Chapter Text
"We are not going back to that restaurant again," Lin huffs as she rises to rinse out her mouth.
"We had the same things but I'm okay and that was two days ago," Tenzin frowns, helping her up , "Hakoda could give you a look until morning."
"I'm fine there's no need to worry him, it's just some bad noodles," Lin rolls her eyes, "you're probably okay because you used to eat from Bumi before his time in the United Forces. "
"Things are o-," Lin turns to the toilet again.
"Honey, please let me get him," Tenzin pleads as Lin rinses out her mouth for the second time.
"He's going to freak out then tell you it was nothing. Let's not bother him," Lin insists while looking for her toothbrush.
"He would be more upset if something is wrong and we didn't get you proper care. Last time you came home with those burns barely treated he lectured you for days about not atleast coming to him," Tenzin reminds her.
"He's bossy for a thirteen year old," Lin grumbles.
"I wonder where he gets that from," Tenzin brushes her cheek, "humour me this time."
"Whatever," Lin huffs and lies down on the bed while her husband leaves for Hakoda. Eventually Hakoda enters with his water skin and does a quick check on his mother.
"The last time I felt this gran gran took over. Something about when I'm older," Hakoda shrugs, "definitely not a stomach bug though."
"Thanks Koko," Lin smiles , "I'll see a healer in the morning."
"Thanks son," Tenzin nods along.
"Night guys," Hakoda nods before leaving.
"Night Koko," Lin calls down the hall.
"So you'll see Kiri in the morning?" Tenzin checks.
"Yeah," Lin gives in.
"You know the last time you started throwing up like that you were pregnant," Tenzin considers.
"Haha very funny," Lin drawls, "I'm 39 and on the tea. There's a better chance that Bumi starts airbending."
"You're right," Tenzin brushes off his idea, "let's get some sleep."
...
"You didn't have to come with me Tenzin. Kiri is just checking that everything is okay. Just some bad noodles," Lin tries to reassure her husband who is pacing the examination room.
"I had the morning off anyways," Tenzin stops in front of her.
"Can you stop pacing though?" Lin sighs.
"Okay love," he sits in the chair beside the exam table.
"Sorry I'm late," the healer rushes in.
"That's fine Kiri we shouldn't be too long," Lin lies back.
"Alright, what have you been experiencing?" Kiri covers her hands in water.
"Just some nausea but this one is worried I picked up a bug," Lin supplies.
"No way," Kiri gasps and accidentally soaks Lin.
"Kiri!" Lin shoots up
"Sorry Lin," the healer removes the water.
"What is it?" Tenzin asks not bothering to hide his worry.
"Umm how do I say this?" Kiri scratches her head ,"congratulations?"
"On being healthy? Thank you," Lin chuckles.
"Lin, you're pregnant," Kiri informs her .
"She's what?" Tenzin checks. They had joked about her being pregnant but didn't give any real thought to that possibility.
"Pregnant, with child, knocked up," Kiri shrugs ,"you two have three kids you should know what I mean."
"But how? I thought it's supposed to be difficult at this age, we weren't trying and I'm on the tea," Lin tries to take in the situation, "is the baby okay?"
"I don't know what to tell you Lin. The efficacy seems to change as you get older so it may not be as effective for you as we thought," Kiri shrugs , "but yes the baby seems to be healthy and you're about seven weeks along. I know this is a lot to take in so I'll give you two a minute."
"Seven weeks, seven weeks, seven weeks, oh my, date night ," Tenzin does the math when the healer leaves. That was the first night in maybe three months that they had been able to get enough time for a full date night.
"You practically tore off my dress that night," Lin nods.
“Might I remind you that you burst the buttons on my shirt,” Tenzin smirks at the memory.
“Whichever way it happened, we have some interesting evidence of that night,” Lin gestures to her belly.
"Wow," Tenzin tries to stop his thoughts from going to all the what ifs.
"I know you're about to spiral but at least wait until we are at home," Lin cups his cheek, "I'm taking the day off."
"I'll do the same," Tenzin figures they need to discuss this sooner rather than later.
"We can talk after your meeting T," Lin tries to stop him, "Oogi can take me home. I'm actually going home to take a nap or something."
"No," Tenzin shakes his head.
"Ten," Lin sighs.
"I won't be able to concentrate," Tenzin reaches for her hand, "let's go home."
"I'm taking my nap first," Lin crosses her arms.
"Sorry guys, I have another patient so we need to wrap up," Kiri returns to finish Lin's check up.
"Are you sure the baby is healthy?" Lin asks, trying to calm the storm in her head.
"So far so good," Kiri confirms, "but because of your age I'm going to have to schedule your check ups a little more frequently than you'd be used to. You two will be fine, we just have to be careful."
"Okay," Lin simply nods ,"thanks for the check up."
"No problem," Kiri begins preparing her office for her next patient but pauses, "and Lin? I'm serious about you taking it easy."
"I will, I will. See you in a few weeks Kiri. Come on T," Lin pulls Tenzin from his thoughts and intertwines their fingers.
"Right," Tenzin follows her out the door.
They don't broach the topic again on the way home. When they get back to the island Lin changes into casual clothes and takes her nap while her husband gets his thoughts together. He watches her sleep while a million thoughts fly through his head. There were so many things that could go wrong between Lin's age and the stress from her job. The triads were already running her ragged and now she had to balance a pregnancy? Did she even want to go through with this? Even if the pregnancy was like the other three, how would they make things work afterwards? How would they balance a newborn in the mix? He worried he wasn’t spending enough time with his children as is. He's not sure when it happened but he realises his hand is on her stomach and inadvertently wakes her up.
"So another baby huh?" Lin covers his hand with hers.
"How aren't you freaked out?" Tenzin watches his wife remain calm.
"We can't both be freaked out at the same time, we won't get anywhere," Lin shrugs.
"You're the pregnant one, you shouldn't try to keep it together for my sake," Tenzin mumbles.
“Tez, I don’t know how I feel right now,” Lin sighs.
“We don’t have to decide right away but let’s keep your stress down,” Tenzin strokes her hair.
“Mommy! Aditi is being mean!” Jinora cries from up the hall.
“So much for that,” Lin tries to get up but Tenzin stops her.
“I’ve got this,” Tenzin informs her.
“Thanks,” Lin nods tiredly.
…
The next few days are a blur for the couple between their children, work and other personal responsibilities. After dropping his children to school and wife to work Tenzin finds himself stuck on the same page of a report he promised to review before the next council meeting. He takes a look at the picture of his family at his desk and can’t help but imagine a baby boy sitting on Lin’s lap. He fondly remembers each 'new' family picture they took every time their family expanded and also those new memories that came along with a new baby. Then he begins thinking about the horror stories he’s heard. After Lin’s first pregnancy he stopped worrying as much about the remote possibilities but he knew this one would be different. Still so many new factors to worry about. If its one thing he didn’t like about being a healer’s son is that he knew more about what could go wrong than he probably should. He doesn’t even realise his assistant is talking to him until her fourth try.
“Councilman Tenzin?” Yuri calls again.
“Huh? Yuri?” Tenzin looks up in confusion.
“Chief sent you lunch,” Yuri gestures to the bag in her hand.
“Thanks Yuri,” Tenzin accepts the bag, “one more meeting for the day right?”
“Right,” Yuri nods before leaving.
Enjoy my love - L
Tenzin eats his lunch while catching up on the news. Reading the paper does distract him a little from his thoughts but only long enough to finish his lunch. After that he is back to worrying about the possibilities. He tries to refocus on the task at hand but that doesn’t get him very far so he takes up the phone to check in on Lin.
“Chief Beifong’s desk,” Shun answers.
“Shun? Is Lin busy?” Tenzin checks.
“She’s taking a nap. She had a uh busy morning,” Shun explains, “would you like to leave a message?”
“Oh, that’s okay. I just wanted to thank her for lunch,” Tenzin figures anything else can be left til later.
…
“Sorry to wake you Chief, your meeting with the senior officers is in fifteen minutes and I know you want to go through your notes,” Shun offers the folder.
“Thanks Shun,” Lin nods tiredly.
“Oh and Master Tenzin called to tell you thanks for lunch,” Shun adds before leaving.
Lin quickly refreshes herself of the major points for the meeting before heading to the conference room.
“Chief!” Shun calls as she passes the kitchen, “I have something for you.”
“Oh, thanks but I’m cutting down on my coffee,” Lin looks at the cup her assistant is offering.
“It’s Rooibos,” Shun whispers.
“How did you?” Lin leaves the rest of the question unasked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Shun figures there might be lingering ears.
“Right,” Lin nods before grumbling, “the boys club awaits.”
Two eventful years as Chief and Lin still felt a little antsy heading into senior leadership meetings. She always wanted to be on top of her game because these meetings were always rough. Sometimes she had to deal with pushback on initiatives but occasionally she was playing referee, both of which required her full attention. Unfortunately for her she was not feeling up to much, the baby growing within her occupied much of her thoughts today. After doing the recap she decides to delegate the rest of the meeting between her captains. She was in no frame of mind to be front and centre for another three hours.
“Alright we are going to do things differently this week, Ty, you are doing academy reports, Saikhan heat check, Himari crew assignments and Chu special projects,” Lin informs them.
“But- I-I’m not prepared,” Ty hesitates.
“You should be up to date on the reports,” Lin points out.
“But,” Ty tries again but Lin isn’t having it.
“Saikhan go with the heat check first,” Lin decides, “Ty you can check your notes in the meantime.”
Lin hears them go through the different areas but she isn’t really hearing them. Her mind goes to the possibility of a fourth child and everything that would entail. The circumstances were nothing like her previous pregnancies. This closest one was probably her first in that it was also unplanned. Even her first pregnancy had been expected to an extent. They had spoken about having a family, marriage and even had a slight idea as to timelines. It was two or three years sooner but neither of them had as many responsibilities and Tenzin’s parents were around to help with their son while now they were had risen to the top of their fields and while Lu was amazing with their three children, she was a year older than Lin and may not be upto caring for four children including a baby. Before last week she was sure pregnancy was behind her. They had saved the sentimental items but most of their children’s baby clothes were given away along with the crib because they both agreed when they were trying for Jinora that she was their last. What she would do with a newborn at forty was still a good question. Having a child was not like taking up more responsibilities at work, it was a lifelong commitment and Lin just felt like she was doing better with giving her kids sufficient time. She meditated on it multiple times and always came back to the same conclusion though she still had her doubts. The only person she could talk it out with was Tenzin. She knew at the end of the day he would listen and give his opinion but also support her in whatever she chose whether or not he completely agreed. She discreetly feels along her stomach under the table and feels a faint heartbeat. As she considers her options for the umpteenth time since her visit with Kiri, Lin takes a deep breath and it becomes clear what she wants to do.
…
“Long day?” Tenzin asks when Lin plops herself onto the couch in their study.
“All day all I could think about is the baby,” Lin sighs.
“Me too. Are you worried?” Tenzin wonders.
"Am I worried? Of course. There is so much that could go wrong. I’ll be forty by the time this baby will be due,” Lin points out.
“Do you know what you want to do?” Tenzin asks, truly unsure of what her answer might be.
“I want to go through with this,” Lin clarifies, “How do you feel about that?”
“I guess I’m surprised you decided already,” Tenzin admits.
“I just know, you know?” Lin asks.
“We have a lot on our plate,” Tenzin reminds her, “I just don’t want you to go through with this because you think it’s what I want. Spirits, so many things could go wrong including losing you and the baby at the same time. It scares me Lin.”
“It scares me too,” Lin admits.
“Come here,” Tenzin extends his hand to her to which Lin obliges and walks around the table to sit in his lap. He settles one hand on her stomach and places the other across her back, "daddy is going to take care of you.”
"Tenzin, I told you I'm not calling you that anymore. The kids are old enough to know what to call you," Lin huffs.
"I'm talking to our son," Tenzin rolls his eyes.
“How are you so sure about the gender?” Lin wonders.
“This baby will be another son,” Tenzin declares, “balance things out.”
“Well technically if we were balancing things out, the baby would be a male firebender,” Lin figures.
“He will be a Beifong so either way he will definitely be a firecracker,” Tenzin decides before whispering to her stomach, “just please don’t destroy the courtyard like your sister.”
"He can't hear you," Lin points out.
“Well, I’m going to take care of you so much he will feel it too,” Tenzin nuzzles her neck, "I still can't believe we're here again."
"Well you seem to like the steps involved," Lin smirks before leaning in to kiss his arrow.
"Maybe," Tenzin shrugs.
"Just maybe?" Lin wonders before leaning in to kiss his lips. She traces circles on the back of his neck while deepening the kiss. Tenzin lets out a soft moan leaving Lin satisfied with her work and now ready to break the kiss.
"You don't play fair," Tenzin grumbles.
"I can go," she shrugs and tries to get up.
"Not so fast," Tenzin tightens his hold on her.
"May I help you?" Lin checks.
"Yes please. Stay here in my arms a little longer," Tenzin whispers, "we'll be back to catching sleep at odd hours and barely anytime for each other soon. Diapers, teething, crying."
"First steps, first words," Lin fondly remembers their experiences, "you did say four earthbenders. Seems like you got the number correct."
"I was just making a point," Tenzin shrugs.
"Well the spirits must have thought it a good idea," Lin smiles.
"They're the same spirits that brought you to me so they know what they are doing,” Tenzin figures.
“That they do,” Lin pecks his lips.
“When do you want to tell the kids?” Tenzin asks
"We need to tell them before I start obviously showing. I don’t want them to hear it from anyone else," Lin answers, “I’m thinking twelve weeks like last time.”
"Of course. No rush though," Tenzin reassures her, "what's important right now is that we keep both of you healthy."
…
"Mom, did the healer figure it out?" Hakoda asks a few weeks later when his parents return from work.
"Yes," Lin nods, leaning into Tenzin for support and they both know it's time.
"Girls," Tenzin calls his daughters from down the hall.
"Coming," Aditi walks in first followed by Jinora.
"So what is it?" Hakoda crosses his arms.
"We're having another baby," Lin braces herself for a reaction.
"You're joking," Hakoda doesn't believe it.
"Really?" Jinora is excited.
"Okay," Aditi shrugs.
"In a few months you will have another brother or sister," Tenzin confirms.
"Isn't mom kind of old?" Hakoda frowns.
"Thanks kid," Lin rolls her eyes.
"You know what I mean," he crosses his arms.
"Things will be different, yes. But that means you three will need to be good for your mother over the next few months," Tenzin looks specifically at Aditi.
"I get it, I get it," Aditi holds up her hands in defense.
"Do you?" Hakoda glares at her.
"Of course," she scoffs.
"Can I check you again mom?" Hakoda asks, wondering if he really felt his new sibling.
"I guess," Lin shrugs.
"That's so cool," Hakoda grins.
“If you have any questions for your mother and I we will be happy to answer them,” Tenzin informs the trio.
“Where are you going to put the baby?” Hakoda asks.
“Well, we would turn one of the guest rooms into a nursery,” Lin figures.
“Can we help decorate?” Aditi wonders.
“We would like that,” Tenzin smiles.
“Are we making another drawing?” Hakoda checks.
“Yes, the three of you can,” Lin nods.
“Drawing?” Jinora asks.
“Well sweetie, when I was having Aditi your brother made her a drawing. It was his way of welcoming her to the family. Then when I was having you, They made one for you, remember the drawing over your bed is from them,” Lin explains, “so the three of you would make one for this baby and we would have it framed too.”
“That’s nice,” Jinora nods.
“Will you still have time for us? When you had Jinora things got crazy around here,” Aditi remembers.
“The baby will take up a bit of our time but we will always make time for you,” Tenzin promises.
“Good,” Aditi nods.
“When will other people know?” Hakoda wonders.
“Well your uncle, aunt, Lu and your gran gran know but we are keeping this quiet for now. You know this is a bit unusual,” Lin reminds him.
“Understood,” Hakoda nods.
“Its nice to see you all excited about this,” Lin yawns.
“How about we finish this tomorrow so mommy can get some rest and we can finish homework,” Tenzin suggests.
“Mine is done already,” Jinora shares.
“Really?” Tenzin checks.
“It’s always so easy,” Jinora points out.
“Kid’s a genius dad,” Aditi reminds him.
“Alright, so you two lets go finish up, Jinny how about you pack your bag for tomorrow?” Tenzin suggests and his children oblige while Lin heads to her room.
"Jinny?" Lin notices her daughter watching from the door.
"Yes mommy? Do you need water? Extra pillow? Something to read?" Jinora starts her questioning, eager to help.
"I just want you to climb up here," Lin requests, patting the empty side of the bed.
"Okay," she grins and snuggles into her mother's side, "is it a boy or girl? I want another sister."
"It's way too early to tell Jin," Lin smiles at the six year old's curiosity.
"Is the baby why your beat was funny?" Jinora asks.
"Huh?" Lin tries to understand.
"You're beat," Jinora reiterates and rests her hand over Lin's heart.
"Ohh," she realises, "yes sweetie, you felt the baby. Wow, your lessons with your grandmother are going better than I thought."
"Not as fun as ours," Jinora decides, hugging her mother's midsection.
"Looking forward to a little metal on Sunday?" Lin wonders.
"Yay meteorite," Jinora beams.
"Right," Lin nods.
"Can I show the baby how to bend?" Jinora asks excitedly about the prospect.
"It's too soon to tell if the baby will be a bender," Lin informs her.
"Oh," Jinora looks down before deciding, "I can teach her how to play blocks then or something else fun."
"You'll be a good big sister," Lin smiles, "it's bedtime now though."
"Can I stay with you two a little?" Jinora requests.
"Sure," Lin nods. Jinora snuggles into her mother's side. Lin strokes her daughter’s hair and soon she is fast asleep. Lin finds herself dozing a bit before Tenzin enters. He carefully removes Jinora from Lin’s side and lifts her into his arms. Lin takes the time to get ready for bed. She opts for a clean tank top and shorts instead of her usual pyjamas having found the last few nights a bit too warm for her liking. After she unpins her hair for the night she looks down and notices she is beginning to show.
"Baby number four huh?" Lin gives Tenzin a weak smile when he reenters their bedroom.
Tenzin watches as she examines her small bump in the mirror and his heart melts. Surprise was an understatement but some things were still true. Their family would make it work and this baby would be loved by so many people. Tenzin rises from his seat and walks towards her. He stands behind her and covers her hands with his before looking at her through the mirror.
"Baby number four," he kisses her temple.