Tokka! I just rewatched ATLA and fell in love with this ship all over again. To clarify, this is set post-ATLA canon, meaning that Kataang got married and Toph had our lovely Lin, BUT Suyin isn't in the picture yet. Suki and Sokka broke up at some point but idk how because a lot can happen in 25 years, so she won't be making any appearances. Yes, there will be lemons, but let's get some exposition rolling before the smut ;)

25 years. Had it really been that long? Toph sat at her desk mulling over the invitation that had been delivered to her office. You'd think that, as famous as she was for being blind, people would stop sending her paper invitations, but she supposed she could always bully her officers into reading them for her, which is exactly what she did. Aang and the rest of the United Republic Council had apparently decided to hold a huge celebration honoring the anniversary of the end of the war. To her, it was more like a reminder of how old she was getting. As much as being blind could suck, she was grateful she didn't have to worry about things like wrinkles or gray hairs. But still, this was kind of a huge deal. 25 years of peace after 100 years of war, and the world had changed so much. Reparations between the nations had been made and now there was a world capital, something Toph never could have imagined existing when she was a child. People of all origins lived there, benders and non-benders alike. Things weren't exactly perfect, though, which is why the police force was such a huge part of the infrastructure of the city. Once Toph's metalbending students, her officers joined her in moving to Republic City to form an elite task force, and over the past decade they had helped round up criminals and break up fights throughout the city. At this rate, things were looking up, and she imagined that in another hundred years the world would get along peachy keen, almost as if the war never happened. So yeah, maybe a celebration was in place.

Toph wasn't surprised that she was excluded from planning the celebration; she couldn't possibly be much help, what with how busy she was both at work and at home. That didn't mean she wasn't a little disappointed in this being the first she'd heard of it. She was friends with the Avatar, for fuck's sake, you think he would have mentioned it to her before mailing out the formal invitations. For all the time Lin spent over at their place, having way too much fun with the youngest airbender in the world, he could have brought it up at least once. No matter, though. She was planning on picking Lin up after work, so she'd have the opportunity to rip him a new one. After dismissing the officer who helped her, she made one final round through the headquarters before heading out early for the day. It's not like she had paperwork to do.

Still in her police chief uniform, Toph made her way to the ferry to air temple island. Not only did she feel more secure covered in sheets of custom-fitted metal, but the uniform got her out of the ticket fare. It almost made the boat ride bearable. She never enjoyed floating out away from the ground; it made her feel more vulnerable than usual. Her whole world perception got reduced to a small hunk of metal floating in the middle of undetectable space, and some parts of the ferry were made with wood, making her world even smaller. Why on earth did she agree to make this wretched island, knowing she'd have to take a boat to get there? When Aang proposed Toph construct an island in the middle of the bay, she couldn't say no. It was too great of a challenge. Bending an entire island up from the depths of the water? And having people live on it? She'd been forever known as the founder of that island, alongside already being known as the world's first metalbender and best earthbender. A long list of titles was just the thing she wanted, and adding on being responsible for the home of the future generation of airbenders just seemed too perfect. That being said, boats still fucking sucked.

When the ferry docked, Toph practically ran to the shore. She sighed at the feel of the coarse sand between her toes. It was fuzzy and unclear, but it was still earth, and it called to her senses. She picked up her feet and flicked some of the larger rocks out from between her toes before she began the long ascent to the temple. Toph understood that Aang wanted this temple to reflect the structures of the others, but did it have to be up so high? Even in her prime physique, she still managed to be out of breath by the time she reached the top. It's not like it was in the clouds, so why not just settle for ocean level, where people didn't have to exercise to stop by for a visit?

Toph finally made it to the front door, trying to hide her gentle panting, and knocked. The face that answered was none other than Katara's, who was smiling softly.

"Toph! You're early."

Toph shrugged. "Wasn't much going on at the headquarters. Now, where's my daughter?"

Katara turned and led Toph inside, where they wove through hallways to the back door onlooking the bamboo forest surrounding the temple. Down in the airbending training arena were four tiny people lit a bright orange by the setting sun. Kya was chasing Tenzin and Lin frantically, trying her best to stop the two children from falling off of the ball of wind holding them a foot above the ground. Bumi was standing in the corner of the courtyard, leisurely watching the scene in front of him with a laugh. His brown hair had grown far too long and he was in desperate need of a haircut. Toph tapped her foot impatiently and turned to Katara.

"You're gonna have to help me out here, Katara. Lately, people seem to be forgetting that I'm blind," she said sarcastically as she gestured to her face, "I can only see two kids out there, and both of them are far too big to be my little Lin."

Katara, almost identically to Kya, rushed across the courtyard and scooped up the two floating kids, causing the spherical, swirling air to dissipate into nothingness. "Tenzin! What did I tell you about air scootering? You could hurt yourself, or Lin! Do you want that?"

"No, mama," the embarrassed 6-year-old mumbled as he avoided eye contact with his angry mother, "me and Lin were just having fun."

"Well, you can have fun while on the solid ground." Katara plopped the two toddlers onto the ground. Kya finally caught up with them, gasping for breath as she bent over with her hands on her knees.

"I'm sorry, mom," Kya panted, "he's - ah - getting too fast for me. I can't keep up."

"It's alright, Kya. I know you tried. He's got too much of his father's energy in him," Katara said as she rolled her eyes at her memories. She lowered herself to Tenzin's level and looked him sternly in the eyes. "Now, Tenzin, I want you to promise me: no more airbending without your father around."

"I promise," Tenzin said with whimper, staring at the ground by his feet.

"Now apologize to Lin for putting her in danger."

Hesitantly, Tenzin turned to Lin and plunged into a deep bow that almost toppled him over head first, his big blue eyes glossy and sad. "I'm really, really sorry, Lin."

Lin, with her thick, black hair rustled from the wind, skipped over to Tenzin and grabbed one of his hands. "It's okay, Tenzin. I didn't get hurt. See? All good."

Feeling the sudden hand-holding done by her innocent little girl, Toph strode forward and cleared her throat, finally bringing her presence to her daughter's attention. Lin flicked her head toward the noise and her bright green eyes widened with excitement. She released Tenzin's hand, warranting a slight pout from the boy, before starting to sprint. "Mommy!" She exclaimed loudly with her little arms extending outward. Toph kicked the ground with her heel to bump up the stone beneath Lin's foot, sending the toddler flying into the air with a giggle and landing in her mom's arms. Lin snuggled her face into Toph's chest, paying no mind to the metal that covered it. "I missed you!"

"And I missed you too, my little badgermole," Toph said dotingly. Had you asked Toph 10 years ago if she would be snuggling a child and calling her cute nicknames, she would have said there was no way in hell. Yet here she was, doing just that. When Toph fell pregnant less than a year after meeting Lin's father, Kanto, she thought her life was over. The police force was just picking up and having a baby would set her so far behind in her career. Plus, with the type of parents she had, she didn't exactly know how to be a parent. She had decided a long time ago that she didn't want to be a mom, intent on remaining an independent, badass woman that was a force to be reckoned with. But then this 'accident' happened. Before Kanto could find out, Toph ended things with them, driving him as far away emotionally as she could so that he wouldn't want to be anywhere near her. She didn't want him complicating things more than he already had.

After a couple months of secrecy, it became obvious that she was bending her uniform a bit looser than usual, and Katara confronted Toph with her suspicions. As much as Toph hated to admit it, she owed so much to Katara. She had just had Tenzin, her third child, when she found out Toph was pregnant, so she had plenty of experience to pass down to Toph. After all, her and Aang's kids seemed alright, so she must be a half-decent mom, certainly better that Toph thought she was going to be. She completely expected to fuck up this future child, but Katara didn't let that happen. As a master waterbender, healer, and mother, Katara proved to Toph that she could remain a powerhouse and still be a successful mom, so she took all of Katara's advice to heart whenever her ego allowed.

It helped that the Beifong estate gifted her a live-in nanny upon hearing of their future grandchild. It was a bit of a backhanded present, subtly letting Toph know that her parents had little faith in her ability to raise a child on her own. As the years progressed, however, that bitchy gift proved more useful than not. With another person at home to watch Lin, Toph didn't have to put her career on hold. Plus, despite being able to take care of herself while blind, watching a child posed another challenge. Lin was a happy baby, that was true, but also extremely curious and deviant. She was constantly getting into things, and even though Toph specifically instructed the architect to design their home with completely stone flooring, that didn't prevent Lin from climbing onto the wooden furniture and countertops. Were it not for the nanny, Toph doubted she would have been able to keep this small, squirming creature under control and safe from harm's way.

Whenever the nanny was overwhelmed with keeping Lin occupied or simply going to be out of town, she would bring Lin to Aang and Katara's estate. Lin had formed an incredibly strong bond with Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin. It was almost as though they were her older siblings, and Toph was happy that Lin was surrounded by so much love when she was busy with her chief duties. She knew Lin would do well with an actual sibling of her own, but putting herself through another pregnancy? Not a chance. The first one was too hard, and although she couldn't see herself in the mirror she could feel the stripes of tender scar tissue along the base of her stomach, no matter how taut her abs became. It was frustrating, to say the least, knowing that her body had been pushed to its breaking point just by bearing the result of unprotected fun.

"Where's Shia?" Lin asked, looking at her mother with doe eyes.

"She's visiting her family in Ba Sing Se, remember? It's just you and me this weekend," Toph answered as she tapped the tip of Lin's nose with her finger, "You won't get tired of me, will you?"

"Never!" Lin screamed with a giggle and Toph had to tighten her grip on the wiggling toddler.

"Woah there," Toph murmured, slightly annoyed, "be careful, you could fall and hit your head."

"Don't worry," Lin said smiling, "Tenzin would catch me with his airbending! Won't you, Tenzin?"

Tenzin jolted his tiny head toward the Beifongs, caught off guard at Lin's call. He was sitting cross legged in the center of the courtyard, and it seemed like he was meditating to calm himself after his mother's reprimanding. He really was Twinkletoe's kid, wasn't he?

"You can't always depend on someone else to save you, Lin," Toph began to lecture, "you have to be strong and look out for yourself."

"Yeah, little Lin," Bumi said as he strolled over and ruffled Lin's already-messy hair, "not everyone has bending to protect them, you gotta learn to make it on your own."

Lin whipped her head around to look at Toph, worry clouding her face, "But Mommy, you can earthbend! Won't I be able to bend, too? Or am I just gonna be like Bumi?"

The toddler was obviously distressed at the thought of not inheriting her mom's abilities to the point where she didn't notice how rude she was being to Bumi. There had always been tension between the Avatar's kids regarding bending. When their firstborn never developed any bending, Toph could tell they were disappointed, even though they reassured Bumi otherwise. Then came Kya, who immediately picked up an affection for water, and Katara could tell she would be a bender when she grew older. The first time she managed to douse her older brother in a stream of ocean water, Bumi threatened to run away unless she promised to never waterbend again. An unreasonable request, of course. It took quite some time before Bumi lightened up and didn't throw a fit every time Kya moved so much as a drop of water. Then came Tenzin, who only started airbending last year. He quickly became the prodigal son, and Toph could tell he was Aang's favorite. That, of course, was another rough patch for the family. With Tenzin being the first airbender born in over 100 years, he got an unbelievable amount of attention, which quickly pushed Bumi to the bottom of the barrel. Toph felt bad for the boy, but over time he'd grown more resilient to the point where he seemed just like the happy-go-lucky kid he used to be.

"Lin, that wasn't very nice to say," Katara interjected gently, "There's nothing wrong with not being able to bend. Why, Bumi's Uncle Sokka can't bend, either, and he's an incredible warrior and councilman. Everyone has the potential to be great, with or without bending."

"Yeah, what she said," Toph drawled, "Look, Lin, some people bend, some people don't. It happens."

"But I wanna be like you, Mommy," Lin whimpered with tears in her eyes. Toph sighed and looked at Katara pleadingly, hinting that she needed help. Katara rolled her eyes and turned the weeping toddler's face toward her, wiping her tears away with her thumbs.

"Lin, if Aang and I are proud of Bumi without any bending, then your mom will be, too. Try not to worry."

Toph mouthed a thank you to Katara as Lin's tears subsided and Toph lowered her to the ground.

"Thank you so much for watching her today, I don't know what I would have done without you."

"It's no problem. She and Tenzin get along great, we're always glad to have her over."

"Yeah, well, don't get any ideas, Twinkletoes Junior," Toph said as she pointed to Tenzin, who was hiding behind his mother's leg, while keeping her crystal eyes on the ground in front of her. Tenzin nodded vigorous and Toph smirked before letting out a chuckle. "Lighten up, kid, I'm only joking. Jeez, what'd I do to scare you so much?"

"Probably just act like yourself," Katara groaned as she stroked Tenzin's head, "Aunt Toph won't hurt you, Tenzin."

"You don't know that…" Tenzin mumbled into the fabric covering Katara's thigh, which he gripped tightly. When Toph raised an eyebrow at him, having heard what he said, he quickly ducked further behind Katara.

"Must you harass my kids, Toph?" Katara sighed as she crossed her arms.

"Yes. Anyway, is Aang home? I have something to ask him."

Katara nodded back toward the temple. "He's in a meeting with Sokka and some other council members. They should have finished by now, but looks like it's running a little longer than usual."

"Because of this I'm guessing?" Toph said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the invitation, holding it up both upside-down and backwards. Katara took the piece of parchment, turned it right-side-up, and scanned it quickly.

"I mean, probably. How did you…?"

"Read it? I have ways," Toph smirked.

"Are you bullying your officers again?"

"Hey, it's their job to do what I say, and I said someone had to read it to me. It's not my fault I got sent a paper invitation."

Katara shrugged. "It's probably just a formality. It wasn't exactly a secret that Aang's been planning this, it's been on his radar for at least a year."

"Then how come I hadn't heard about it? I see you guys all the time," Toph huffed.

"Yeah, in passing," Katara clarified, "We don't exactly all sit down and hang out anymore, you know."

"Well maybe we should change that," a deep, husky voice echoed from the temple. Toph didn't to be told who was talking. The shiver that ran down her spine and shocked her sex told her that it was Sokka, and she could feel another set of feet walking with him, which she assumed were Aang's. As the two figures neared them, Tenzin ran to his father, who encircled him in a ball of air and lifted him into his arms. Aang rested Tenzin on his hip as he continued carrying him, the small child nestling himself amongst the layers of golden fabric that nearly drowned Aang's figure. He had grown considerably, almost reaching Sokka in height and physique, but despite that Toph refused to revoke his iconic nickname. Toph snatched the invitation from Katara's hands and spun on her heels so that Aang's face was met with the piece of parchment.

"And what is this?" Toph barked at the surprised airbender.

"It's your invitation…?"

"And how was she supposed to know that, sweetie?" Katara teased. There was a moment of silence before both Sokka and Aang simultaneously slapped their palms to their foreheads.

"I can't believe we forgot Toph can't read," Aang said.

"Yeah, and you also forgot to mention this whole shebang. How was I supposed to know you were throwing a big party?"

"By the, uh, the invitation," Aang said meekly as he pointed to the parchment still in Toph's hand.

"Doesn't that feel just a bit impersonal? We see each other at least once a week, you could have mentioned it at some point."

"Look, I didn't think it was a big deal, I'm sorry if I offended you by not telling you in person."

"Yeah, come on, Toph," Sokka said as he strode to her side and slung an arm around her shoulder, sending a hot flash coursing through her body, "We'll make it up to you."

"Oh yeah?" Toph replied sarcastically, grateful that her bangs were most likely concealing the flush she could feel reaching the forefront of her face, "And how do you propose you do that?"

The words came out more sultrily that Toph anticipated, and she swore she could feel Sokka's hip twitch a bit before he pulled away to throw his arms in the air. "We're gonna throw the best party ever!"

Toph raised an eyebrow at him. "You are?"

"Yeah, we are?" Aang questioned, "I thought this was going to be more of a respectful ceremony to honor the occasional."

"Honor, schmonor," Sokka tutted, "This is a big deal, guys. We need to have fun, and that means not just lighting a bunch of candles and exchanging war stories like old people do."

"You know there are going to be kids there, right?" Katara interjected, "Your niece and nephews, for example? This celebration is for the whole city, and that includes the children as well."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll have something for them, too, but that's not the point. I'm talking music, dancing, fireworks, the whole nine yards! Not to mention an open bar," Sokka emphasized as he nudged Toph.

"I do like open bars," Toph said contemplatively, not remembering there was a hyperattentive 5-year-old attached to her pant leg. Lin tugged at the fabric, catching Toph's attention.

"What's a bar, mommy?"

"It's a place adults go, Lin," Toph explained casually, "You're too little."

"I'm not little!" Lin huffed as she puffed up her chest to appear larger.

"Yeah, okay," Toph droned as she rolled her eyes, "Anyway, guys, keep me updated on this party. I've got a small child to put to bed."

Sokka knelt down to Lin's level and smiled at her. "Don't worry, Lin. I'll make sure you have a fun time, too. Unlimited egg custard tarts, I promise."

Lin's eyes beamed at the sound of her favorite dessert. Sokka picked himself up and set a large hand on Toph's shoulder near the base of her neck. "It'll be fun, Toph. You gotta let loose every once in a while."

Toph's heart quickened at the tender touch. Although her childhood crush on Sokka had long subsided, there was always something in her that wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips or, better yet, feel them elsewhere. She didn't have to see him to tell that he was fit. From the times she'd punch his arm affectionately she could feel that there was quite a bit of muscle there, and she estimated that his bicep was larger than her own thigh. The thought of being firmly held in his grip as he explored her body made her throb, and she could only imagine what it would be like with him inside of her. She'd had her good share of flings, for sure, so she was no stranger to sex, but not many had been able to match her vigor, or give it to her as rough as she liked. Spirits, what it would be like to be ravaged by a strong, tribal man. Though she would never admit it, Toph had touched herself to the thought of Sokka's voice more than once, and boy did it expedite the process. She could even get herself off 2 or 3 times, depending on the day. As she'd grown older, though, and had a child of her own, her sex life had grown boring. The last person she'd slept with was Kanto, meaning that Lin was now a time stamp for the last time she'd had sex. Nobody had piqued her interest as of late, not with how busy she was kept with both work and home. The exception was Sokka, always Sokka. Their chemistry seemed to continue burning in spite of the years, and Toph didn't know if it would ever be acted upon. She was almost too afraid to try.

Toph shrugged Sokka's hand off of her before grabbing hold of Lin's little hand. "We're heading out. Thanks again for babysitting. Come on, Lin," Toph gestured as she turned back toward the temple. Lin had managed to grab a fistful of the fabric hiding beneath the layers of metal armor on Toph's hip and thigh and used it as a lead to follow her mother back to the ferry. Once home, she was tucked soundly into her own bed, and Toph was left alone with her swirling thoughts of lust and confusion.