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When Toph had woken up in the morning, she did not expect that her day would go the way it did. Not at all.
She’d been working on case debriefings all morning and cleared her whole schedule because she went through them all so fast. She had nothing to do, so when Katara sent her a memo about babysitting her kids, Toph quickly replied with an “I’m on my way.” What else was she supposed to do all day with nothing on her schedule? So she waited on Zuko’s people to collect her from the station and she set off to the Fire Nation.
But as soon as she stepped foot into the palace, Toph knew something was amiss. There were one too many heartbeats in the dwelling and she didn’t quite like who it belonged to.
Toph was going to kill Katara. She really was.
It seemed as though the meddling waterbender decided that it would be a nice day to invite Toph’s ex-boyfriend to her home, too, for some reason. And Toph wasn’t having it.
“What’s he doing here?” Toph asked before Katara had a chance to greet her.
“Toph, be nice,” Katara scolded quietly, with Kya sleeping in her arms and Kanto walking up beside her with two-year-old Izumi clutching his hand. “The girls wanted him here too, and I wasn’t going to say no to their little pouts, was I?”
Toph raised a brow, feeling her friend’s heartbeat quicken. “Uhuh, the girls , you say? The same girls who can barely get a word out yet?”
Katara stammered for a moment, but before she could say anything, she was interrupted.
“Nice to see you, too, Chief,” Kanto spoke coyly, making Toph roll her eyes. She could have lived happily without having to speak to him about anything other than work for the rest of her life. He’d lost that privilege when they’d ended their relationship some months ago.
She turned to Katara again, disregarding Kanto’s comment. “Why is he here, Katara?”
“I told you–”
“You seem to forget that I can tell when you’re lying,” Toph said, taking a step toward Katara. “Why’s he really here, Sugar Queen?”
Katara sniffled and basically shoved a sleeping Kya into Toph’s arms. “Well, I’m late for my meeting! I’ll see you both in a few hours!”
“You– hours ? Katara!”
“There’s food in the icebox and Izumi’s due for her nap soon,” Katara shouted as scurried away from the ex-couple and her daughters. “Don’t kill each other!”
Toph scoffed, moving toward the large couch a few feet away from her and plopping onto it. Then, she muttered, “I’m certainly going to kill someone today.”
“I’m not ready to have you arrested for a homicide, Chief, so I hope that, for your sake, you’re kidding,” Kanto said. She could hear his smirk in his voice and it took everything she had within her to not send one of the metal fixtures in the room flying at his head. And the only reason she didn’t was that her pseudo nieces were in the room, one of which was still tightly clutching her would-be target’s hand.
“Did I ask?”
He crossed over to sit on one of the ottomans by the couch next to her. “No–”
“Exactly, so shut up.”
Kanto clicked his tongue, dropping his voice to a whisper. “Saying ‘shut up’ around the kiddos? You can most definitely do better than that.”
Toph shot a glare at him and carefully stood up to accommodate Kya, who was somehow still sleeping, in a more comfortable position on her shoulder without waking her. Then, she wordlessly made her way toward where she knew the girls’ rooms were. She could feel Kanto and Izumi following closely behind, him coaxing the toddler to follow them.
Carefully, Toph walked up to the wooden crib and lowered Kya into it, making sure to support the baby’s head as she did so until she set her down. She could feel Kanto’s eyes on her back before she turned around and directed herself toward Izumi.
“You about ready for your nap, Sparky Jr.?”
She likely nodded because it was Kanto who spoke for her affirmatively, and Toph smiled at the girl. Before she was able to direct her to her bed, Kanto picked Izumi up effortlessly and set her on the mattress. Within seconds, Toph heard soft snores from her, making her lips twitch upward.
“Pretty cute, huh?”
Toph’s smile fell. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Mm, nothing,” he said. “Just an observation.”
“A pretty pointed one,” she replied, all but stomping out of the room and walking back in the direction they’d come from. The audacity this man had throwing jabs at her.
She angrily found her way to the kitchen and fished through the drawers and cabinets to find something to eat, landing on some kind of cookie that she shoved into her mouth whole. She wasn’t even hungry, but the thought of having to deal with Kanto and his indirects for “a few hours” was not sitting well with her. And considering the fact that there were children she actually loved beneath the roof they were under, she had to keep herself from ejecting him back to Republic City.
“Toph–”
“ What ,” she said with her mouth full as she attempted to finish chewing and swallowing the cookie.
Kanto cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean it the way–”
“Well, that’s how it came across.”
“I… I know that and I’m sorry,” he said, leaning against the countertop. “I just– if we’re going to be here together, we might as well talk about it.”
“Hm, about what, exactly, Kanto? About how you left me? For not wanting kids?”
He tensed and straightened out. “That’s not –”
“Why, then? Because the timing was suspicious,” she scoffed frustratedly. The ire she’d pushed down for the months since their breakup was resurfacing and she didn’t quite feel like hiding it any longer. So, she took two steps toward him and jabbed her finger into his chest. “You had no right.”
“I didn’t–”
“No. You didn’t. You didn’t think, you didn’t do, you didn’t give me a chance to sit with the idea of- of starting a family, okay? You didn’t let me figure out what being a mother would mean, or whether I’d even be a good one–”
“You would be!”
“That’s for me to decide. Not you, not anyone . Me,” she said firmly, slapping her hand against her chest, her breathing becoming uneven. “Because I’m not going to be responsible for fucking up the life I bring into this world by being a shitty parent. I wouldn’t want to do that to our… to our child, Kanto.”
Kanto grabbed the hand that was still on her chest and pressed it to his lips. “You being concerned about being a good mother is a sign that you’d be a good mother, Toph. And you would be.
“I understand that it’s something you need to know in order to go through with it, but why would I– why would I stand here and tell you that’d you’d be a good mother if I didn’t think you would be, hm?”
Toph could feel her chin trembling, so she took a deep breath to try to compose herself, pulling her hand out of his grasp. She turned around, giving him her back, and said, “That’s fine and dandy, Hotshot, but you left me because I wasn’t ready to be a mother.”
She felt the weight of his hands on her shoulders and she shivered. “First of all, I didn’t break up with you. I would never break up with you, Toph. I just suggested we take some time, and you told me to get the hell out of your house–”
“It sounded like a breakup, so I just– I kicked you out,” Toph muttered, turning around to face him. “I wanted to beat you to the punch.”
It was evident to her that he was attempting to hold back a laugh at her response. “Second of all,” he continued, “I’d stay with you even if you didn’t want to be a mother. But deep down, I know that you want it. I know that you would want to raise a mini-Kanto.”
She couldn’t resist the snort she emitted. “Why not a mini-Toph, huh?”
“Whatever it is,” he said with a laugh, placing his hand on her cheek. She automatically leaned into his hand, having missed his touch. “You’d be great. I know it. But regardless of that, I love you, Toph, and I just– I’d be happy to just be with you, okay? I’m not going to– I wouldn’t leave you for not wanting to have kids. I wouldn’t leave you, period. Not unless you kick me out on my ass like you did a few months ago. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”
“You’re not a bad person to be stuck with,” she admitted after a few seconds of nibbling on her lip. “I mean, when you’re not pissing me off, of course.”
“Oh, of course ,” he leaned in a bit, his hand moving below her chin. “I’m going to have to try my hardest to not piss you off, then.”
Just as his lips brushed hers, Toph heard a loud cry come from the nursery. She snickered as Kanto’s forehead tiredly fell upon hers. “You can start by taking care of that .”
With a kiss to the corner of her mouth, he begrudgingly stepped away from her. “Your wish is my command, Chief.”
She shook her head fondly, happy to notice the heaviness she’d been carrying around recently melt away. Then, she scowled, as she felt two additional heartbeats lingering in the room neighboring the common area. Cackling to herself, she stomped the ground to survey her surroundings and confirm her suspicions.
“Your Graces can come out now,” Toph announced, an amused smile on her face as she felt both Katara and Zuko enter the room sheepishly.
“I’m sorry,” Katara said right away.
“No, you’re not,” Zuko quipped in a monotone. “She’s been talking about this for weeks and she roped me into it.”
Toph could feel Katara’s excitement through the ground. “He’s right. I’m not sorry. I’m happy. I’m satisfied. I am… content. But sorry isn’t something I feel right now, actually.”
“You’re lucky this worked out because she was plotting your murder,” Kanto said, joining them after settling little Kya down. His arm went around Toph’s waist immediately.
“You knew about this?”
“I swear I didn’t,” he said quickly. “I didn’t. But I did suspect something when I was told to leave the station and come here.”
Toph turned to Katara. “You’re so lucky I love him.”