Lin slammed the door behind her, entering the apartment she and her mother shared. Toph could feel Lin's frustration pounding through Lin's veins. "So, Linny, care to tell me whats going on?" Toph asked for the third time in three days.

Toph knew her twelve year old daughter more than anyone, and she knew something was wrong. She had tried asking Lin personally, and she had used her best detective skills. However, she was passing every class with flying colors (and her teachers adored her), her earthbending training was going swimmingly (Top trained Lin herself, so she would know), and she was not PMS-ing (Lin had yet to have her first period).

"No," Lin responded for the third time that week to the same question. She locked her door and immediately began doing her homework. The elder Beifong knew she could easily unlock the door and interrogate Lin, but Toph's intuition thought otherwise.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Toph used her seismic sense to try to detect who was behind the door, and grinned. "Snoozles! Come in!"

Sokka entered the flat carrying two large paper bags stuffed with take-out from Narook's. "Greetings, All Powerful Chief," he addressed Toph, put the bags on the counter, and pulled Toph in for an embrace. "What's happening in the lives of my two favorite earthbenders?" he asked, as he pushed some of the hair away from Toph's face.

Her grin faded slightly. "Lin's been coming home in some kind of a strange funk for the past few days and she won't talk to me about it. And worse, I, the Chief of Police, can't even imagine what's going through that mind of hers."

Sokka patted Toph on the back. "You want me to talk to her?" he asked softly.

"No I-" Toph started to say. Then she realized, this was probably not a bad idea. "Actually, that might be good for her. Would you mind?"

Sokka smiled. "Of course not." Then he took a cookie out of the paper bag, walked to Lin's room, and gently knocked on the door, saying "Lin, it's me. May I come in?"

The door opened, and a pair of startling green eyes peered back at him. Like her mom's. "Sure," she said, a little smile appearing on her face, as she took the cookie from Sokka's hands and began nibbling on it.

"So, how's life Lin?"

"Good," Lin responded a little too quickly.

"Lin, I may not have seismic sense like you or your mother, but I know that's not true." Sokka put a hand on Lin's shoulder. "What's bothering you?"

Lin tried not talking for a moment, and then sighed. "It's just Tenzin. He's been acting really weird around me. Like, one minute he's talking a mile a minute to me and next, he's completely ignoring me. Sometimes he'll just stare at me for a whole minute or two, and then try not to talk to me! I don't know if I did something wrong or if I said something-"

Sokka let out a girlish giggle. Lin scowled at his reaction. "It's not funny Uncle Sokka!"

Sokka stifled his giggle. "Oh Lin, it's not what you think this is, I swear." Then he became slightly more serious. "Have you ever considered that maybe Tenzin likes you, and that's why he's acting so strangely?"

Lin frowned. "No, I mean that's a stupid way of telling someone they like them. I mean, why can't he just say "hey, I like you" and we could get on with our lives?"

"Maybe he's afraid of making it awkward," Sokka replied.

"Is that why you don't tell Mom you like her?"

Sokka was caught completely by surprise at the observation of one so young. "How… how did you know?"

"You just told me," Lin smirked. "Which is good because I thought you were just going to be a lily-liver about it and not admit it." Lin paused and Sokka motioned for her to tell him more. "Your heart pounds harder around her than anyone else."

Sokka sighed. "Well, there goes that secret."

Lin's face brightened. "Uncle Sokka, I have an idea."

"What, Lin?"

"If you promise to tell Mom you like her, I promise I'll tell Tenzin I like him."

"Wait… you like him back?"

Lin blushed, and smiled. "Maybe. Anyways, back to business. You've got to promise me you'll tell her."

Sokka pondered the idea. It was high time he told Toph what he felt, and he supposed tonight was as good a night as any for her to know. "I promise, Linny."

"Pinkie swear?" She asked, as she wiggled her pinkie.

Sokka laced his pinkie with hers. "Pinkie swear."

Lin grinned. "Good. Go get her, Dad."

Sokka pretended like he didn't hear her, but he turned a light shade of pink, smiled to himself, and shut the door behind him. It was about time he addressed what he felt to Toph.