Severance

Chapter 14 -Toph

Eventually I made it back home with my new daughter and Lin.
I had decided that I wanted her name to be Suyin, as it was my grandmother's name and it rhymed with Lin. Lin and Suyin, my two wonderful daughters.
I smiled knowing that I now had a wonderful family of three, and when I brought both of them home, I realized that I wanted to raise them right here. I didn't want to move back in with my parents, I wanted to be independent.
So, with Aang's help, we split Lin's room in half with an earth wall, made some new doors, and created a nursery in the new room. Lin was old enough to switch from a crib to a small bed, so we bought one and gave the crib to Su. Once everything was set up, I put Lin and Su to bed, and began to work.
But I quickly realized that this setup wouldn't work.
Su began crying loudly every ten minutes like clockwork, always needing something new. Lin hadn't been like this, as you could put her to sleep and she'd be out for at least an hour and a half. I was going to have to adjust to this, and I didn't mind, but I really needed to work.
There has been air raids all throughout the fire nation, and threats to come to the earth kingdom. Hundreds of men would occupy dozens of air balloons and jump out, wreaking havoc on the cities and towns. The earth kingdom couldn't afford this, and I had to find a way to stop it.
So basically, I had two priorities that were super important but I couldn't get to both.
And even though I hated what I needed to do, I needed to do it. I took the girls, walked to Sokka's house, and knocked.
He answered, and smiled looking at all three of us. "Yes?"
"Can you come take care of Su? I've got a deadline I need to meet" I asked.
He nodded, went inside to grab some things, then went outside, locking the door behind him.
I could tell that Suki wasn't there, but I didn't want to ask where she was in fear of him getting the wrong idea.
So we walked in silence, and when we made it back to my house I gave him a crash course on where everything was.
Lin's food is in the first cabinet, diapers are in the cabinet under it, pacifiers and blankets are in that same cabinet, Su's food was on me, etc.
He just listened and nodded along to everything I had to say, and when I was done, immediately went to work putting them both back to bed. It was like in no time they were both silent and asleep, and Su didn't even wake up.
Obviously she liked him better than me already.
I just frowned, and went to the small recorder device that I used to document any of my findings. I spoke into it softy, giving a rundown of everything happening in the fire nation, but Sokka wouldn't shut up. I had to stop every few minutes.
"Sokka, if you're gonna be here, I need you to be quiet. I'm trying to do work here"
He looked at me and nodded. "Oh yeah, sure thing Toph"
For a few minutes he followed this, then started to groan with boredom. I frowned and set the tape recorder down.
"Sokka, I said be quiet"
"I know you did but I'm bored. They're both asleep." He frowned
I sighed. "Then why don't you make some food or something? I'm hungry"
He frowned and went to the kitchen, and I once again tried to finish my case report. Until he started making the loudest noises possible with the pots and pans. I groaned, grabbed my stuff, put it all away, and walked over.
"Alright, fine. You got me. I'll help you make dinner, we'll talk and pretend like everything is fine between us and nothing ever went wrong, and I'll smile and you'll smile and for a minute everything will feel like it did before. Right?"
He opened his mouth as if to say something, and quickly shut it. I was right and he knew it, there was no way he could argue.
So we cooked, and talked, and caught up.
"Where's Suki nowadays?" I asked, hoping that the answer would be that she was no longer in his life.
"Oh, in the fire nation. Did you know that Zuko almost just got killed? Some guy broke in through the window and went after him, but Suki and the others took him down"
"I've been working on this case for almost a year now, Sokka, of course I know"
"Yeah, well, I'm willing to bet they're coming here next. I think they're starting to realize that their efforts in the fire nation aren't going to do anything, they're gonna target Aang"
I thought about this for a minute. Would they target Aang, or would they target his family? Would they even target him? Would they go after the king instead?
I closed my eyes and held my head, realizing that thinking about this was giving me a headache.
"Okay can we talk about something else now? Honestly, if I'm not working on the case I want nothing to do with it" I sighed.
He nodded, and kept cooking.
"So have you found another boyfriend yet?" He asked, facing his head down at the food. I could tell what answer he wanted.
"No"
"Why not?"
"Why would I want one? I've got money, I've got my daughters, I've got a roof over my head and a great job, I don't need one" I answered, frowning.
He closed his eyes, unhappy with this answer. I shut him down before he could even start up, and I realized I was being unfair to him.
I realized that maybe he deserved a second chance. Maybe I needed to rethink my decision.
I bit my lip and got some bowls down from a cupboard, then set the table. Sokka hadn't said a word.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, walking over to him slowly. Maybe I had been a little too harsh on Sokka, maybe he deserved a second chance after all.
Even if he didn't, I couldn't stop myself; I grabbed onto his shirt, pulled him down to me, and kissed him.
He grabbed onto my hips and pulled me closer to him, kissing back. And we stayed like that for what felt like hours. His hands were in my hair, mine were gripping his shirt, and it felt like every time I got closer it wasn't close enough.
I smiled, and when we pulled away from each other we realized we had forgotten to breathe. I faced my head down trying to catch my breath, and he kissed the top of it.
"Um... we should, uh, you know, eat before it gets cold" I stuttered.
He chuckled and nodded, then put the food on the table. I grabbed some wine and some wine glasses, and we sat down, drinking the night away.