

"You're my mum." She seemed reluctant to say anymore, but felt that she had to. "You were there. That makes you my mum."

The older women didn't know what to say. It was a fact, what Toph had said. A fact that she had long known. It was still as strange as it was, the nicest thing that Toph had ever said to her. Telling her that she was her daughter was as hard as it was to admit maybe the nicest thing she had said to the young women. She had just never known what to say to her. She still didn't.

With nothing to say, she took a step forward and wrapped her arms around the pregnant earthbender. Toph for a second tensed up, before she returned the embrace. To her great surprise she found herself realising that she greatly needed and wanted this hug. In the back of her mind she had always felt the need to have her mother with her through all of this. Ursa was a great substitute, but it wasn't the same thing. Now hugging her mum, she knew that this is what she had wanted. She was not her birthmother, but she was her mum.

Reluctantly Poppy pulled away, but kept her hands on Toph's shoulder. She beamed at her daughter as she removed her right hand to tuck a lose stand of hair behind Toph's ear. "I…we are so proud of you."

She tried to fight it back, but Toph couldn't help herself and let out a small scoff.

"We are. Your father never lost sight of you. We know about your academy. Your friend's marriages and children. That you were the first chose for the next king of Omashu. All of your titles." She lowered her head before she went on. "What happened in Ba Sing Sa. About Ozai and Azula's attempt to escape." She was quite again as she lifted her head a little to look at her daughter's swollen stomach. "The most recent turn of events. We know it all and could not be prouder of you."

"I just wasn't the kind of daughter you planned."

"We would love you however you turned out. We just never understood you."

Toph was successful in biting back her first reaction. She stopped the words from leaving her mouth. This was a nice moment, the nicest moment they had ever had. To say that they never tried to understand her would ruin that. It was starting to dawn on her that maybe she has underestimated her mum. She had been planning the part she was brought up to, the docile wife and mother. Under that she thought maybe they had more in common than she would ever have thought.

"You should go and rest. I'll have some food brought up for you."

Toph nodded and left. Poppy didn't have to tell her, she knew that she and Aang had been put into her old room. As she walked along the hall ways of the large house it felt strange how familiar it all seemed. She was a married pregnant women, and here she felt like she was a small child again.

Once she opened the door to her room she was greeted with Aang standing with his back to her. He stood in the centre of the room looking around him. "What are you doing. You're darting your head around like Momo when he gets hungry or excited." A grin crossed her face as she moved further into the room to stand next to him. "Food is being brought up. As for being existed. You are going to have to wait….."

"I can't believe I'm in Toph Bei Fong's room."

Her laugh echoed throughout the room. "What are you talking about. We have camped out together. We shared a room twice, before we were married. We were handcuffed to each other one of those times. For the last four years we have shared a room and a bed." Her hands now gently rested on her baby bump. "How do you think this happened."

Aang stopped darting his head around, and focused only on her. "That's different. That was you Toph, then you were my wife. Back then you were a scrawny rich girl with a big attitude. I was a scrawny air head. You said it yourself, back then you never thought we would end up here."

"Guess your right."

"So how did it go."

"Mum and I talked. Really talked, sort of."

He didn't really know where to begin with what she had just said. She didn't seem to want to say anymore so he decided it was best to leave it for now. The main thing was that it hadn't wound up ending in them arguing.

"I'm kind of lucky aren't I."

It was now Aang's turn to grin. "Well you are married to the most powerful being in the world."

"With a big ego and airhead to match."

"Would you let the airhead thing go. My head is not that big."

"That is easy for you to say. You don't have to….."

"So why are you lucky."

Toph took in a deep breath. "I have a mum that was there when I was growing up. I have a mother that I'm proud of. I also have Ursa." Her hands again rested on her stomach. "This one is just going to have me. I have three women that combined to be all the motherly parenting I needed. I even had Katara. This kid will have me and that's it."

"Hey, they have me to. Your mum, Ursa and Katara aren't going anywhere. There's Suki too. Plus Zuko and Sokka. We are one big, huge family. You're not in this alone."

"What you're saying is, that if I am a horrible mother or I can't do something its ok because we have back up that can step in to pick up the slack."

"What I'm saying in WE have each other and a family we kind of forced together to help us. Like we would help them." Toph nodded and he kissed her on the forehead. "I thought we weren't going to do this anymore. Have to reassure each other all the time."

"Give me a break. I'm all…" She gestured with her hand to make her point of her unstable mental thinking. "I almost shed a tear when I was talking with my mum."

Again he moved towards her, kissed her on the forehead and pulled her into a hug. "Aw poor baby." He mocked. Which earned him a light blow to his shoulder.

Again thanks for reading. I would love to hear any comments that you have.