Toph is back, and as you saw from Chapter 2, I think she ended up with The Dark One. You know, you can't have a long story without some kind of drama, so here it is. Enjoy.

Thanks for reading.

As always, characters by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, Story by Me

Vulnerable

When Tenzin was five months old Toph and her Husband Moo-Chee-Goo-Chee-La-Poo-Chee the Third came to stay with Aang, Katara and the children until her baby came. She insisted on Katara being her midwife because she didn't trust anyone else to deliver her baby.

"Hey Twinkletoes!", she yelled as she and Moo-Chee stepped onto the pier. She gave her old friend a customary punch in the arm.

"Nice to see you too Toph.", Aang winced. He thought that by now his arm would be immune to the pain, but it seemed that the little blind earth bender just got stronger as the years went by. "Dark One," he said reaching out for Moo-Chee's hand to shake, "how's it going?"

Moo-Chee shook Aang's hand, "As well as can be expected. I've got a pregnant Toph to deal with you know. you think she was tough before, wait until she's been here a few days." then, without releasing the Avatar's hand, he pulled him close and whispered, "She's crazy Aang, crazier than usual."

"I heard that!" Toph said, pointing in his direction. "Is Sweetness at the house?"

"Yes she is.", Aang answered with a chuckle.

"How do I get off of this thing?" she asked , flexing her bare feet on the wooden pier.

Aang gently turned Toph around and said, "Walk strait, you'll be on the ground soon."

Toph waddled her way to the house and burst into the door. "Sugar Queen! I'm Here!"

"Auntie Toph!", Bumi yelled as he ran around the corner and hugged her leg, "You're here. I missed you Auntie Toph."

"Hey Fuzzy!", she said as she rubbed the top of the little one's head.

Then Katara and Kya came into the room. They jugged Toph and Katara said, "Wow Toph, You're HUGE."

"Very funny Sweetness." she started, "So, how long has the baby been sleeping."

"A little while.", Katara answered.

It always fascinated the kids how Toph could tell where everything and everyone was even though she was blind. Their dad told them that she could feel the vibrations in the ground using earth bending and that's how she could 'see'. They also knew that she taught him to do it too, but he wasn't as good at it as she was.

"Coolness, so when he wakes up I can hold him for a long time."

"Yep." Katara said as the two women sat on the couch together, "So, how's it going? Are you ready for he baby?", It was silent and Toph got that old, familiar thoughtful look on her face. "Hey Kya, why don't you take Bumi out front. You to can wait and see if your dad and Mr. Moo-Chee need some help." When the kids closed the door behind then Katara turned back to her friend, "What's wrong Toph?"

"My parents sent a message, They're coming to Republic City in two weeks so the can be here when the baby is born."

Katara was confused, she knew that Toph and her parents had a rough relationship, but she didn't understand how them coming to witness the birth of their grandchild was a bad thing. "You don't want them to see the baby?" she asked.

"It's not that," Toph said with melancholy in her voice, "They want to take the baby back to Gaoling with them. All the things I've done since I left home and they still see me as a helpless little blind girl.", she wiped away a tear and turned her head to her friend as if she were looking at her, "They can't take my baby Katara. Tell me you and Aang won't let them take her away."

Katara slid close to her friend and put both arms around her, "Oh Toph, we would never let that happen. They can't do that to you. What did Moo-Chee say about it?"

"That's another problem. He wants to let them take her.", Toph barely got the sentence out of her mouth before she broke down completely.

Right then Aang walked in the door laughing at Moo-Chee being climbed on by the children. As soon as he turned around and saw the scene in front ot him, his heart stopped. In all the years that he'd know Toph he head never seen her cry. It took him a second to come back to his right mind, but it felt like a half an hour.

"Toph! What's wrong?!"

Toph had been so wrapped up in her conversation with Katara that she hadn't sensed him coming. For the first time in years some one had snuck up on her and she was startled. She got up and ran into his arm, "You can't let them take her Aang."

"Toph?", she called me Aang he thought, "Toph, who's taking who? What's going on?"

"Her parents want to take the baby," Katara said filling her husband in right as Moo-Chee walked in the door, "And he wants to let them do it." she shot a nasty look and an accusatory finger at him,

"What ?!" Aang said, trying to contain his confusion and anger. He looked back at Moo-Chee, "This can't be true."

It is.", he admitted. Stepping into the house "Toph won't be able to take care of a baby."

"Are you serious?!" Katara yelled. She caught herself and looked out the window to see if the kids were alright. A group of young Air Acolytes had made their way into the yard and were playing with the children. She went back to what she was saying. "She helped take down a fleet of airships when she was twelve years old! She taught you metal bending! She's the Chief of Police! Since when is there ANYTHING that she can't do?"

Despite Katara's fierceness, The Dark One did not back down. "She can't do this. A baby deserves a mother that can see if there's something wrong, and Toph can't do that."

"Then that's when you step in and help." Aang snapped. Toph was still in his arms, crying, "This is your wife and your child. How can you betray them like this?"

Betray her?!" Moo-Chee barked, forgetting that any one of the three he was standing before could take him down in a single movement. "She betrayed me! She's the one who got pregnant. She knows I told her I didn't want kids."

For the second time since he walked in the door time slowed down for Aang. Toph pressed her head deeper into he chest, grabbed his robes tight and sobbed even harder. Katara's face knotted and both fist balled at her sides, then one started to raise with her index finger extending and her mouth opening to say something else. The Avatar silently raised his hand for his wife to calm down as if he were at a city counsel session. Katara backed down, but still glared at Moo-Chee. Aang stroked his hand down the back of his friend's head and spoke as if he were talking to an injured Kya or Bumi. "Awe Toph, everything is going to be alright. Katara and I will take care of everything. Don't cry so much, its not good for you, or the baby. You have to think about the baby. Katara and I will fix it. It's going to be all right."

As Aang spoke, Toph calmed down to the point where she was just barely crying. She backed up and sat back down on the couch, wiping the tears from her eyes. She placed her feet flat on the stone floor and stretched out her hands. Before anyone could blink she bent two tiles, one pinning her husband's hands behind his back while the other wrapped around his ankles. Moo-Chee quickly fell to the floor. Toph pointed in his direction. "How dare you yell at my friends like that. You thought that because I was crying you could get away with that? And stop talking about me like I'm helpless. I just took you down."

Aang and Katara were slightly relieved that Toph was starting to act like herself. Aang didn't make a move to release the prone man from his place on the floor and Katara smirked at him smugly as she moved beside Toph and put her arm around her friend. She had been fighting the urge to freeze him to the wall or even punching him in the mouth to shut him up. Toph turned to her, "The baby is waking up." she said to Katara quietly when she felt Tenzin stirring in his cradle.

Katara glared at Moo-Chee and taunted, "And that's who you say can't take care of a baby" and she started towards the nursery right as her baby started to cry.

"How long has this been going on?" Aang asked, looking at Toph.

"The letter came about three weeks ago.", she admitted

"I've seen you four times since then, why didn't you say anything?"

Because, up until two weeks ago I thought he", she pointed towards her husband on the floor, " was happy about the baby and then he said that it would be a good thing if my parents took her. He said he didn't want her and he was just going along with me because I did and he was afraid to bring it up."

Aang looked over at Moo-Chee, "Why did you let it go all that time, letting her think you wanted the baby? You voicing your opinion wouldn't of changed the fact that she was pregnant, but at least you could have had this situation talked out before the letter came. The whole thing could have been settled by now." Moo-Chee said nothing. "Toph, do you want him to be here?"

She turned her head, "No" she said quietly. "He can come back when he's ready to not be a jerk."

Aang released the man and put his tiles back in place. "You heard her." he said as Moo-Chee stood up, "You can come back when you're ready to talk with an open mind."

A few minutes later Aang and Moo-Chee were on their way to the city on Appa. He took his children with him to give Katara and Toph time to talk.

After she's fed and changed Tenzin, Katara went looking for Toph. It took her a while, but she finally found her near one of Aang unfinished projects. "Sweetness, what is this?", Toph asked as she pushed on one of the spinning panels.

"Aang says they're called 'airbending gates'. He says it's a training tool. He's been collecting salvageable parts from the other Air Temples for years, but there aren't enough undamaged pieces for him to finish." Katara paused and looked over at Toph. "Didn't you want to hold Tenzin?"

"Yeah I did." Toph answered as she sat on the ground and reached for the baby. When Katara handed him to her, he cooed and pulled at her bangs. "Watch it Buddy" she said and laughed.

"Toph, are we not going to talk about this?", Katara asked as she sat across form the earth bender.

Almost as if on cue the wind picked up and blew through Toph's hair. Toph usually kept her hair in a bun and long bangs over her eyes like she did as a child, but the wind in her hair felt so refreshing, and, being pregnant, she did all she could to make herself more comfortable. She tried to ignore the question, but the emotions got to her. "Damn these pregnancy hormones." she said as a tear dropped from her eye.

Katara changed the subject.", Did I hear you refer to the baby as her?", she quipped.

"Yeah, " she smiled, "another tough Beifong woman…at least that's what I think."

"Beifong? You mean you're not going to give her Moo-Chee's family name?"

"And have another 'The Dark One' on our hands, I don't think so."