A/N: Finished this up earlier than expected! Now's a good time to mention that for the purposes of this story, I needed a few people to be older than they're generally considered to be in cannon. So, for the purposes of this story at the end of the war, I consider ages to be as follows: Aang (14), Toph (14), Katara (17), Sokka (19), Zuko (19). I could probably have just pushed my fictional timeline for this fictional show, buuuuut *shrug*.

Hope you enjoy! Leave a review if the Spirit moves ya.

Earth - Two years, two months, and two days

"When I said we should get together soon, this is not what I meant," Katara said. She paused with her hands on her hips in the doorway to her quarters, taking in the jagged stone chair punching up through her sitting room floor. She turned and instantly a pair of servants materialized. There were few places in the North Pole that she could go and not be flanked by at least one person eternally ready to fetch or carry or polish or primp. These two, a pair of young women, stared in horrified fascination at the spiderweb of cracks spreading out from the base. Toph snickered, dangling one arm over the back of her chair.

"Just for future reference," Katara said, "Lady Beifong isn't someone you should leave alone with flooring you care about." She swept into the room, tossing her bag to one side. The servants started and followed. One went to the fireplace, setting a kettle over the flames and pulling out tea. She started for the white jasmine, but then cast a glance at Katara's scowl and went for the orange blossom instead. The other went to Katara, beginning the arduous process of peeling off the outer layers of her clothing. Toph cackled again and Katara blushed. "I'll take care of it myself," she said as gently as she could manage. Still, the girl leapt away looking chastised. "Please just inform my husband of my arrival. And someone bring Koan. And some food. Please."

The girls nodded, mumbled a simultaneous "at once," and left. Katara huffed and dug her goes into the heels of her boots, kicking them off. She dropped her parka, her undercoat, and her sweater where she stood and stumbled further into the room, flopping face-first onto the mound of cushions and furs near the fire.

The majority of Umako's household thought she was a freak. Which was fair. As enamored as Katara was with the North Pole's soaring walls and icy cityscapes, of the infinite fountain of waterbending expertise, the people there clung to a never-ending litany of stilted formalities and rigid traditions. Every meal required complex equations to determine her exact social status in relation to whoever was passing the bread. Every trip to the market involved strict restrictions on which fish salesmen she could look at, chat with, or buy from. She could easily spend several lifetimes offending everyone around her with errant twitches of her eyebrows before she figured out how it all worked. So in the meantime she alternated between doing her best and doing whatever the hell she wanted.

It had been more than a year and a half that they'd been married, and her servants still ran to Umako every time she took her tea wrong.

Toph was still laughing, picking pieces of stone from her chair and flicking them at Katara's head. "Oh, my lord husband," she drawled in a high falsetto. "How I've missed your blessed presence by my side." She switched do a deep baritone. "As have I, my lady. As have I." She descended into a chorus of moaning and smacking. Katara groaned.

"I don't see any bags," she said without lifting her face from the furs. "Can I assume that means you aren't staying long?" Toph snorted, running her fingers lazily through her hair.

"Temper, temper, princess," she said. "I almost think you aren't happy to see me." Katara snorted this time. "You gonna clean your clothes off of the floor or wait for your maid to do it?"

Katara rolled her onto her back, shooting the tiled ceiling a dirty look. "They get grumpy when I don't leave them enough to do." Toph arched an eyebrow.

"They're allowed to be grumpy with you?" She stood, and wandered over to the wall next to the window. Katara almost expected her to pause at the view of the North Pole sprawled out at their feet, but Toph breezed past it, trailing her hands over a pair of ceremonial spears instead. "You're nicer to your help than my parents are to theirs."

Katara sat up and began to yank her hair loose from the intricate braided bun she'd endured for the ship. "High praise," she said flatly. She watched Toph trace the edges of the room, dragging her fingertips over the antique masks and framed paintings on her walls. "Seriously, Toph, what are you doing here?" If it were anyone else, she would have chosen her words more carefully. Toph just sighed. "I mean, I am happy to see you and all, but you left so suddenly from the Palace I figured there must be an emergency in Gaoling. What happened to the beach house? Taking a few days? Spending some time catching up?" The kettle began to whistle and she dragged herself off of the furs, pouring tea into the cups the servants had left for them. She took a deep breath and concentrated on the steam wafting from their mugs, the soft, twisting pattern it made as it rose. "Aang left too right after you did." She allowed herself a moment to be pleased with the way her voice breezed past his name and then she turned her thoughts resolutely away.

"Yeah, I already know that you and Aang had a fight. You can stop with the zen master mind tricks. It makes your heart sound funny."

Katara scowled. "I'm just saying, it's like I blinked and it was just me and Zuko," she said. At this, Toph laughed aloud and crossed the room to take her cup.

"Bet you loved that," she muttered into her tea as she threw herself back into the chair. Katara whirled, opening her mouth to retort, but just as she did, the door opened and a flurry of activity overtook the room. The girls were back, this time carrying trays of Earth Kingdom-style pastries. They offered them to Toph then Katara, setting the extras alongside their tea. Behind them came Umako, tall and dark-toned, carrying a squirming, bright-eyed baby. The baby squealed when he saw Katara and Katara grinned, plucking him out of Umako's arms. He was somehow more beautiful than he had been four weeks ago, with wider more alert eyes and hair that flopped over his forehead instead of wisping at the top of his head. When he was older, he would have is father's face, Umako's long nose and high forehead and sharp cheeks. But where Umako's eyes were blue like the sky, Koan had eyes like his mother, like the sea. He took a fistful of her hair and yanked and Katara winced, laughing.

Umako smiled at her, his hand coming up to run his fingers through her hair, shaking it loose from its partially undone braid. "Welcome home," he said and Katara stood still to accept the kiss he laid on her lips. His gaze swept the room, sticking briefly on Toph and the shattered floor. "Lady Beifong," he said, accepting the cup of tea one of the girls placed in his hands. "What a pleasure to see you again."

Toph stretched languidly and squirmed until her knees were draped across one arm of the chair and her shoulders supported by the other. "Please, Umako, the pleasure is all mine. It's simply been ages," she said through a mouthful of honeyed buns. The servants froze in the midst of refreshing the tea and exchanged scandalized glances. Umako chuckled.

"Not since the wedding I believe. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for the naming of the Fire Lord's son, but my business could not spare me. What did they call him?"

Katara hoisted Koan high, laughing at his squeal-y giggles. One of the servants cleared her throat, looking alarmed. Katara ignored her, lowering the baby slowly to smooch his face and lifting him quickly again. "They named him Koza," she said as Koan clapped her cheeks between his hands. Umako gave a noncommittal hum while Toph made retching noises.

"The whole thing was gross. Super corny, shitty food, and boring company." Katara wrinkled her nose.

"Hey!"

Toph kicked her feet idly. "The truth hurts. The drinks were good at least." At this Umako laughed aloud and turned to Katara, settling his hands on her hips. Koan reached for him and he nibbled playfully at his fingers.

"My wife has been gone for four weeks now," he sighed. "I thought I would be getting her back today."

"I'll have her back to you before you know it, your lordship," Toph said. Katara rolled her eyes and captured one of Koan's waving fists, bouncing him gently.

"Tell Chief Arnook I said hi," she told Umako brightly. He laughed again and threaded his fingers into her hair, drawing her into a soft kiss.

"I'll have dinner sent to you," he said and kissed the top of Koan's head. "Enjoy your visit Lady Beifong." He nodded at the girls hovering around the edges of the room as he left and they swept into his wake, closing the door firmly behind them. Koan babbled at his father's departure and the stuffed the stone on Katara's necklace into his mouth.

"So," Toph said, swallowing the last of her pastry. "Is he like good? You know, in bed?" Katara choked on her tea.

"Toph!" she said through coughing fits.

"What?" Toph stood and stomped her foot. The chair shot back into the floor, leaving a patch of cracked, but smooth, stone. "You're a married woman, Katara. You're allowed to admit to having sex. Hell, you can admit to liking it." She ambled closer and pounded Katara on the back. "Who's better? Him or Zu—"

Katara's entire body flushed cold and she had a hand slapped over Toph's mouth before she could completely process what had happened.

"Don't," she hissed, eyes glued to the door. "Not here. Not even as a joke. I know that you— that we shouldn't— but Toph you can't say that. Not here." Toph's eyes were wide, but she nodded and Katara peeled her hand away one finger at a time. The North Pole was a labyrinth of social expectations and blunders, but in this case there was no ambiguity. No confusion. Toph was frowning, drumming her fingers against her thigh. Suddenly, she took hold of Katara's wrist, pulling her closer.

"Just… tell me one thing," she whispered. Intensity was easy to read on Toph's face once one knew where to look. Katara nodded, stunned by the hardness in her voice. "That night, at the Palace, I heard what you said to Aang, that you and Zuko…" Her frown deepened and she blushed and her grip on Katara's wrist tightened. "You could go away, Katara. You could go anywhere. Why don't you just… go?"

The question hit her in the face. She opened her mouth to answer, but the words were too big, too obvious to fit past her lips. She was Umako's wife and Koan was Umako's son. There was nowhere to go where that would not be true. She drew in breath to try to explain that any one of the million links chaining her to his side and Zuko to Mai's. But before she said a word, Toph released a sharp breath and closed her eyes. She let go of her wrist and took a careful step back.

"I get it," she said. She took a deep breath in and blew it out slowly. "Spirits, I get it." She turned on her heel and paced away, made it to the door, turned and paced back. Koan squawked and Katara realized how tightly her arms were twined around his little body. She loosened her grip, rubbing his back in long, gentle strokes.

"Toph… what's going on? What are you doing here?" she said slowly. Toph lapped the room twice more before she stopped in front of Katara, staring resolutely through the center of her chest.

"I need you to check me out. Examine me."

Katara blinked, but she went immediately to the walrus ivory crib tucked at one end of the room and settled Koan inside. He pulled himself up by the bars, straining on his tip toes to see over the railing. Katara laid Toph onto the furs and bent two handfuls of water onto her hands. She started at her head, pressing glowing fingers from the top of her scalp, sliding down her cheeks, down her neck, across her shoulders.

"Have you been feeling ill?" she murmured as she slid her hands over Toph's arms and inspected each of her fingers. No one could accuse Katara of enjoying the spare bit of time she spent training with the healers, but she was at least diligent about it.

"No," Toph answered and her voice was flat. "Not yet."

Katara frowned as she skimmed across her chest, feeling the quick work of her heart and lungs. Across the liver, the stomach, intestines, no problems nothing wrong. Katara wanted to complain, to tell Toph that she was scaring her, that she needed to tell her what was going on, but as her hands slipped lower, saying anything felt more and more wrong.

She had her hands pressed against the flat space of stomach underneath Toph's belly button when she felt it. It was almost nothing, barely more than a fizzle, a not quite heartbeat. Katara snatched her hands away as if she'd been burned. Toph made a sound Katara had never imagined she could make, a strangled sort of whimper, and covered her face.

"Four weeks?" she asked in a voice quiet and brittle as sun-bleached bone.

"Toph." Katara didn't know where to put her hands. She found herself clutching them to her mouth. "Toph, what happened?"

Toph didn't move, didn't speak. Just lay there breathing. And after some infinite amount of breaths, she peeled her hands off of her face, and lay them low on her belly.

"I need you," Toph said in that same, bone-bare voice, "to take care of it." Katara didn't speak. Koan babbled from the corner.

She'd cried the night that he was born. She'd touched his silky cheeks, traced the perfect 'oh' of his lips, felt the grip of his impossibly small hands clamped around the tip of her finger and she'd cried. And with each tear that fell, she felt something else fall away too. Something inside that had been wild and selfish and brilliant melted away the night that Koan was born.

So, Katara lay one hand over Toph's cheek and the other over her womb. She didn't speak, but Toph could hear her heart. The younger girl lay back on the furs and soundlessly began to cry.