The keys hit the cement.

"Ugh. Of course," Toph muttered.

She put down the bag of groceries down on the ground as she knelt down to find them. After a second, she located the keys and tried the doorknob again.

"Having trouble?" a young man's voice said from a little ways behind her. "Yeah, these doors are hard to get the hang of. Took me nearly three months to do it the first time. Here. Let me try."

"Oh... uh sure."

Toph opened her hand and let the young man take the keys from her. She listened to him grunt for a moment before the lock clicked.

"There you are," the man said, putting the keys back in her hand. "You new here?"

"No, no. I've been living in the attic for the last fifty years and I finally ran out of soda crackers and Tang," Toph said in a bored voice. The young man chuckled.

"Okay well, I'm glad you did because that way we got the chance to meet. And also, you don't look a day over... eighty? I'm sorry. I'm not sure how old you were when you entered the attic so..." the young man smiled. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Sokka."

"Nice to meet you Sokka," Toph replied, though she didn't move to shake his hand. "I'm Toph."

"Nice to meet you too, Toph," Sokka replied slowly, raising an eyebrow. "Well I'm on my way out to grab a cup of coffee. Would you care to join me?"

"Depends," Toph smirked, as she readjusted the bag in her hands. "What are you willing to spend on a cup of coffee for me? Are we talking McDonald's, Starbucks, or that espresso place down the street that smelled so good?"

Sokka rubbed a hand across the back of his head.

"Uh... well, if I'm buying, then I could do McDonald's or Starbucks, but only if you buy plain black coffee. No frills."

"How about I buy and we go to the espresso place? Let me just put these down," Toph said with a smirk. "Feel free to come in if you'd like."

Sokka smiled and followed her in.

The furniture in the apartment looked plush and new, but there seemed only to be the basics. A couch, coffee table, end tables, an armchair. The living room opened onto a a dining room, followed by the kitchen, where a counter separated the two rooms. Toph crossed to the kitchen, and put a hand down on the counter before setting he bag down. Sokka followed to the dining room table and pulled out a chair. It scraped softly agains the fake wooden floor.

"If you move a chair, make sure you put it back where you found it," Toph said without turning from the cupboard.

"Oh yeah. I will."

Sokka looked around.

"So you just moved in?"

"Yeah. About a week ago or so."

"Gotcha. So you're not quite unpacked yet?"

"Oh no. I'm unpacked. I just don't have much. I'm, oh what do they call it now... a minimalist."

Sokka nodded, but didn't say anything. Behind him, Toph opened a window. A breeze blew through the kitchen and Sokka caught a whiff of himself.

"Oh wow," he said with a small choking cough. "I knew I probably smelled after my workout but I didn't realize it was that bad. I should go take a shower before we go out anywhere."

"Yeah, I've smelled it since you walked up, but I wasn't going to say anything for fear of hurting your pride," Toph said, smirking yet again. "How about you go do that, and I'll meet you for coffee in about, half an hour?"

"Sounds great," Sokka answered. "I will see you there in half an hour."

With barely another glance, Sokka got up and pushed the chair in before crossing back out of the room and out the door. He practically sprinted back to his condo a few doors down. He usually took long showers, but there was something about this girl. Something told him that if he were late, he might never hear the end of it.

After his quick shower, Sokka dressed in a (clean) t-shirt and jeans and made his way to the espresso shop down the street. It was pretty empty now during the middle of the day. To his suprise, Toph was already seated at a table in the cafe.

"Hey. I, uh, didn't expect you to be here already."

"Oh yeah," Toph replied, waving him away. "Turned out I didn't need as much time to put groceries away. You wanna order?"

"Uh, sure," Sokka answered.

Toph smiled and stood from her chair. Sokka made his way up to the cashier, with Toph following behind.

"Welcome to Flameo's. What can I get you?" the cashier asked jovially as Sokka approached the counter.

"Um... I'll have a large black coffee, uh the dark roast, with a little room in the top."

The cashier added the order on the register. Sokka took a small step back to let Toph forward.

"And for you, ma'am?"

"Can I see your small and medium cups please?" Toph said with a smile.

The cashier frowned, but put the two cups on the counter nonethless. Toph picked them up with cupped hands and weighed them for a second.

"I'll have a medium mocha with two shots of espresso and two shots of vanilla, please. And I've got his order too."

"Wonderful. That'll be eight dollars and thirty two cents."

Toph pulled out a handful of folded bills from her pocket. She picked out the a ten dollar bill and handed it over.

"Thank you very much. Give me just one second."

Toph rested her hand on the counter until the cashier had counter out the change. The girl muttered something and Toph lifted her hand to receive it.

"We'll have those out in just one second."

"Thank you," Toph replied. She spun on her heel and led the way back to the table. Sokka followed.

"So, what do you do?" Sokka asked in an almost incredulous voice as he took a seat at the table across from Toph.

"Mostly watch Netflix," Toph smirked.

"No, I mean... what do you do to be able to afford the fancy espresso place?"

"Oh," Toph let out a chuckle. "I'm a malpractice lawyer."

Sokka paled.

"Oh... wow..." Sokka laughed nervously. "I'm suddenly really afraid of you."

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, but my sister is," Sokka muttered. The woman across from him laughed.

"I'm sure she doesn't have anything to worry about. I mostly deal with gross negligence cases. The huge yucky cases where the criminals no one thinks to arrest tend to get off the hook. That kind of thing," Toph grinned. "So what do you do to barely afford Starbucks?"

"Well, I'm a grad student, so most of my time is spent reading about leadership and public affairs. But I'm a trainer at the gym and teach a couple martial arts classes. Hence why I smelled so damn awful earlier. I did a training session with my roommate, who could lap me while running backwards in heels, and then I chased around the Little Tigers class for an hour."

"Fun," Toph said, before her brow furrowed. "Wait... you're a grad student? You're not... younger than me are you?"

"What? Oh no, probably not. I took a couple years off and worked while my sister was in med school. I started my grad program last year part-time so I could continue to work and send money to her while she's in her residency and also back home to my dad and grandma."

"That's... that's really sweet. I mean... that's really good of you. To do that."

"Hey, they made sure I survived until adulthood. The least I can do is help to take care of them now.

Toph smiled slightly just as the woman behind the register called out their names. Sokka rose from his chair and crossed to get them. He returned a moment later and sat her drink in front of her.

"So I've got a question for you."

"Hmmm?"

"Why malpractice? I don't know much about the world of lawyering. Is it particularly lucrative or what? Because honestly, all I can think is that you're an ambulance chaser."

Toph laughed.

"I can understand why you'd think that. You can say I'm... a little more ethical than them. I pursue justice for those that can't do it on their own. Most of my work is pro bono. My family once had to go through a suit like I do, but they only did so because they could afford to. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to do it for those who didn't necessarily have the privilege we had," Toph finished, taking a sip of her drink.

"I totally understand that sense of justice from a personal standpoint. That's why my sister is a doctor, actually," Sokka said, taking a sip of his own. Toph raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. We come from this tiny little village out in the middle of nowhere and there's no doctors. At all. But there's a lot of elderly people and sick people and kids. So my sister went to medical school specifically so she could take her skills back to our village and set up a community health center. She actually got a couple experienced doctors on board and created her whole residency out of it."

"That's amazing. And furthers my point that she'll probably never have a run in with me."

Sokka smiled and sipped at his coffee again.

"One thing though. You said your family had experience with med malpractice. Can I ask what happened? If you don't mind."

"You mean you can't tell?" Toph asked, a smirk starting to spread across her face.

"Uh...Should I be able to?"

Toph gave her most dangerous smirk yet.

"I can't see."

Sokka's eyes widened.

"Wait… what?"

"You really couldn't tell?"

"No, you just…" Sokka's mouth gaped. "I couldn't tell at all. Like… not at all."

"I seriously doubt that."

"Oh really? Well then, Miss Lawyerwoman. Present your evidence." Sokka challenged. He sat back in his chair a little.

Toph sighed, still smirking. She took a long sip from her coffee before setting the cup down and intertwining her fingers in front of her on the table.

"Okay. First, you noticed that I don't have much in my apartment."

"You said you were a minimalist. So is half the Internet."

"Second, I asked you to put the chair back when you were done with it."

"I thought you were persnickety."

"Third, I picked up the cups as opposed to just looking at them."

"I thought you were just taking your time to judge how much coffee you wanted."

"Fourth, I had my money specially folded so I can tell the bills apart. Surely you noticed that?"

Sokka was about to retort, but he paused, thinking. He didn't have an answer for this one, but he had too much skin in the game to give up now.

"I thought you were really into origami."

"Uh-huh. Well five, you paused earlier in the conversation and I expect you probably were trying to shake my hand and finally six, which you would have seen had I not beaten you here…" Toph reached down and shuffled around in her purse for a moment before pulling out a folded white cane and putting it down on the table. "Your honor, I think that's all the evidence I need. The defense rests."

Sokka smirked.

"Okay. I believe you. So what was the malpractice thing then? I assume it's related?"

"Yes. It was basically the perfect storm of problems. The hospital was too cheap to hire more nurses so the nurse in the newborn ward at the hospital was on like the seventeenth hour of a double shift. The doctor who was supposed to oversee her was slacking off somewhere. Nurse forgot to wash her hands after dealing with a patient because she was so tired, I got an infection that led to a really high fever and here we are," Toph said, adding a shrug at the end. "And we don't blame that nurse at all. Because come on… seventeen hours? No wonder she forgot to wash her hands. No, we sued the doctor and the hospital. We're family friends with the nurse now and we see her every so often. Well, I don't, and I have learned better than to make that joke around her."

Sokka carefully listened to her words. She told the story so casually, almost with boredom. Like she'd told it a million times.

"Well this explains why you weren't making much eye contact with me," Sokka stated after a moment's silence. "I thought either you were shy or flirting with me. Neither of which was coming through in conversation so..."

"Oh you'd know if I were flirting with you."

Sokka laughed, but a weird pang went through his chest. It felt like… disappointment. Was he disappointed that she wasn't flirting with him?

To hide any awkwardness and disappointment he may or may not have been feeling, Sokka sipped at his drink.

"Okay I have one more question for you," Sokka stated.

"Just one?"

"Yeah. If you mostly do pro bono work, how can you still afford the fancy espresso place?"

"My family is the biggest employer in the region," Toph said, waving him away. "So you could say… I'm loaded."

"What, you're telling me your family owns The Beifong Company? That biggest employer in the region?" Sokka asked, mockingly.

"Yeah. That's exactly it."

Once again, Sokka's jaw dropped.

"So you're… But, but…"

"I just keep shocking you don't I?" Toph said smiling as she finished her coffee.

"But wait… I thought the Beifong Company was involved in mining and production. Industry and stuff," Sokka said, raising an eyebrow. "You don't work for them, do you?"

"I might end up having to take over the family business someday, but for now I work for a law firm in the city. That's why I moved. The firm relocated and I didn't feel like an hour long bus ride everyday."

"Ah. So you ride the bus?"

"No, I drive a '76 Mustang," Toph said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course I ride the bus."

"Well, I would've thought the daughter and heir to the Beifong family fortune would get a chauffeur or something."

"Nah. I didn't like that kind of attention," TOph said, and to Sokka's surprise, color rose in her cheeks. "I prefer the bus. Though I have driven once."

"Really?"

"Yep. Once. In law school. There was plenty of alcohol involved," Toph said, chuckling at the memory. "Not by me. But by my friends. I was totally sober."

"Good," Sokka chuckled. "Because drunk driving is bad enough. But drunk driving while… uh, visually impaired?"

"Blind."

"Drunk driving while blind is even worse."

"I apparently did really well. The friend navigating me was oddly specific, which is strange because when he's sober he can barely explain how to tie a shoe."

Sokka smiled, resting his chin in his hand. He just looked at Toph for a moment, before he realized what he was doing and promptly stopped, going so far as to scooting away from the table a bit.

"So, uh… I hate to cut this too short, but I should really get back to studying," Sokka said quickly. He was secretly pleased Toph could not see him blush.

"Oh, okay," Toph said, surprised. Her smile faded. "I guess there's a bit of work I could do too."

"So, can I walk you home?"

"Well it would be strange if you didn't considering we'll basically be going to the same place."

Sokka smiled slightly. He picked up their empty cups and carried them to the trash. By the time he had returned, Toph already had her cane out and had made her way to the door.

"Shall we?" Toph said, offering her arm to Sokka.

She held her cane vertically in her right hand and offered her left. He took her, looping his arm through hers so they connected at the elbow. Sokka stared straight ahead, willing his cheeks not to burn. They did, and in staring straight ahead, he missed that hers did too.

They said very little during the ten minute walk from the cafe back to Toph's front door. Toph didn't need his help, and yet she had offered her arm to him. What did that mean?

"The step is right ahead of you," Sokka said as they reached the small porch.

Toph nodded and found it with her cane. She stepped up, releasing Sokka's arm as she did so. He couldn't help but sigh as she let go, and then promptly wished she didn't hear it. (She did.)

"Oh by the way. If you ever need me, I'm two doors down. It's the one with those signs that say 'Zuko for President' and 'Aang for Worst Campaign Manager'. It was just of a stupid thing my roommates were doing."

"Yeah, because I'm going to notice that."

"Oh yeah," Sokka said. He ran a finger across his stubbly chin and then snapped, a victorious smirk on his face. "Okay. You know that uneven sidewalk we passed on the way here? That's our front walk. There was an incident and the concrete got broken."

"You broke concrete?"

"Well, I didn't… and the Non-Disclosure Agreement I signed says I can't say who did it, but it wasn't me."

"Wow," Toph laughed. "An NDA. You really know how to party."

"So I guess I'll see you around then?" Sokka said, rubbing a hand across the back of his head.

"I can't say I'll do the same, but I'm sure we'll run into each other at some point," Toph said, shooting him a finger gun followed by a sad smile. "Have fun studying."

"Have fun with your, uh, court stuff."

Toph smiled a little as she turned to her door and pulled her keys from her purse. Sokka smiled for a moment, before turning and heading down the sidewalk.

"Hey Sokka wait."

Sokka spun on his heel. Toph's door was open, and she leaned against the door frame. To his surprise, she bit her lip.

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever put that chair back where you found it?"

"Um yeah I did, because you told me…" Sokka started, pausing when caught the smirk spreading across her face. "I mean… uh, no I don't think I did."

"So, maybe you should come in and check..."