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Suyin swirled the final measure of wine around the bottom of the bottle. Tilting the neck to her sister, she asked, “Is this yours or mine?”
Lin polished off her glass and waved the bottle away. “I haven’t drunk this much in years. You can have it.”
When Su’s face wrinkled into a very specific, crafty expression, Lin frowned. “What?”
Still swirling the bottle in front of herself, Su said, “Let’s see what you say when I remind you what year it is.”
Lin scrunched up her face, and closed her eyes, sorting through her mind through a light haze of inebriation. It was late Korra 23. There would be big celebrations for the Avatar's twenty-fifth birthday, the year after next. Planning committees had been meeting for months. Lin had already had conversations with Tenzin and his siblings about going to see Katara and let the kids celebrate in the city without their extra layer of sadness.
Lin, herself, would turn 55 in just a few months. She grimaced, wishing the fake milestone meant much. Even her doctor didn’t know why she hadn’t hit menopause yet.
Su wasn’t even 50, so that wasn’t it. She went down the list of the family, slowly calculating birth dates from Zuko through Rohan.
She lurched up in her seat when the cork bounced off her empty hand, glad she’d finished the wine in her glass. “What was that for?” she growled.
“You’re taking too long. I’m tired and getting bored watching you try to think while drunk.”
Lin was bent over, her hand reaching for the cork where it rested by her foot when Su reminded her, “The twins turn 21 in a year.”
Lin turned the cork over in her fingers, as if the stamp on the side would help her out. So what? The twins were getting older, just like everyone else. They were the…
Youngest Beifongs.
A hazy memory of Bolin and Opal announcing their decision to part ways without having children swam in the back of her mind. But any of Opal’s eventual - potential - children would be the next generation. Wing and Wei were still the youngest of the seventy-seventh generation of the Beifong Family.
And always would be.
“Oh, no.”
Su tilted the neck of the bottle back to Lin yet again.
“Oh, yes.”
They met each other’s eyes. Su’s smirk was infuriating.
Her words were terrifying.
“If you don’t want to tell one of them the other is the next The Beifong, you need to have a baby by this time next year.”
The last thing she heard before passing out was her sister’s unrestrained cackling.
***
The smell switched her brain on like a light switch.
A hand held her shoulder down.
“Aunt Lin, just lay still. It’s just a little smelling salts. Mom said you weren’t feeling too good.”
Lin pressed a hand to her eyes. Her feet were elevated, her other hand was splayed off the side of the couch. A warm, wet cloth was being pressed against her forehead.
Reluctantly, she pulled her hand away from her face. The square, concerned faces of Wing and Wei gazed at her. Wing removed the compress, and Wei put the stopper in a small bottle.
“How long was I out?”
The twins shrugged. “Not very long,” Wei said. “Mom was laughing when she came and found us and said you needed to speak with us, but when we got here, you were out cold.”
They looked at each other. Wing finished, “She gave us this stuff and told us to wait for you to wake up.”
Lin pressed the hand back to her eyes and rubbed her forehead. With a sigh, she shoved out to back them away from her as she tilted upright.
Rubbing her face was just not enough to rub the frown away. The twins settled in seiza position, holding their first aid items against their knees. Wei asked, “Can we do anything else for you?”
Lin straightened her back, propped her hands on her thighs and flared her elbows.
“Which one of you wants to be The Beifong?”
Thanks to their laughter, Lin would never again doubt that Su was their mother.
***
The door opened and Mako stepped through.
“You asked to see me, Chief?”
Lin bent the door closed as he scooted out of its way. She stood from her desk, turned away from him, and clasped her hands behind her back. She walked to the bench at the far end of the room, well away from the door.
Mako shrugged to himself and followed her.
“Sit.”
His butt was halfway to the bench when she quietly added, “Please.”
He froze mid-sit in surprise.
“Chief?”
Her back was to him, staring out the window. He decided to risk a joke.
“You aren’t firing me after all that talking we did on the way home, I hope.”
Her surprised gasp and the tiny lift of her shoulders gave him a fright. Am I in trouble after all?
Still standing with her back to him, her hands behind her back, she clenched one hand around the other wrist and drew a breath in through her teeth. “I have a proposition for you, but you have to resign first.”
His heart stopped beating. He blinked several times, desperately fighting for time.
“Say that again, Chief. I think I heard you wrong.”
She pivoted in place. Her expression was flat, not angry.
She thinks I’ll say no.
“This has to be entirely voluntary. But we can’t discuss it while you are my employee. You have to resign and get another job. I know Asami wants you to work in her Security Division.” She rolled her eyes. “She’ll pay you better than I can.” Her second eye roll came with an amused smirk. “While you work for the city, anyway.”
She looked at him, the smirk sitting softly on her face. It was nothing like the expression she’d worn when not-consoling him over breaking up with Korra in front of the entire bullpen. She let her hands fall to her sides, and she took a seat in the chair within reach.
He got the impression she almost reached for his hand.
“Take the rest of today off. Think about it. If you resign, then we talk, and you say no, you can have your job back if you want it, and we’ll pretend this conversation never took place. Or you can still work for Asami, and we can stay friends.” A cloud passed over her face. “If that is ok with you.”
Mako felt his brow crease. Is she nervous?
They looked at each other for another moment, patiently examining each other’s face.
Finally, he nodded. “Ok, Lin. I’ll think about it. You’ll know by lunch tomorrow.”
She really is beautiful when she smiles.
***
They shook hands the next day, in full view of the bullpen’s assembled ranks.
“Mako, thank you for your service to Republic City, and the world at large. You have made a fine officer. Future Industries has made an excellent move in hiring you. While I am sad to see you leave this office, I’m sure your future endeavors will be fruitful.”
He was so touched by her words that he wrote them down before he’d made it ten steps beyond the outside doors.
Little did he understand what her choice of words would mean for him.
***
The door crashed against the wall, slammed open by a seething Suyin.
“What are you doing here? You’re two weeks early…”
The baby’s wail cut short any thought process she had.
Her vision was blacked out by a soft object flying across the room and over her face.
Su grasped the thing and pulled it out to look at.
It was fluffy and yellow, with a small turtle-duck on the corner.
A burp cloth?
Su frowned in consternation. “What…?”
Lin straightened, a wailing infant cradled in her arms. On her far side, Su saw Mako’s hand flare around a bottle as he gently whirled the milk inside. He pressed it against the back of Lin’s arm, and she nodded at him. He gave her a small smile before leaning around the baby to kiss her.
When Su choked, they looked at her disapprovingly.
Lin turned to face her, adjusting the babe in her arms.
“Tomoko, meet your Aunt Suyin. She’ll give you your bottle since she’s the one who woke you up.”
Su’s instincts kicked in and her attention narrowed as the baby’s weight settled into her arms. She accepted the bottle and offered it to the still crying child.
With a small snuffle, Tomoko accepted the bottle and began sucking. Su smiled softly at the baby, layers of memories coloring her vision.
“Tomoko, how lovely it is to meet you. I hope Lin hasn’t told you too many stories about me, yet.”
She risked a glance up, and was rocked by the image of Lin leaning against Mako, his arm draped protectively along the span of her shoulders. Their faces wore bracingly similar stony expressions.
“Lin, I’m sorry to wake up this beautiful little one. You haven’t spoken to me since you left after the twins’ last birthday. Why are you caring for a baby?” she asked, her tone full of confusion, hurt, and burning curiosity.
Lin shrugged. She looked up at Mako, who nodded at her.
She looked Su square in the face and dropped the biggest bomb she could.
“She’s ours.”
Su had rarely been so profoundly shocked in her entire life.
They stared at each other, Su’s jaw slack. Lin slid an arm around Mako’s waist as he said, “Lin and I left together to get back to the city right after you two had that conversation about the twins last year.” He paused, checking that Lin was still ok. “We talked a lot.”
He glared at Su when he heard her scoff.
“We talked the whole way back. About growing up and being responsible for you and Bolin. About not having a dad around.” He gave Lin a squeeze.
Lin picked up the story. “The day after we got back to the city, he turned in his notice, cleared his cases, and left the department. A week later, he met me as I was leaving work, and we went to dinner.”
Su was intrigued at the way they continually glanced at each other, reading each other’s eyes.
“Since then, he has taken a position with the company that runs the pro-bending league.”
Mako nodded. “We’ll be expanding to Ba Sing Se, Fire Fountain Island, and maybe Harbor City. I’m planning to talk to Wing and Wei about sponsoring demonstrations of Power Disk.”
Su checked on Tomoko, and saw that she was finished with the bottle. Mako took the bottle, and adjusted the burp cloth over Su’s shoulder. Swaying gently, Su positioned the baby and started patting her gently on the back.
Lin bent over the bed, rustling through a bag and pulling out fresh clothes for the baby. “One thing led to another. I was pregnant within a month.”
Su snorted. “I did that math five minutes ago.”
Mako placed a hand on the small of Lin’s back as she straightened. “She retired the next month. She was a hero.” His face lit up as he gazed down at her.
This time, Su gasped. “You retired and you didn’t tell me?!”
Tomoko’s burp startled Su into paying more attention. Mako stepped over behind her and reached for his daughter. Lin draped a fresh burp cloth over his shoulder and kissed the baby on the temple.
“I wasn’t going to be an absentee mother like Toph,” Lin answered, ignoring the second half of Su’s question.
“When will you tell her?” Su asked.
The parents exchanged glances again. “We stopped by to see her on the way here,” Mako supplied. “Grandmother’s privilege. She was just mad my grandma outranks her on the family tree.”
All three of them turned at a knock on the door. Mako crossed the room and opened it to find what he suddenly realized were his niece and nephews in a noisy huddle.
They started to push him aside, but once Wing spotted the baby, the group stumbled backward, making even more noise by shushing each other.
Huan shouldered through the group, walked up to Mako and laid a gentle hand on the crown of the infant’s head. “May we come inside?” he asked in a low voice.
Mako stepped backward, using his foot to swing the door wider. He kept up a soft patting on the baby’s back.
The four siblings made their way inside, fanning out around their mother. Mako maneuvered his way through the suddenly crowded room to stand next to Lin.
“Is there room for one more?” Baatar’s voice came from the hallway. Huan stepped back to wave him in and let him join Su in the middle of their family.
Lin cleared her throat. “Everyone, this is Tomoko Beifong.”
The older kids exchanged confused glances until Wing and Wei pointed at each other. “The Beifong!” Wei jostled his twin. “So, Aunt Lin, you really do love us if you went and had a baby just to let us not be The Beifong.”
The burp cloth hit him in the face.
By his reaction, it wasn’t the clean one.
“No. And if any of you people ever say that in front of her again, you’ll find out just how angry I can be.”
The Zaofu clan exchanged glances, clearly remembering her fight with their mother, years earlier.
Lin looked at Mako, reaching for their daughter. He transferred the child into her elbow, helping them adjust. The light kiss he pressed to Tomoko’s forehead pulled a chorus of ‘awws’ from the other family.
He and Lin exchanged a glance of mutual exasperation.
With her left hand lightly covering her child’s chest, Lin smiled down at the baby. Across the room, Su leaned against Baatar and wished she could remember if Lin had ever looked at her with that smile.
Lin lifted her face to Mako, who held her gaze. “Trust me. Tomoko being The Beifong is the farthest thing from my mind. Maybe she will want to. Maybe one of you will decide to take on the responsibility. We have twenty-one years to decide whether we even need a new clan leader.” Mako nodded, and wrapped his arm around Lin’s shoulders again.
Tomoko reached up toward her mother’s face, and Lin kissed her tiny hand.
“But she will know that she is loved. And she will have a father, and an uncle, and cousins who will move mountains for her.”
And the Beifongs drew close in a circle, welcoming the next Beifong to the family.