Disclaimer: I don't own atla or lok

Bumi and Lin looked at each other desperately.

What should we do?

I don't know!

"Hey! I thought I told you to come here and help me you lazy bum!"

Lin noted that Bumi was still atop her bed meaning that her mother thought she was the only one home. She looked at the letter on the bed, at Bumi, back to the letter, and then at the door. The groan she let out caused Bumi to start breathing harder. The eldest Bei Fong walked over to her desk and pulled out a new envelope from a drawer. The envelope came hard at Bumi's chest who still looked panicked.

"Fix the letter. I'll stall. Mom doesn't know you are here, so if you want to make everything easier on both of us, stay on the bed."

The future recruit nodded. Lin was out the door.

She found her mother in the kitchen, biting into an apple with one of her feet up on the table while the other stayed put on the floor. She was still in her police uniform.

"You're home early." Lin walked passed the table and secretly grabbed the mail that looked untouched. She stealthily set it down on the wooden table to the far left. Afterwards, Lin made her way over to the bag of groceries and began putting things away. "And you bought groceries? You don't usually do that."

"And I thought, you were supposed to be in class ten minutes ago." Her mother quirked an eyebrow. "Sokka helped me go grocery shopping. He so kindly reminded me that we had no food in the house which is why you two scavenge at the island. Snoozles is coming for dinner too."

Toph's eldest closed the cabinet doors slowly, having put the last of the food items where they belong. "We know how busy you are, Mom. Plus Aunt Katara always tells us we are welcome to come to the island anytime which is what we do anyways."

"Yeah, well now there is food in the house so maybe you guys can bring Twinkle Toes' kids here for a change." The chief of police took another bite of her apple. "Now, you didn't answer my question. I thought you had the academy today?"

Lin just sighed. "Today is training with the metal spools. You know I can do anything with those things in my sleep. I'd rather not waste an hour of my day learning something I already know how to do."

Toph nodded her head. "Fair enough. Where's your sister?"

"She's back on the island. Tenzin is teaching her some airbending techniques to help her with her dancing." She tried to suppress the sneer in her response. Toph, however, noticed.

"Don't worry about it, Lin. I'm sure Su isn't going to try anything on Tenzin." The master earthbender snickered at hearing her eldest daughter groan. Even though both Lin and Tenzin denied any sort of feelings towards each other, everybody else, including the adults, were more than sure that there was nothing but romantic tension between the two teenagers. "What are you doing here?"

At that moment, both earthbenders felt the ground give off a large vibration. Lin couldn't help her hand coming up to smack her in the forehead, something she had picked up from her Uncle Sokka. Toph got up at once and put her hands on her hips.

"And what, shall I ask, was that?"

I'm gonna kill him. Lin controlled her voice and heart. "Did I mention that I have a friend over?"

Toph concentrated on her daughter's heartbeat trying to assume where this was going. "And why, of all places, is your friend in your room?"

"He and I are studying."

"He?"

"Yes."

There was no doubt that Toph was a very laid back parent. She let the girls do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. However, now that both Lin and Suyin were growing up and getting to that age where they would start developing relationships, the chief of police was in a panic. No one but Sokka, Aang, and Katara knew about Toph's fear of her girls making the wrong decision and ending up broken hearted. The three assured her as best they could, telling the earthbender that Lin and Su knew better. In reality, the war heroes were really trying to assure Toph that her girls wouldn't go through the same pain that she had gone through herself.

Toph's heart was beating fast, something she rarely let happen to her unless in battle. Her eldest daughter looked at her concerned. "Are you okay, Mom?"

"Please, for spirits sake, tell me you were being safe."

Lin practically fell to the ground herself. "M-Mom? What are you talking about? I-"

Toph instantly put her hands up to her ears to shield whatever was going to come out of her daughter's mouth. "Nope! I don't want to know! Please spare my ears! I just want to know that you are making safe choices, Lin. La, la, la, la, la…"

"Mom." Her mother continued chanting. "Mom." Lin walked over to her mother and grabbed her hands. She pushed them away and spoke calmly. However, the blush still shaded her cheeks at their current topic of discussion."Mom. I haven't done…that. Ever."

Toph deflated with relief. "Really?"

"Really." Lin crossed her arms and looked annoyed once more. "You are worrying for nothing. It's just Bumi."

The chief of police responded with a scowl. "Bumi? Well why didn't you say so? Hairball! Get out here!"

There was the sound of the door creaking open. As they expected, the steps started out light, but of course, the future recruit couldn't make things simple. There was a loud crash, Toph and Lin assuming Bumi had managed to fall in the hallway. He came crawling in until he was kneeling right next to Lin.

"Get up."

The avatar's oldest son jumped up at once. Lin watched him and her eyes spotted the envelope he was hiding behind his back. She couldn't control the cringe that shot through her spine.

Her mother turned her head towards her. "What's got you anxious all of a sudden?"

Lin smiled nervously. "Nothing! Just this whole situation is a bit…odd."

"You bet it is." Toph crossed her arms, looking her usual irritated self. "So what's the deal? Why were you two in Lin's room?"

Bumi looked at Lin. Lin looked back at Bumi. He slowly brought the envelope out between them, for once remembering her Aunt's blindness. They spoke silently in a matter of seconds through the expressions on their faces.

I got it done!

That handwriting looks like crap!

(In reality Lin was actually very impressed considering that she couldn't tell the difference between Bumi's penmanship and the one used on the letter. But of course, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.)

I did my best! Just take it from me!

Lin thought quickly. She brought her hand up to her mouth and faked sneezed loud enough for the noise of paper crumpling to be masked by her bodily function. Bumi even jumped slightly while Lin grabbed the envelope and stuffed it into her shirt. After the exchange, Lin wiped at her nose.

"Oh man. Excuse me!"

"Bless you, Lin!" Bumi said too politely.

Lin nervously laughed. "Thank you, Bumi! It must be the pollen in the air!"

Bumi joined in on Lin's attempt to mask their swap. "Oh yeah! There sure is a lot out there since it's spring."

"Will you two shut up already?! You guys are acting way too weird." Toph yelled loudly and Bumi and Lin instantly stopped their banter. "What were you two doing in the house?"

"Uh…"

"Well…"

Toph was growing frustrated with the two. "Your hearts are racing. There is no point to even try covering this up."

"We were making out!"

Lin's mind stopped when Bumi's words entered her ears. She could not think or speak. There was no doubt in her mind that she was honestly going to kill him. Lin knew that Aang had made her promise that she wouldn't kill any one of his children back in her younger days. But as her friend just demonstrated, she thought the situation had called for exceptions. The eldest Bei Fong nodded to herself, agreeing that if Lin had not killed Bumi, then her mother would. And if Toph couldn't finish out the job (very, very unlikely), then Aang himself would kill his son. If that didn't work, then there was always Katara.

Lin's eyes followed Bumi's stare and found her mother clenching her fists, yet her face remained unchanged. Oh yes, Bumi was in great need of a burial spot at the moment. "I'm sorry. Say that again?"

If a man could shrink any further, it was the avatar's eldest son. "We were…making…out…"

"Again?"

She couldn't believe that she had to go along with this. Lin cleared her throat. Her hands were already covering her face to hide the death glare she would soon be giving Bumi. "We were making out."

"Okay. Because that's what I thought he said."

Toph rubbed her face with her hands. She dismissed the fast heart beats of the children in front of her as embarrassment. The earthbender knew the avatar's oldest son well and although Bumi was a flirt, deep down she knew that he was a good kid. He had the proper morals and loyalty thanks to his mother and father. But again, the panic that usually accompanied Toph's heart whenever thinking about the girls' futures was back with a vengeance. She needed help. "Okay. Yeah. I can't do this. I had just gotten over the fact that Lin was most likely going to get together with Twinkle Toes Jr. I'm not even afraid to admit it. I need help."

"Which means?" Bumi asked afraid.

"We are going to the island. I need to talk to Katara and Aang."

In good married fashion, Aang and Katara came to the door together. They smiled at the sight of their old friend.

"Hi there, Toph!"

Katara spoke next. "We weren't expecting you until later."

"Our kids were in my house making out."

Behind her mother, Lin was standing with her arms crossed. She carefully moved her head to the side to get a look at her Aunt and Uncle. The eldest Bei Fong fought the urge to smack herself again. The avatar, usually so calm and collected, was shivering? No shaking with something. Lin decided to call it something between shock and some form of anger. On his left, Katara's right eye was twitching. Lin had only seen this happen only a few times in her life. The only thing that anyone needed to know when put before Katara in this state was that it was not going to be pretty.

Aang quickly shook off his surprise. "Wait a minute, Tenzin is outside with Suyin. How could he have beaten you here?"

Toph pinched the bridge of her nose. "Because it wasn't Tenzin. It was your other one."

The chief of police moved to the right revealing Lin standing looking annoyed. Behind her, Bumi's eyes peaked over the girl's right shoulder. There was fear in his eyes. "Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad."

Katara's eye twitched several more times. Aang was back to being shocked.

"Get. Inside."

Bumi quickly pushed Lin into the doorway and the two ran out towards the other side of the house. They ran straight into the training area outside before their parents can get at them. Toph walked past the married couple to make her way to the kitchen. Aang and Katara found her leaning back against the counter, hands grabbing the edges. The look of concern on her face was something Aang and Katara were seeing much too often now a days.

Even the way she talked seemed off. "I know what you guys are going to say and I get it. Bumi is a good kid. But he's five years older than Lin. When I came home, I couldn't even find him. That means he was on her bed and...I don't know. I accidentally assumed some things. Lin cleared it up though. She said nothing happened. But still, making out on the bed? I can tell you right now that from my own experience, a hundred percent of the time that leads to other things and-"

"Toph, was Lin lying when she told you nothing happened?" Aang placed a hand on her shoulder.

The chief of police took a deep breath as her rambling had deprived her of oxygen. "No."

Katara chuckled slightly. "Well, then you should believe her."

The avatar felt his friend relax under his hand. "Alright."

"Now then," The waterbender walked into the kitchen and began pouring tea. Aang and Toph both knew that Katara was just storing up a storm that would come out when they finally talked to the children. "I do agree that this incident is a bit...odd, but we'll figure it out. Later though seeing that you almost had an anxiety attack, Toph."

Surprisingly, the master earthbender didn't argue. "Ha. Lin said the same thing."

"I was sure that it was Lin and Tenzin. Not Lin and Bumi." Aang put a hand to his chin.

"Well, let's not talk about it right now. We'll deal with the two of them later." Katara handed them all tea. In reality, the waterbender had to ready herself for that conversation as well.

Toph grabbed her tea cup. "Yeah, let's put that off the to the side for now. In the meantime, Katara, I need to talk to you. In private."

The two women took their cups and began walking to one of the back rooms. Aang didn't let them leave without input.

"You aren't pregnant again are you, Sifu?"

"Shut up, Twinkle Toes!"

The avatar's low laughter could be heard down the hallway.

Once the two women made it into an open room, Toph slid the door closed. She turned around and placed her cup of tea on the table to her left. Her hands soon began digging into her shirt.

"Uh, Toph? What are you up to?"

"Oh, don't worry. There is nothing wrong with my body. I need you to read something. I just need to find it." The chief of police continued her search for a couple more seconds until she finally pulled a slightly bent envelope into the open air. "Lin handed this to me before we left the house. Said it came in the mail."

The waterbender couldn't help but snicker. "Who was stupid enough to send you a letter? Sokka..."

"I don't think so. Lin didn't recognize the handwriting."

"Then who?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone who hasn't...seen me in awhile."

"Define awhile."

"Sixteen years."

"Oh." Katara was silent for several seconds before she finally caught on. "OH! You think this is from Satoru!"

Toph nodded her head with exaggeration. "Yeah. So I need you to read it. I'm lucky Lin didn't open it herself."

The waterbender began opening the top of the envelope, her own curiosity getting to her as well. She glanced up and Toph and found her friend surprisingly calm. However, Katara knew the chief of police too well and was certain that her heart was practically beating out of her chest.

Katara began reading the neat penmanship on the stationary aloud so that Toph could hear. As she read on, both woman's eyes widened and by the time Katara looked up from the letter she found Toph's mouth pressed tightly in a line.

She just sighed. "Well I guess that clears up any doubt in your assumptions."

"Sure does."

Toph let herself slowly slump down to the floor.

This is probably going to turn into the longest story arc. So stay tuned! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Reviews are like Lin saying "I love you." Enough said (: