It's a little long, and rambles just a tiny bit, but I wanted to get some ideas out.

.~.

Fathers

Hours later the words still echoed in his head. 'You are my father.'

'What was her name again?' he thought to himself. 'Oh yeah, Kimi. She said she's Shima's daughter. Could it be true? It has to be. How else could she look just like Mom?'

The young woman's voice ran in his head again 'you are my father.'

He sat on the back of Appa's saddle in silence. He rode with his brother-in-law and nephews and thought. Katara, Toph and Zuko were already on the island, waiting. Ursa and Kya were scheduled to be back from their journey late that night. It was a good thing they were all there because he needed to talk to them, all of them, most of all Toph.

When they landed, he sulked up to the house. Aang saw that Sokka needed to talk and sent the boys off to do chores. "Sokka, what's wrong?" he asked, approaching the house.

"Huh?" the tribesman said, shocked out of his thoughts, "Oh, um, I don't think I can explain this twice. I'll tell you when we get inside."

They walked in and were greeted by their old friends and Lin. Sokka looked at the girl and gave a sad smile. This was his child. Maybe not biologically, but he had raised her. What if this Kimi girl was his daughter? She was grown now, he'd missed so much.

"Lin, why don't you go help Tenzin with the bison." he said to get her to leave the house.

When Lin closed the door behind her, Sokka slumped down on the couch. Toph sat beside him and placed a hand gently on his back, "Sokka? What's wrong?"

He looked over at her, "When I left the council meeting there was a girl, waiting for me near my office. Toph, she says she's my daughter."

Everyone froze. Toph moved her hand from his back out of shock, then the questions came.

"How old is this girl?" Toph asked

"She said she's twenty."

"Is it possible?" Katara asked, "Who's her mother?"

"Yeah, it's possible. Her mother's name is Shima."

"The woman from the university?" Aang asked.

"Yes."

"Twenty? She's older than Ursa." Zuko commented.

"I think I saw her." Aang recalled, "Bumi thought he recognized her. I think Shima called her Kimi."

"That's her name…Wait a minute, Bumi said he thought he recognized her?"

"Yeah."

"That's spooky." he whispered

"Why?" Zuko asked.

Sokka turned to his sister, "Because she looks just like Mom. Just like her Katara. I use to think I forgot what Mom looked like, but when I saw her in the crowd...at first I thought I was seeing things, a ghost maybe. She has Mom's face."

Katara fought back the tears. Aang put his hand on his wife's back and spoke again, "So, do you believe her?"

"I- I don't know. Part of me does, but I have to be sure." he turned to Toph, "I told her to bring her mother to my office tomorrow. I need you to come with me to tell me if they're telling the truth or not."

"We'll leave bright and early." she assured him, wrapping her arms around him to try and comfort him. She placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Thank you."

.~.

They waited on the porch. It was around midnight when they heard Yeshe bellow their arrival. They ran down the path to the bison caves to welcome the children home. They had been gone almost two years. In that time Aang had run into them in Ba Sing Se, Bumi had seen them at the South Pole and Zuko had seen them six months earlier on Ember Island. Since then they'd back tracked to take the friends they'd picked up along the way home.

The girls slid down Yeshe's tail together and took off running as soon as their feet hit the ground. "Mom! Dad!" Kya said, running into her parents arms. "Dad!" Ursa cried, jumping into her father's embrace.

'you are my father' Kimi's voice reverberated in Sokka's head again and he stopped in his tracks.

Kyu jumped down from Yeshe's back and shook everyone's hand. Then he went to Ursa and placed his arm around her. Zuko raised an eyebrow. He knew that they'd been dating, but the nerve of that boy to put his arm around his baby girl in front of him.

Ursa smiled sweetly at her father, "I was going to wait until later, but I have to tell you now." Kya smiled and tapped her parents to get then to pay attention, "Daddy, Kyu has asked me to marry him, and I have accepted."

Everyone swarmed the couple, hugging them and offering congratulations, everyone except Zuko. He stood frozen in his spot, not able to speak or think. Once everyone had hugged her, Ursa turned to her father. "Dad, did you hear me? Kyu and I are getting married."

Zuko looked down into his daughter's eyes, "You're getting married?"

She smiled, "Yes Daddy."

"To Kyu?"

She giggled, "Yes Dad."

"You...love him?"

She placed her hand on his, "Daddy. Yes, with my whole heart."

The Fire Lord looked at the young man, "And you love my child?"

Kyu smiled and looked at Ursa, "More than she loves me."

Zuko finally smiled, "Then I am happy for you and I wish you two all the best. You have my blessing."

.~.

Aang walked back to the house with his wife under one arm and his daughter under the other. "So" he said, "did you go off and fall in love too?"

Kya smiled, "I met somebody nice, but no, I'm not in love."

Aang stopped, "And who is this boy?"

"Aang, stop it." Katara said, "So, what do you plan to do next?"

"I'll be right here. I start at the university next month."

.~.

The morning came all too soon for Toph. When her feet hit the floor she felt that everyone was up and about. They all had made plans to go into the city that day. Kyu and Ursa were going to meet his parents at the ports and tell them the news, Kya and Katara were headed to Zei University so Kya could sign up for classes. Aang and Zuko had to preside over a meeting and they were taking Bumi with them to observe. Tenzin had finally decided that he wanted to start school in the upcoming year, so after coming from the university Katara would be taking him to register. Lin went along to keep them company.

They took Appa and Hariti up to the city stables and walked to their destinations. Lin and Tenzin went to city hall with Toph and Sokka to wait until Katara came back.

"Lin, we're supposed to be in Father's office until Uncle Sokka and Toph are done with their meeting." Tenzin said as he trailed behind the girl.

"Oh Tenzin, get over yourself. They're not in there yet. I just want to go to Sokka's office to get some candy an-"

"My father has a whole drawer full of candy." the boy cut her off pointing back to where they'd come from.

Lin stopped and rolled her eyes, "Well, if you would of let me finish you would of known that I want jerky too" she poked him in the chest, "and last time I checked you guys don't eat meat."

Tenzin gave her a little shove, "Just hurry up."

The kids slid into the councilman's office and Lin went to get what she'd came for.

Tenzin stood by the slightly cracked door. As Lin headed back toward her friend with her hands full of candy and jerky she saw an alarmed look come across Tenzin's face.

"What?" she asked him.

"They're coming." he said in a quiet panic, "We're going to get in trouble. Toph told us not to come in here. We have to hide." he looked around, thinking, "behind the drapes."

Lin made a disappointed face at him, "Dummy. No matter where we hide my mom will know. She probably already knows we're in here."

Tenzin grabbed Lin and air scootered them up off the ground. Len gave him another disgusted look, "What are you doing?"

"Maybe she'll think she's mistaken. Hold on. I can keep this up for a while, I just hope this is a short meeting." and with that he took them behind the large decorative curtains behind Sokka's desk.

.~.

There was a deafening silence as the group walked down the hall. Sokka couldn't think. All he could hear in his mind over and over again was Kimi's confession. Toph's mind was racing so much she could barely form a rational thought, but she had to clear her mind, after all, she had a job to do.

When they stepped into the office she stopped short for a second. She smelled her daughter.

Ever since Ozai's funeral, Azula had been sending each of the girls their own special perfumes that she'd made just for them, and Lin wore hers all the time. Toph thought it smelled like spring. Whenever her daughter passed her the smell reminded her of the ground warming, grass, flowers and what she had determined sunshine smelled like.

Toph raised an eyebrow when she stepped in and smelled spring in Sokka's office. She sent out a stronger wave to sense if the kids were there, but she couldn't feel them. She decided that they snuck in and out before they'd made it to the office and she would halve to discipline them later for not following directions.

.~.

Sokka sat behind his desk and Toph leaned against it. His demeanor was business-like, so much so that Shima barely recognized him. She and Kimi sat in the chairs that sat in front of the warrior's desk. Lin and Tenzin floated silently on the ball of air, listening.

"Ladies." they heard Sokka say, "Thank you for coming. We all know why we are here."

"Yes." they heard the older lady say, "but we should not be here. Had my daughter done what I told her to do then we wouldn't be here right now," The woman sounded irritated.

"Mom, I couldn't let it go like that." the younger woman said.

"If this is true, then it should have been brought to my attention long ago." Sokka sounded angry, and he very rarely used that tone. The kids knew this was serious. Tenzin got nervous. "This is my friend, Chief Toph Beifong. She'll be able to tell me if you're telling me the truth or not."

"Friend, ha." the older woman said.

The kids were shocked that Toph didn't respond. They heard Sokka take a deep breath, "So Kimi, you say that I'm your father, what gave you that idea?"

Lin covered her mouth to keep from gasping aloud and Tenzin's breath caught in his throat.

.~.

"My mother, she told me all my life that you were my father." Kimi replied looking into Sokka's eyes. She wondered why he was being like this.

Sokka looked to Toph, she nodded her head to him. He turned to Shima, "So you were pregnant when you left?"

"Yes." she answered simply.

"How far along?"

"A couple of months."

Sokka's face knotted, "Did you know you were pregnant?"

"Yes." she said, looking away, "I knew."

He sighed heavily and looked back at Toph, she nodded her head again. His heart began to race. "Shima, is there any possible way that Kimi may not be my daughter?" His heart slammed heavily against his ribcage. Toph felt it, but she fought the urge to go to him.

Shima didn't answer for a second. She was not happy with the fact that he'd asked that in front of her child. "There was nobody else, you were the only one I was with while I lived here. Kimi is our child."

Before he could look to Toph she said, "She's telling the truth." Then, suddenly she felt Tenzin and Lin's feet touch the floor. They were there, behind the drapes. She felt Lin slide to the floor and put her hands to her face and she felt Tenzin put his arms around her.

.~.

Sokka felt every possible emotion run through him, but the one that won out at the moment was rage. He slammed his hands on the desk and was on his feet seconds after Toph finished her sentence, "Why didn't you tell me!" Everyone in the room flinched at his sudden switch in demeanor. No one said anything. "Shima! That was not a rhetorical question! Why didn't you tell me!?"

"And what was I supposed to say?" the woman yelled back, "That I was pregnant and despite our agreement I had fallen in love with you." at that Sokka shrunk back a little bit, "And then what?"

"Whatever happened, it would have been better than you taking her away."

"Better for who? You? I've given Kimi everything she's ever wanted. She's intelligent, well-adjusted and beautiful, and that's with her just having me. She had all she ever needed."

The rage came back over him, "Well if that's true, then why did she seek me out? You know what, don't say anything because you don't know the answer. You don't know what it's like to have a parent missing. You don't know what it's like to be missing something that everyone else around you has." he looked over at Kimi, who had her head down and was crying. He calmed his voice. "You don't know, but I do." tears filled his eyes.

He came from behind the desk and went to where Kimi was sitting. He knelt beside her and spoke softly. "I'm so sorry you had to know what that's like and I am so extremely glad that you found me."

A moment before she'd been afraid to look at him. He was so angry, but at that moment she lifted her eyes to his. Kimi was surprised at how much they were like the ones she saw in the mirror every day.

He opened his arms to her. She smiled and gladly wrapped her arms around his neck.

Sokka hugged his daughter tight, stood up and spun her around twice. Kim laughed happily as her fondest childhood dream came true.

He stopped his spin facing his love, "Toph, look, I've got a kid." he said excitedly, lowering Kimi back to the floor.

"Yeah, I'd love to look, but you know." she said, waving her hand in front of her face.

"Hey, why don't you guys go find Katara, they should be on their way back by now."

"Yeah, you have to meet my sister, let's go." he grabbed Kimi's hand and started for the door, but Toph and Shima didn't move, "Aren't you guys coming?"

"I'm coming." Toph said "I've got to go check on Gramps and Lin."

"Ok, Shima?"

"I think it'll be better if I go back to the inn." she answered as she stood up.

The newfound father and daughter walked out of the door with Shima behind them. She stopped at the door and looked back at Toph, 'friend my ass' she thought to herself.

.~.

When the door closed Toph went behind the drapes to her daughter and scooped her in her arms, "What are yon two doing in here?" she asked gently, "I told you to stay in Aang's office."

Tenzin answered, "Lin wanted some snacks and we didn't get out of here fast enough, so we hid."

"Mom," Lin sobbed, "It's not really true, is it?"

"Yeah Lin, it is." Toph said, pressing her lips to the top of her little girl's head."

"Is he going to stop taking care of me now?"

"Badgermole, Sokka is not that kind of man."

"What if he is?"

Toph held her daughter at arm's length, "Look at me." Lin did so, "Who helped me raise you from the second you were born?"

"Sokka."

"Who taught you to read?"

"Sokka."

"Who, despite being the manliest man in the world, played tea party whenever you wanted to?"

"Sokka did."

"Yes, he did, and he did those things because he wanted to, not because he had to. I didn't ask him to take care of you, he volunteered. He fell in love with you the second I put you in his arms, I felt his heart flip. Kimi is his daughter, but you are too."

As they stepped from behind the drapes Sokka walked back into the office, "Hey Toph, Kimi went back to the inn. I told her to take the ferry to the island later to meet everyone. I went to get Ten-" just then he looked up and saw Toph's arms wrapped around Lin. "Lin? What's wrong?"

Lin pressed herself deeper into her mother's arms, "They were hiding behind the curtains." Toph said, "They heard everything."

Sokka gasped, "I'm sorry Linny. I don't want you to find out like that." He reached out to her, but she pressed deeper into her mother. He bit his bottom lip, "Lin?"

"She thinks you'll leave her now that you have your own child." Tenzin said bluntly.

His eyes filled with tears again. He stepped forward, knelt down and pulled the girl into his arms. "Lin. I want you to understand that no matter what, I will never leave you."