A/N: The idea of Sokka and Suki helping out Toph when she became a new mother is NOT my own. The idea comes from SR240's Picking Up The Pieces (Chapter 6 to be precise).
You're about to embark on the journey of my headcanon; Sokka being Su'yin's father. Enjoy!

Prologue


To say that Toph had a hard time getting used to the maternal life was an understatement. It was more than the fact that she couldn't see her own baby. She didn't know what her baby would want when she would cry, unless her diaper needed changing. Toph would often find herself disconnected from everything else, constantly questioning her abilities as a mother. Making herself feel like an awful being.

Routinely, for a few weeks after she gave birth to Lin, Sokka and Suki would come and check in on her, sometimes together, sometimes separately. They'd often bring her items from the market, a new pack of diapers, baby clothes, or whatever else the new mother would need. This time, Sokka had arrived on his own. He decided to stop by on his way back from the market, bringing a fresh pack of diapers for Lin. When he entered the two story home, he was shocked by how clean it was. In fact, it looked almost entire untouched.

The living room was the first room to see when one would enter through the front door. It was very open, being right next to the hallway. It was often used whenever people would come visit Toph. There was a set of three couches that were circled around a small fireplace, and a small coffee table in the middle. The living room also led to the dining room, separated by a rice paper door. The door was closed, so Sokka could not see if there was anyone in the dining room.

Sokka continued making his way down the hallway, and entered the kitchen. The kitchen had been surprisingly clean, with just a few dishes in the sink. Behind the kitchen was the family room. The family room was also another seating area, but it was often used for recreational activities, such as listening to radio broadcasts. Some of Lin's baby furniture and toys were in the family room, too. But at this particular moment, no one occupied the room.

Sokka exited through the kitchen, and walked out into Toph's office. Toph's office was only a little bit smaller than her office at the station. She had a whole wall that had police files and cases packed into it, in no organized matter. Her mahogany desk was mostly cleared, except for the text to audio technology Sokka had built for her, since she could not read, but also giving her the opportunity to work from home. Sokka found it ironic how nicely everything looked together, but if you looked closely, you could see that it was actually just organized chaos. After a few moments lingering in the office, he made his way out through the kitchen, down the hallway, and headed upstairs.

He was halfway up the stairs when he heard Toph. The agony in her voice made his heart drop. He was suddenly racing up the stairs, running into the room where the voice was coming from.

"Please, I don't know what you want!"

He abruptly opened the door to Lin's room. Lin was laying on her back, wailing. Toph had fallen to her knees, curled up in the corner, her hands covering her face as she wept, shaking violently. The sight of it made him drop the fresh bag of diapers he was holding. He called out to Toph. But in response, she only slightly turned away from him, and curled up into a tighter ball.

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked, kneeling down to her level.

Toph shook her head, groaning out a noise that resembled the word no.

"What happened?' Sokka asked, practically begging her to explain.

Toph took a moment to collect herself. She sat up straight, carefully backing into the wall to support her back. She had her knees hugged to her chest, but smoothed out the fabric of her pajama pants. She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

"She won't stop crying, and I can't tell what she wants," Toph cried. "It's been like this for two days now. All she does is cry! She rejects being fed by me or a bottle, she doesn't need a diaper change, I don't think she's sick..."

Sokka tried to console her by putting a hand on her shoulder. He slightly massaged her shoulder, very gently, fearing her resistance. But this time, she let him.

"I just don't know what she wants from me!" Toph wept.

Sokka quickly pulled her in for a hug, expecting it to be quick, but Toph practically melted into his embrace. She sobbed into the fabric of his tunic. Sokka wrapped his arms around the top of her back, to bring her comfort, but also to try and stop her from shaking so much as she sobbed. He frantically looked around, as if the answer to the problem was written on the walls. Sokka wasn't a superior master when it came to raising children, but he was proud of his the two he'd raised so far. He couldn't give the best childcare advice, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve when it came to difficult babies.

"It's going to be okay, Toph," Sokka whispered to her. "You're not alone. You have me, Suki, Katara, Aang... The list goes on. We all have your back."

"I appreciate it," Toph finally spoke, fighting to catch her breath through sobs. "But even then, none of you understands what I'm going through."

Sokka slightly pulled out of the embrace to look at her. It didn't make sense to him. How could they not understand what she was going through? They all had children of their own. They'd all been through it; the midnight cries, the sleepless nights, the raging unbalanced hormones following birth, the difficulty in figuring out which cry meant what... Sokka and Suki had been through it twice, Katara and Aang had just been through it for the third time.

"Toph, we all have kids. We know how it is," Sokka said. "We're just trying to help you!"

Toph backed out of the embrace and scooted back to give herself space. She cleared her throat and took a few deep breaths.

"I appreciate that," Toph spoke, "But none of you know how it is to raise a kid all on your own! Not to mention, I can't even see my own daughter."

Toph tried to blink back the tears that were swelling at her eyes, but she couldn't fight it. She bowed her head down, and quietly cried into the palm of her hands. Sokka froze. Of course he knew her blindness was a huge factor, but for whatever reason, he didn't even consider how being single had affected her childcare skills.

As far as Sokka was aware, he was the only one who knew the most about Lin's father. He wasn't that bad of a guy, but unfortunately, he didn't want any children. They'd originally tried to make it work, once Toph told him about her pregnancy. But after less than two weeks of being with the two of them, Kanto wasn't fond of the parenting life style. So on top of already struggling to take of her child as a blind woman, she then had to do everything else on her own.

Sokka stood back up and brushed off his pants. He looked down at the big circle of Toph's tears saturated into his tunic. The size of the circle covered his entire left peck almost entirely. He frowned slightly at the sight of it. He wasn't aware of how broken Toph felt. It truly tugged at his heart to see one of his most closest friends in such shape. Especially considering how rare it was for Toph to express her emotions so vividly. He could count the times he'd seen tears in her eye on one hand. If she was ever upset, she'd usually just act agitated or keep her distance.

He looked down at her, still on the ground, self-consoling as she still hugged her knees to her chest with her head down. Sokka noted how her hair was more frizzy and untamed than usual. How long had she been in this emotional state? Sokka stopped himself before he could let himself wander too far down that dark train of thought. Instead, he shook his head to clear his imagination of Toph's long distress. If he sincerely was going to help her, he'd have to start with the basics.

"You know what you need?" Sokka asked.

"A drink?" Toph asked flatly. She kicked at the ground and was immediately on her feet.

Sokka couldn't help but laugh at how quickly she came up with that response.

"No," Sokka said, still chuckling a little. "A schedule."

Toph rolled her eyes, "I can't believe I didn't expect you to say that."

Sokka cocked his head at her, "But you know it's true."

Toph's head bowed slightly in shame. She quickly followed it with a nod. She knew. She knew she didn't have any organization whatsoever with Lin. She knew she needed more structure in her life.

Sokka walked over to the crib and scooped up the crying infant. He cradled her in his arms, bouncing her slightly to soothe her distress. Lin immediately quieted down, and looked up at him through her big, light green eyes. Sokka smiled at her, and she smiled back. When he turned around, Lin saw Toph and immediately squirming for her.

"She wants you," Sokka said, closing the distance between them, with Lin in the middle.

"You're going to tell me how you know that," Toph said, opening her arms to take Lin.

"She saw you and immediately started wiggling to get out of my hands," Sokka said, carefully passing the baby to her mother. "Nothing beats a mother's touch."

At first, Toph was a bit awkward. Her arms were shaky as she tried to figure out how she was going hold Lin in her arms so that she was comfortable. The best she could do was figure out whatever felt right, and just hope that the positioning was comfortable enough for the infant.

Even though he knew she couldn't see it, Sokka smiled at her. He started to leave the room before he accidentally kicked the bag of diapers he brought them from the market. He awkwardly chuckled and brought it back into the room, opened it, and put it in the diaper drawer of Lin's changing table.

"Let's go sit down and figure this out," Sokka said, wrapping an arm around Toph's shoulders.