"Oh! I can't even… Toph, that must be the cutest baby I ever saw!" squeals Suki.

"Yeah. Thanks."

Everyone is around the blind earthbender, trying to take a look at her brand new baby.

"How old is she?" asks Katara, combing the soft, jet black hair of the tiny human with her fingers.

"9 months old."

That gets soft exclamations from the women.

"And who is the father?"

Every stare turns to Zuko, impressed by his sudden delicate question. Toph just smiles and shrugs.

"I earthbent her!"

They all understand she doesn't want to talk about it, so they laugh politely. Only Toph catches the small bitterness in the Fire Lord's inquiry.

"Can I hold her?" says Aang to disperse the tense atmosphere.

"Of course!"

She hands the docile baby and the Avatar struggles to make the little girl comfortable. But soon she cries and moves to get out of his grip so he swiftly passes her to Katara.

"Hello, baby Lin!" she coos.

Lin doesn't appreciate and starts to scream, her face red and unhappy.

"But Kya loved being talked to!" complains the waterbender.

"Well, every baby is not your daughter!" comments Zuko.

The presence of that damned child makes him nervous. Lin turns her head to his voice and smiles.

"Well, she seems to like you" notices Katara.

She takes the opportunity to dump the grouchy baby in his arms. Lin giggles as soon as she is snugged in the crook of his arm, trying to reach some metallic part of his Fire Lord clothing.

"Oh. That is even cuter than the baby itself!" croons Suki.

Zuko sighs.

"Princess always had a way with the ladies" jokes Toph.

He scowls vainly at her, ignoring his bubbling daughter. No. Toph's bubbling daughter.

"Let's start this picnic!" calls Sokka. "I'm starving!"

Zuko sits, being the babysitter for now. He watches the others gathering wood and food from Kuji's back. He finally dares to glance at Lin.

"You are cute" he admits in a whisper.

She looks like Toph, but her eyes are different. The earthbender's irises are as wet, healthy grass under a layer of blind glass. Lin's are… paler. They have that gold gleam in them. And she definitely has his nose.

"Could you light the fire?"

Zuko snaps out of his reverie, back to Sokka.

"Yes."

He does so, producing shrieks of joy from the baby.

"You like that, don't you?" he muses.

He lights a small flame at the tip of his index, fascinating the child in his arms. She extends her chubby hand to catch it, but he doesn't want his… the baby to hurt herself.

"What are you doing, Sparky? Scarring my daughter's face? I know it's a Fire Lord tradition but…"

He growls.

"Sorry. I know, I know, your honor. Not a joking matter. Can I have her back?"

He gives her the warm bundle.

"By the way, what color are her eyes?"

Zuko lifts his eyebrow.

"You mean… You don't know?"

"No I don't. I wouldn't ask if I knew."

"Green. Her eyes are green" he replies. "She probably will become a great earthbender."

"Green? Is that all?"

He looks around. Sokka is latched in Suki's back, trying to get her attention. Aang is feeding the flying bison and Katara is cleaning some water from the stream.

"They are golden when she's in the sun" he adds.

Toph smiles.

"Thanks."

She nuzzles the head of her child. Somehow, it is a happy sight to him. No one will ever know about the origins of Lin Beifong. And it is better that way.

…

Zuko is abruptly woken up by a small earthquake. He tries to sit but soon he is swallowed by the ground. He grunts as he emerges seconds later in a pitch dark place, silenced by warm, demanding lips on his. Well, it certainly isn't Sokka's doing. He lights up a tiny flame just to confirm Toph's identity.

"No" he protests, pushing her away. "The deal is over."

"Oh, come on Hotpants! We both didn't care about the deal…"

She latches her mouth on his pulse point, making his argumentation strenuous.

"You cared enough to leave once you were pregnant" he recalls.

Toph growls.

"Yeah. And I'm proud I did. But right now, I'm horny."

Zuko is glad she is blind as he blushes at her blunt words.

"And I won't help you with that" he counters, planning an escape plan.

"Don't be a tease, Sparky."

She kisses him again. He could make a large fire wall, blocking her. He could probably kick his way through one of the stone walls. He must be into her tent, so at worse he could call for help… He could knock her out, and then fly. But Toph puts her hand between his legs and just pushes. He groans in the kiss, his mind made blurry by the sweet pressure. It's been too long. Way too long. The earthbender is satisfied with her distraction, sensing that he was up to some stunt. She grazes her teeth along his jaw, undoing his underpants. Zuko curses himself for not wearing much to sleep when her short nails scratch his arms and torso, winning him over.

"Fine!" he hisses, grabbing Toph.

She squeals in contentment. He roughly flips her on her hands and knees.

"Where is your daughter?" he asks.

"In a smaller tent, next to…"

Zuko cuts her in the middle of her sentence by shoving her panties out of his way. He puts aflame a branch nearby, wanting to see her. He rakes her nightgown up to her armpits. She is still perfect. The Fire Lord doesn't lose time in preliminaries, angry at her for the seducing. It is supposed to be over! But there she is, starting it all over again! He slides all the way inside with the first thrust, amazed by her conserved tightness. She probably didn't have sex for the last… well, year and a half. And 9 months since the delivery to recover. He pounds erratically to Toph's wails. She grips the soil under her fingers, her arms shaking with the force of Zuko's rhythm. Her elbows give way and her face is smashed against the ground, her ass up in the air. It hurts a bit, he's so vigorous, but she wanted that. She didn't expect the position, though. She wished for something more intimate, a happy, sensuous get-together. Right now she's being fucked like some wild foxdog. There's no love.

"Zuko… Please…"

It catches his attention. Toph Beifong never begs.

"What?" he says, annoyance in his voice, stopping suddenly.

She withdraws from him, wincing a bit. No proper preparation means no proper lubrication. He has been harsh. She flops down on her back, spreading her legs. The Fire Lord stays unaffected by the change so she bends the earth to close around his wrists and drag him closer to her.

"What now, Toph?" he spits.

She puts her hands on his tense face. She hurt him when she left. More than she could have thought. And now he's distrustful. She needs to fix that.

"I missed you."

Toph pecks his pinched lips a few times. Zuko doesn't relax.

"Tell me why you're so angry. Get it out" she orders.

"You told me it was over. You didn't need me anymore. I got used to, and now here you are, kissing me like we are some kind of free teenagers in a camping trip. I hate being your boy toy. I hate cheating on my wife again."

Oh. Yeah, she did forget about Mai.

"I'm sorry. I promise this will be the last night. I…" she stutters. "I didn't think it through. I forgot about Mai. I just saw you with Lin today and I… Well, I didn't see you, but…"

"I get it Toph. You see in a different way."

"Yeah. So I saw you with her and… Do you know how hard it is to suddenly not having sex anymore? Seriously, at some point, my body hated me for leaving. So when I saw how sweet you two were together I… That relieved some beast in me, I swear! You're doing weird things to my ovaries, Zuko."

He chuckles.

"Well, you aren't my first fangirl…"

She hits him gently.

"I'm sorry I was so angry" he adds. "But I really can't go on between your rejection and your… lust-filled nocturnal attacks."

"This will be the last time you cheat on your wife with me. Deal?"

He smiles.

"Deal."

"Now get back on making sweet love to me, Hotpants."

The earthbender sets his hands free and soon she has his warm fingers on her breast.

"You do like them" she snickers.

"Are they… bigger?"

"Yes. I'm still breastfeeding Lin."

The fingers become warmer as he groans. Toph giggles and then moans when Zuko squeezes them against his face. She feels teeth sinking into her sensitive flesh and she shivers. The Fire Lord slowly licks at a hardened nipple, tasting something new here. Is she… lactating? Somehow it turns him on even further. Toph shouts as he bites her. He remembers the other campers nearby but decides to ignore them, for now. It is their last night. Zuko migrates north and suckles her white, porcelain neck as he penetrates her again, more gently this time. She squirms in pleasure. His pace is painstakingly languid, he builds leisurely their joy. Toph knows he's restraining himself from going faster, for her. She pushes back against his movement, obtaining a moan out of him. Zuko's grip tightens on her hips as he lifts her to have better access. Toph circles his waist with her legs, gaining leverage to slam back into him. He takes the hint and accelerates. His whole body seems to radiate pure heat and if she wasn't blind, Toph could actually see him glow faintly in the darkness. But it's a tad too much for comfort.

"Uh… Zuko… 's hot…"

Blissful, he doesn't understand her words right away. Then he notices his own gleaming skin.

"Oh! Sorry…"

The Fire Lord concentrates, absorbing the heat and returning it in his inner fire. His fingers go back to a normal temperature and Toph sighs in relief. He recalls his first time with a woman, during his honeymoon with Mai, he had left burned fingerprints on her. It was an accident, and both deep into the midst of passion they hadn't realised the mishap, the breach in his master leveled firebending. He had been so afraid of himself then it quite ruined the mood of the whole trip. But he is older now, and he overcame that problem long ago. Until Toph, of course. Zuko doesn't freak out this time. She is feeling safe, relaxed with him. She trusts him. So he goes on with his thrusts, seeking to make her climax. She isn't far away from the edge, panting and moaning and whispering his name in an erratic breath. Be he knows he can't go on with her. He has to… pull out. Zuko can't take the risk of getting her pregnant again. As soon as he feels her walls clamp around him and her whole body shuddering into stillness he bites his lip. He rides through her orgasm, Toph whimpers when he can't hold on anymore and draws out, spilling his seed onto her stomach. Her brain full of fog, she wonders why he didn't come inside like every time. She slowly realizes those times when the danger of having consequences was de facto their motivation is over. So she cuddles near him before sliding her own finger down her navel and collecting his warm seed. She licks herself clean, enticing a lazy moan from Zuko.

"I don't like to waste" she explains.

He huffs a smile.

"Toph?"

"Yes?"

"You told me it is the last time I am cheating on my wife."

"Uh. Yes. I did."

"What if I don't have a wife anymore?"

She closes her eyes.

"You want to divorce her?"

"Oh. No."

"Don't kill her for me Zuko. You'll regret it."

"No, Toph! I won't kill Mai! Where do you…? Never mind. But you know time is something fleeting. And Mai's family rarely reaches the 60 years old…"

"Are you asking me to wait for you until your wife dies of old age, Father Lord?" she interrupts.

"I… Yes."

"Deal."

He laughs. Really, she thinks it's the first time she hears that. His real, happy laugh.

"It's not like I was planning anything for the next few decades of my life… Except from making my daughter an incredible bender…"

He kisses her. Outside, dawn is rising.

What they don't know yet is that Toph will die too young, leaving Lin to the post of Chief Police too soon. She will be shortly followed by Aang to the grave. Maybe a hundred years trip in an iceberg wasn't so good for his health after all. Sokka will die in a storm. He will be trying out a faster fishing ship for the Water Tribe people, never to be seen again. Suki will follow the next month, grief stricken. Zuko will leave the Fire Nation's throne to his daughter, being with Katara the only Gaang survivors to see the new Avatar. Korra's attitude will remind him of Toph, someway. He will stay in Republic City to watch after their daughter, even if Lin Beifong is one of the strongest people he will ever meet. They will have good rapports and she will forever ignore the link between uncle Sparky and her father. Zuko will die at a great age, wishing it has been sooner. He will never kiss Toph again after that fateful night under a stone tent, sticking to the deal the both made to wait for each other to be free again.