Shocked was an understatement for Tenzin. He couldn't believe it. He had four more kids. Two who were airbenders. Lin was pregnant when they broke up. Years of trying to have kids and she got knocked up when it was inconvenient. That's ironic and just plain mean. Tenzin began to feel dizzy, but Meelo felt the opposite.
"Yay! I have other brothers and sisters." Meelo ran towards where Haru was while Tenzin sat in the nearest seat.
"I need to sit down." Tenzin mumbled. Jinora and Ikki started to ask Lin questions and Rohan joined his brother in getting to know his new brothers. Pema stayed silent and sat beside her husband.
"Why did you never tell us? When did they start bending? Did you have four kids all at the same time? Was it painful?" Ikki asked Lin in her normal hyper and fast voice. Lin sat down in a seat farthest away from Tenzin, which was beside Sora and Jade.
"Give me a second to explain." Lin said to Ikki. Jinora and Ikki sat down on the seats next to Lin as they waited for her to explain. "It was a complicated process when your father broke up with me. At first I totally destroyed Air Temple Island. Sorry about that by the way." Lin said turning her head to Tenzin. "Then I tried to arrest your mom. Sorry about that too." Lin said turning her head to Pema.
"It's okay. I was just a little scared at first." Pema said. "I'm going to give you a minute." Pema said going up to exit the room.
"Are you sure?" Lin asked.
"Yeah. I figure it will be uncomfortable to talk about this topic with me in the room." Pema left the room and Lin turned her head back to the two girl eagerly wanting to know the rest of the story.
"One day your dad called saying he wanted to come pick up his stuff. I packed up all his stuff and I put them in a box."
"Why was his stuff at your house?" Meelo asked innocently. Lin thought of a lie to tell Meelo, but luckily Haru came up with one faster.
"They had a lot of sleepovers together. Sometimes every night a week." Haru said while wiggling his eyebrows.
"How do you know that?" Tenzin asked him.
"I assumed that since mom has guys come over for sleepovers once or twice a week and the men never come back again, that with the man who you were in a real relationship with you stayed over a lot more." Haru said with a smirk on his face.
"Haru," Lin growled in a deep voice.
"Mom," Haru mocked her. Lin rolled her eyes and continued her story.
"When your dad came back he picked up his stuff and," Lin stopped and thought of a replacement word for the younger audience. "gave me a special hug. A month later I found out I was pregnant. A few months later I found out it was with quadruplets. And to answer your earlier question, Ikki, it did hurt giving birth to them at the same time. A lot." She said glaring at Jade and Haru. Jade hid her face with her hand and Haru laughed. For a split second Lin thought she saw Tenzin with a small smile on his face.
"Was it a nice 'special hug'?" Jinora asked putting air quotes around special hug. Lin knew Jinora knew the meaning behind special hug.
"More of an angry one." Tenzin said rubbing the back of his neck.
"You seemed to enjoy it. All three of them." Lin said with a smirk while crossing her legs. Tenzin's face went red. Jinora, Jade, and Ikki's face had a disgusted look and Haru laughed so hard he fell out of his seat, while Meelo and Rohan looked confused. A nurse then came in and looked at all the people in the room.
"Excuse me, only four people can visit them at a time." The nurse said. Meelo looked at the nurse and opened his mouth.
"She's really pretty. Can I give her a special hug?" Meelo asked. All the people in the room- except the nurse and Rohan- shouted, "no!" Meelo shrugged and went back to talking to his older brother. The nurse exited the room not wanting to bother with the complicated family. After Tenzin processed everything he has head he stood up and straightened his robes. He went and stood in front of Lin.
"Lin can I please talk to you outside?" He asked. Lin shrugged and told Jade she was in charge. Lin and Tenzin went to an empty alley outside of the hospital. Lin crossed her arms and tried to act like everything was normal. Nothing has changed, Tenzin just knows now. Tenzin began pacing back and force in the alley while Lin stood watching his with a little amusement.
"Are you okay?" Lin finally asked him. Tenzin stopped in his tracks and looked at his first love in her eyes. Her eyes were always so beautiful. They complemented her hair and face perfectly. He remembered looking in those eyes right before his kissed her on her soft li-. What was he thinking? He was married. To another woman. He cleared his throat and relaxed his shoulders. He knew that deep down he will never really ever get fully over Lin. She was his first love. They were together for two decades, but with all the men Lin as slept with she must have moved well on past him. Tenzin then remembered that Lin asked a question and put his attention back to that.
"Am I okay?" Tenzin repeated. "Let's see. I just found out you were pregnant after that one night stand we had. Lin! How could you not tell me!" For Lin hearing that the night they shared she got pregnant wasn't just a one night stand for her. It was as if it was a final gift Tenzin gave her. A gift that gave her the four most important people in her life. Tenzin also regretted saying that the most the words came out of his mouth. He will never tell anyone this, but that night with Lin meant more than anything to him. It felt as if there was a chance she would come around and want children, or maybe she could have children. Turns out she did, but he didn't know about it. It was the last time Tenzin ever held Lin in his arms. He hasn't even hugged her since then, because he knew it would lead towards him wanting to do more than hug her. He would want to kiss her and run his fingers through her silky black hair. When Tenzin and Lin first broke up it was hard seeing each other at meetings and during press conferences. Not because they were angry with each other, but because it was a routine that after work they would go out to walk in the park or go to a restaurant.
"I didn't really think it was any of your business." Lin replied. "We broke up, we were done. Like you said it was just a one night stand. Right?" Lin asked with a little bit of hope left for it to be something more for him.
"Of course it was." Tenzin lied. When you've been friends with a Bei Fong since birth you find out how to become a good liar. "But that doesn't mean I didn't want to know about my own children." He responded.
"They are not your children, they are mine!" Lin snapped. "I raised them. I comforted them when they were sad. I was there for them for every birthday, every holiday, and every parent teacher conference. They're my children! Not yours!" Lin screamed.
"I would have been there if I knew! I could have separated my time between eight kids!" Tenzin yelled back. Lin gritted her teeth and was resisting the urge to earthbend him to Ba Sing Se. Before Lin could yell back at her ex Jade opened the door to the alley and bent a wall to seperate her parents from each other.
"Enough. The entire hospital can hear you." Jade said in a quiet voice, but it was still intimating. Jade turned her head towards her mom and spoke in a calmer voice. "Sora and Kuzon are awake. Your yelling woke them up." She went back inside with the two screamers trailing behind her. When Lin went into the hospital room she was greeted by a smiling Sora and a grumpy Kuzon.
"Hi mom." Sora said waving her hand. Lin raced to Sora and surrounded her in a hug planting hundreds of kisses on her head. "Mom. Stop." Sora said while laughing. Lin cradled her daughters face and stared straight in her eyes.
"Don't ever go missing on me again. Do you understand?" Lin said. Sora nodded. She looked past her mother's shoulder and saw a man who she has seen before. He never knew who she really was, but she remembered all the years of collecting articles from the newpaper about him and his family. She even went to her sister's tattoo ceremony. Sora has been waiting for this moment for her entire life. She smoothed out her hair and cleared her throat.
"Hi. You're Tenzin right?" Sora asked. She knew the answer, but she didn't want to come off as a fan girl. Tenzin was cut off guard. None of the quadruplets talked to him, except when they were being rude.
"Yeah. What's your name?" Tenzin asked for he forgot.
"Sora," the happy girl responded. Tenzin was shocked by her answer. He looked over to Lin who was biting her bottom lip.
"Her name is Sora?" He repeated in a form of a question.
"Everyone let's let these three get to know each other." Lin said changing the subject and heading for the doors.
"We need to talk about this later." Tenzin said to Lin as she walked away.
"No we don't," Lin said leaving the room leaving Tenzin with a small smile.
"Wait," Kuzon said. He slowly got out of bed and wrapped his arm over Haru's shoulder. "I'm not ready to talk to him yet." Kuzon explained. Haru knew what he meant and helped his brother out the door. Tenzin was hurt by his son's statement, but decided to leave it. He will of course need to get used to Tenzin being apart of his life, because he will. Tenzin has missed seventeen years of his first born children's life, he doesn't plan to miss any more. He turned his head towards Sora. He was surprised by her similarities to Jinora. Now he knows how Jinora takes after more. Tenzin uncomfortably sat in a chair beside Sora's bed. There was an awkward silence that filled the room. Tenzin broke it by asking his first question.
"How are you feeling?" He asked. Sora looked surprised by his question.
"Umm, weak." Sora said honestly. "It feels weird. Mom always told me to look strong, and be strong. Emotionally and physically."
"Sounds like your mother." Tenzin said with a smile. "So, what do you like to do?" He asked her. Sora shrugged and thought about it for a moment.
"I like sports. I'm on a lot of teams at school." She said.
"Really?" Tenzin said surprised and interested. "Which teams are you on?" He asked.
"Basketball, soccer, baseball, football, and volleyball." Sora responded. (A.N. Let's pretend they have sports like these in the bending world) Tenzin had a shocked expression on his face.
"Wow. That's a lot of sports." He said. He crossed his legs uncomfortably. "Tell me more about yourself." Tenzin asked. Sora thought more about it and began to tell him about herself.
"Well, I like to do things that require a lot of energy. I don't like relaxing. I volunteer at the daycare downtown and at a soup kitchen on weekends, and I work at a pet store." Sora said proudly. Tenzin insistently felt proud of his daughter.
"That's great. Are you planning on becoming someone who works with people when your older?" Tenzin asked.
"Kind of. I'm going to enroll in the fire station academy." Sora explained.
"Really?" Tenzin said surprised. "I would have thought with Lin as your mother you would have wanted to be a police officer. No offense."
"None taken." Sora giggled. She looked down to the ground then back into Tenzin's eyes. "Can I ask you something?" She asked him.
"Of course." Tenzin replied.
"Can you tell me a story about my mom. She only ever tells us stories about you and the rest of our family." Tenzin felt heat go to his cheeks at the thought of Lin talking about him to their children.
"Sure. Have you ever heard your mother sing?" He asked her. Sora nodded.
"Yeah. She used to sing to us when we were little. Especially when we were scared for because of her job."
"Well, I remember the first time I've heard your mother sing." Tenzin started.
Many years ago when Lin was sixteen years old she took Tenzin to a high school party. Back then Lin was a total party animal. She lost her virginity when she was fifteen. It would be weird if she didn't at least start making out with someone at a party. Tenzin, being homeschooled at the island never went to a high school party before. The smell of beer and sweat filled the house. Tenzin despised the smell and so did Lin, but she was used to it by now. Tenzin saw some of Lin's friends wave to her from the corner of the party. Lin waved back at them and dragged Tenzin with her.
"Hi guys," Lin greeted her friends.
"Hey Bei Fong. Who's the guy? I thought you didn't do relationships." Lin's friend asked her.
"I don't," Lin said crossing her arms. "Kira, Li'la, this is one of my oldest friends, Lee." Lin said. Tenzin was dressed in normal legging and a hoodie with the hood up, covering his arrow. "Lee, these are my friends Kira and Li'la." Lin explained to him.
"If he's one of your oldest friends then why haven't we ever seen him?" Li'la asked.
"He lives in the earth kingdom. He's a friend of the Bei Fong family and I usually go and see him. This is his first time in Republic City." Lin said to her friends. Tenzin was amazed and scared at the same time on how easily it was for Lin to lie to her friends, but he wanted to go to a normal party. He already knew that he wasn't going to drink or end up with some girl at the end of the night, but he just wanted to see what it was like without hearing stories about them from Lin. It was already a little while into the party and Lin had already gulped down two beers. Tenzin watched Lin carefully, making sure she didn't do anything too crazy. He started a quiet conversation with a nice boy who was in Lin's math class. He was a little nerdy, but was an alright guy. They were in the middle of their conversation when he heard one of Lin's friend tell her something.
"Lin you need to go up and sing at the karaoke." Kira said to her.
"Yeah. You have such a nice voice." Li'la said. Lin took another sip of her drink and answered her friends.
"Not happening guys. I don't want to humiliate myself." Lin tried to reason with her friends but in the end they won. She got on the karaoke and started to sing. Tenzin never heard Lin sing before. She was amazing at it. She was crazy good. It was a miracle that she didn't have an agent yet. He walked away from his conversation with Lin's classmate and watched with amazement as Lin sang in her beautiful.
"Amazing right?" Kira said to Tenzin. It took a moment to answer her since he was hypnotized with Lin.
"Yeah. I had no idea she could sing like this." He said.
"Are you aware that you had your mouth open?" Kira asked. Tenzin shook his head.
"I did not." Tenzin said. Kira chuckled and crossed her arms.
"Yes you did. It's alright everyone did the first time they heard her sing." Kira explained. Tenzin turned his attention to Kira and bit his bottom lip with fear of the question he was about to ask her.
"Umm, you said that Lin didn't do relationships. I've heard around that she is kind of a player. Is that true?" He asked her nervously.
"She isn't kind of a player. She is a player. She's slept with half the guys at school. See that guy there." She said pointing to a guy watching Lin singing intensely. He had a muscular built and chiselled features. He had brown hair with eyes so dark they were practically black. "That's Chan. The most popular guy at school. He's the star of the football team. Rumor has it that he plans to hook up with Lin tonight." Tenzin felt as if he was punched in the gut. He didn't know why he felt that why, but he did. "If you want I can set you up with someone. What's your type of girl?" She asked.
"No thank you. I have a girlfriend." Tenzin said. He lied about the girlfriend , but he really didn't want to be set up by one of Lin's friends. Tenzin turned his gaze back to Lin. She looked like an angel singing up on that stage. Her black hair was framing her face and her green eyes went all over the room. When they landed on Tenzin's eyes they stared at his for a while then went to look at something else. When she was done the song she came off walking over to her friends.
"Good job Bei Fong." Kira said.
"That was amazing." Li'la complemented. Lin thanked both her friends then stared at Tenzin for what he had to say.
"Lin. Wow. You were-"
"Amazing." A guy said interrupting Tenzin midsentence. That wasn't exactly the word Tenzin would use, but it did fit.
"Thanks Chan." Lin said with a bit of pink on her cheeks.
"You were really great up there, but yet again you're amazing at everything so it shouldn't be so surprising for me." Lin blushed a dark shade and was at lost for words.
"I can't help that I'm amazing. I was born that way I guess." Lin said in a joke.
"Actually, you were born hitting my face." Tenzin said with a smirk. Lin gave him a death glare."What? It's true."
"He's not wrong." Lin said with a smile. Chan eyed Tenzin and extended his hand to shake his.
"I'm Chan," he said politely.
"Lee," Tenzin said with the same politeness. Being friends with Lin for so long really helped his lying skills.
"You've known Bei Fong since she was born?" Chan asked to clarify.
"Yeah. Our parents were business partners. I was there the day of her birth. I don't remember , but my dad told me that when Lin was first born she hit me in the face." Chan let out a hearty laugh.
"Wow, so you're always been different. Uh?" Chan said to Lin.
"Is there something wrong with different?" She asked him crossing her arms.
"Not at all." Chan said with a smirk. His eyes wandered her body and then went back to her eyes. "Hey, can you help me out back. I need to get something and it's in a metal box. Maybe you can use your metal bending to get the thing." Chan said.
"Sure." Lin said, as if she was bored. She followed Chan to the back leaving Tenzin there with a heavy heart. At the end of the party Lin and Tenzin walked back to Lin's house to drop Lin off and get Tenzin's normal airbending clothes. They were silent as they were walking but Tenzin broke the silence.
"So. What happened with you and Chan?" He asked her the question he's been wondering the whole night.
"What do you think?" Lin asked him knowing he knew the answer. Tenzin looked down slightly in disappointment. "What's with the look?" Lin asked him. She knew her best friend since the day they were both born. She knew all his looks.
"It's nothing. Just that-" Tenzin said struggling a way to put this in nice terms. "I don't like on how you're a player. You play with guys as if they were dolls. Besides I've been talking with your friends for the majority of the night, and I think you could do better." Tenzin said honestly. Lin stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms and glared at her best friend.
"Are you telling me what to do Airhead?" She asked. Tenzin knew he was going to be bent somewhere. He braced himself for impact and said, "no. I'm just giving you a suggestion." Lin shook her head and laughed.
"Spirits. You are such a coward. I won't hurt you for voicing your opinion. It's what you think. Besides I like that you're looking out for me." Lin said with a smile as she continued walking. Tenzin sped walked to catch up with Lin and began walking normally beside her. They stayed silent for the rest of the walk up to Lin's house.
"Thanks for bringing me to the party tonight Lin. For once I felt normal." Tenzin said to her while he was changing into his orange and yellow clothes in her room. Lin laid down on her bed and stared up at her ceiling not looking at him changing.
"You are normal Tenzin. You just have a special type of bending. A type of bending that only one other person in the world has." Tenzin laughed at his crazy friend's statement.
"Seriously." Tenzin said turning around to face her. He had his pants on put his shirt was still off. "Tonight meant a lot to me." He said.
"No problem." Lin replied. In this light Lin looked as if she was the moon spirit. Her skin glowed from the moonlight and shadows were cast around her. Tenzin felt a lump in his throat and laid down next to Lin on her bed. They talked about how Lin was doing in school and Tenzin with his airbending training. A topic then came up that Lin did not expect.
"I do want to know something though." Tenzin said.
"What you wanna know." Lin said in a silly voice.
"Why are you a player?" He asked her. He turned his head to look at her and he saw her chewing on her bottom lip with her eyes wandering around the ceiling. Lin cleared her throat and then went to her side to face him.
"Fine. If you really want to know. I really liked someone a while ago, but I realized that it will never happen for the two of us. We're total opposites, we have different goals in life, and besides. He's him and I'm just me. So being a player keeps me from getting my heart broken. No one can ever come close enough to hurt it." Lin explained. Tenzin had a storm of emotions. On one hand, he felt incredibly jealous of this guy who Lin liked. Lin was the most amazing girl in the world in Tenzin eyes. She was brave, selfless, smart, funny, fun, and down right beautiful. Any guy would be lucky to have a girl like her. On the other hand Tenzin felt the need to comfort his best friend. She needed to know how perfect she was. He moved closer to Lin pulled her in a hug. He rubbed her arm and whispered comforting words in her ear.
"Lin you could do so much better than him. If he doesn't see how amazing you are then he doesn't deserve you." Lin looked up into his eyes and stared at them for a long time.
"Do you mean it?" She asked. "You're not just making this up right? To only make me feel good about myself." Lin asked in a quiet voice. Tenzin brought her hand to his bare chest and put it over his heart. Lin felt his strong steady heartbeat and closed her eyes. She has always liked his heartbeat. She liked hearing it. Feeling it. It brought her mind to peace.
"Lin. You are one of the most amazing girls I know. You are smart, you're funny, you can always bring a smile to my face, even when you don't mean to. You're strong, selfless, fun, and the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on." Lin snorted and looked up at his light blue eyes that she loved so much.
"Now I know you're lying." Lin stated. Tenzin said in a serious voice, "am I lying." Lin gulped and shook her head. "No." Tenzin cradled Lin's face with his hands and stared at her gorgeous green eyes.
"Lin I think you're perfect, and you're singing tonight really proved it. You're singing is perfect and so are you." Tenzin said completely sure.
"Tenzin. I am not perfect. I get so serious. I am difficult to be around when I don't have alcohol in my body. I am rude, judgemental, rough-"
"And yet I love you." Tenzin said. "As my best friend." He added. Lin gulped and prepared herself for the biggest decision she would make in her life.
"Actually I was hoping for something more than best friends." Lin said. With that she crashed her lips into his and kissed him for three seconds and then went back. She stared at her friend's shocked expression and wished she could take it back. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." She said.
"Stop talking," Tenzin told her. When she turned her head back to Tenzin's and waited to be left friendless, he instead kissed her. He poured all his love and passion for her in that kiss and she did the same. They continued to kiss for a while and Lin ended up on top of Tenzin straddling his hips while she worked her way down his neck. Tenzin couldn't remember the last time he felt so good. He brought her face back to his and continued to kiss her. Lin pulled away from their heated kiss and at Tenzin straight in his eyes.
"I need to tell you something." She said to him. She was hesitant on telling him this. It might be too soon, but she knew she had to tell him. "I love you." She said. Tenzin looked shocked at first but then broke in to a smile.
"I love you too." He said. Lin smiled so wide that she swore her cheeks were going to give out. She kissed him again and continued to kiss her best friend. Tenzin began to trail kisses and bites down her neck. Lin had been kissed by many guys in many places, but no one held a candle to Tenzin. Each time his lips met hers she felt sparks. Like the ones you would hear about in books and plays. When he kissed her neck it felt as if someone was setting fire on her, but weirdly in a good way. She felt Tenzin's hands under her shirt holding her waist as he pulled her closer to him. Lin wanted to be closer to him too. She wrapped her arms around Tenzin's neck and wrapped her legs around him. She discarded her shirt and brought his lips back to hers. They slowly laid down with Tenzin on his back when Su came barging in to her room.
"No way! You guys are kissing. Mom wins the bet. Mom! Mom!" Su shouted to their mother. Lin pulled herself away from Tenzin and grabbed her shirt from the floor. She had it half way on when an angry Toph and a sleepy Sokka came into Lin's room.
"Lin, are you and Twinkle Toes Junior getting down and dirty with me, Sokka, and your sister in the house." Toph asked her daughter annoyed.
"No! No! We we're just making out. With our tops off." Lin said whispering the last part. The phone rang from the living room and Sokka was in a hurry to get it.
"How long has this been going on between you two?" Toph asked. She wasn't going to lecture her daughter about bring a boy home and kissing in her room. She's done the same thing before and Lin's on birth control, so she won't get pregnant. In Toph's opinion Lin is in charge of her own body. People shouldn't be telling her what to do with it.
"We just started tonight." Lin said honestly. "Don't freak out mom. We haven't even done it yet." Lin said. In that moment Sokka came walking in with a disgusted look on his face.
"A boy named Chan called. He said that you were the best he's ever had." Sokka said slowly. Lin's eyes widened and glanced at Tenzin. His entire face was red with embarrassment and she knew what Sokka said made him jealous.
"I never said that I haven't done it." Lin said quietly.
"What?" Sokka screeched. "How long? When? Why?" He groaned
"I've been doing it since I was fifteen." She said crossing her arms and laying into Tenzin's bare chest. He liked her laying on him, but he didn't like the fact that her family was watching her do so.
"What?" Sokka screeched again. "My baby girl been doing the dirty!" Sokka cried. With that he fell on the ground broken. Su kneeled down to Sokka's level and poked him in the face.
"Dad? You doing alright?" She asked. Sokka groaned. Two years ago Toph and Sokka married and ever since then Lin and Su have been calling him dad. They actually called him dad sometimes with how present he was in their lives, but when Toph and Sokka got married that's all they've called him since then.
"Can we please date?" Lin asked her parents. "I know dad is Tenzin's uncle, but we aren't related. We have no blood relationship. Please. I love him." Lin said.
"And I love her too." Tenzin said after being silent the whole time. Lin smiled and pecked him on the lips. "What do you say?" Tenzin asked.
"I say I think you broke our dad." Suyin said while still poking his face. Lin rolled her eyes and got off the bed to check on her dad. She also poked him in the face. Toph and Tenzin started joining into. Sokka didn't move.
"Su's right. You broke Sokka." Toph said. "I'll go call sugar queen." Toph said heading towards the phone.
"Wait!" Lin and Tenzin said in unison.
"Yes you can date." Lin and Tenzin smiled at each other and kissed. It was a great day for Tenzin.
When Tenzin finished the story Sora had the brightest smiled on her face. "Wow. That's so amazing. But next time you tell me a story about mom can you leave out all the physical parts?" Sora asked. Tenzin laughed and looked down at his shoes.
"Yeah. Now that I've listened to what I said aloud it probably wasn't the greatest idea to mention to you about her romantic life." Tenzin said. Sora smiled and looked out the window. She looked back at Tenzin and asked him another question. "Do you still love mom?" She asked him. Tenzin let out a deep sigh and looked into her eyes.
"I will always love Lin as a friend, but my romantic feelings have left and I now hold them for my wife." Tenzin explained.
"Right?" Sora said with realization. "Of course. I'm sorry. I got so caught up in the story that I forgot you were married." Sora said.
"It's alright." Tenzin said calming her down. Tenzin turned his head out towards the window and saw the sun setting. Knowing full well that what he told Sora was a lie.