AN: ATLA and LoK canon compliant. Let me know what you think! =D

Day 1- Regret

He made her an offer once. One she refused. One that years later she could finally admit she had been far too young and (though she loathed to say it) more than a little afraid to accept. But before she had a chance to change her mind, it was already too late.

Things started innocently enough in the spring. It was her birthday. None of the others were living in Republic City at the time; they had all returned home. But it was okay, Aang and Toph were used to it. He had been her first friend and they remained close ever since she ran away from home to train him. After the war they went their separate ways, but when both ended up in Republic City, it was as though they had never been apart.

The Chief of Police and the Avatar would have had to work together anyway, but since Toph and Aang knew each other so well, they chose to do it even when it wasn't necessary. The easy camaraderie they shared just made their respective jobs all the more fun. That was part of the reason the Avatar took it upon himself to plan the entire evening. The other was that she wouldn't have done anything if he hadn't.

Dinner, dancing, and drinks led to an unexpected kiss on the cheek, a second on the lips, and they were undone. Perhaps it was the alcohol, perhaps the last few weeks had been leading up to it. It was such a surprise, for both of them. Unexpected did even begin to cover it and though it happened fast, it felt right and neither questioned it.

By summer they were running around the city, making out in dark corners, keeping their romance secret from everyone else. All their responsibilities as the Avatar and Chief Beifong took priority, however, and they continued to work together during the day. But, at night it was different. They were different. He grew more confident, she opened up to him. He showed her how to fly Appa, she taught him to metalbend. And then one night...

"Toph..." He suddenly felt the need to tell her. Despite his insistence, she refused to have the 'exes' talk. "It doesn't matter," she told him. "We're here now." Still, this was something he thought she should know. "I've...I've done this before," he said, his mouth pausing near her collar bone. And by 'this' he meant what they were about to do.

There was a long silence where he held his breath, waiting for her reaction. Then, it came.

"Good," she laughed with a sigh of relief. "Then I don't have to explain where everything goes."

"But-" His eyes snapped up to her in surprised. When he spoke, she could still hear it in his voice. "You...you don't care?"

"Look, Twinkletoes, you had a life before us. No one knows what comes next and-"

"I do," he swore, cutting her off. The intensity with which he said it made her insides twist into knots, then untwist and twist again. "You're it for me, Toph."

She would never know how much it took for him to keep from kissing her senseless in that moment, but he didn't want to sway her with actions. He needed his words to get through to her.

"You," he said, closing all distance that separated them. "You're all I need."

Being an Air Nomad, of course he didn't need much. Being the Avatar, he was taken care of wherever he went. But it was Aang, the boy he had been, the man he had grown into, that was making that promise and her heart swelled. He couldn't possibly be fully aware of what he was saying or know what his words meant to her. She never expected it, not for her, not from him. A wistful smile appeared on her face and Toph shook her head.

"Is it so hard to believe?" Aang asked.

It was.

"Because I thought I was pretty clear with my intentions," he added with a sly smile before dipping his head to place soft kisses up her neck. "I love you," he whispered and she went very still.

Her reaction was what he expected. She was upset, or he thought she was. Despite knowing it was a risk, he couldn't not tell her. The words had been on the tip of his tongue for days. After Katara, Aang didn't think it would happen again. And definitely not so fast. But, it had.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

It took most of her strength to reach up and cradle his face in her hands. And the rest to maintain a steady voice as she replied. "How about... I do, too?" The shy, almost smile on her face made his heart skip a beat.

Nothing could ever sound better and Aang told her so before kissing every last inch of her. He wasted no time tasting her skin, getting lost in the scent that was uniquely hers, touching the dips and swells of her body until he memorized each and every one. That night was only the beginning.

The next few days were incredible. Bending battles that led to making love, falling asleep in each other's arms, greeting each new day side by side. It was a week of bliss and then, the letter that changed everything arrived.

Toph sighed at the memory because their time together had long passed. Four children had happened since then; three his, one hers, none belonging to both. Out in public, they were the perfect friends and colleagues. And yet, there were moments she could sense Aang was also thinking about what they shared. Nothing else could explain that feeling that ran through her, that she was certain he experienced as well whenever their hands came into fleeting contact or whenever someone talked about the early days of the city. It was evident in the way his arms lingered around her after a painfully short embrace and how his heartbeat raced every time she walked into a room. It was clear in the way he said her name when it was just the two of them alone and how they purposely stood in opposite ends of a room when others were present.

Wishful thinking, she told herself. That's all it was. Because they never spoke of their time together. Never. No one else even knew of it. Only she and Aang felt the impact of that one letter. Toph could still remember the two words that destroyed what they had, two words that were like knives to her heart.

"Katara's pregnant."

It had been over for months. An amicable breakup. Mutually agreed upon. But in a last ditch effort to save their relationship they tried everything. But that was then, now someone else would enter the picture and Toph knew what she had to do.

"We can work through this," Aang insisted, kissing her hands then holding them to his chest. "Please, don't leave. Please...stay with me, Toph."

She wanted to. The World's Greatest Earthbender would have moved the earth itself if it would have helped. But, nothing could.

"You're going to be a father, Twinkletoes. Sweetness is gonna be a mom." There was no room for her in that equation. Aang and Katara may have grown apart, but they had loved each other once and could do it again. That baby would be counting on it.

"I don't want to lose you..." he begged and she could hear the tears there.

Slipping out of his arms, Toph stepped away from him.

"It's too late," she had told him and then she did what she had to, throwing words around like sharp blades she knew would cut deep. Duty, honor, and his people were counting on him to do the right thing.

Aang couldn't argue with that and he had to watch her walk away.

Though it was the right decision at the time, some days it was impossible not to think about what could have been. And, in the back of her mind, if she was the only one who wondered. Then, one night after their ordeal with Yakone in the courthouse, when Aang insisted to be the one to take her home from the hospital after getting an all-clear from the city's best healers, she finally knew.

"You okay, Twinkletoes?"

Toph broke the silence once they reached her house. Knowing how he felt about taking someone's bending away, she knew he couldn't be okay, but she asked the question anyway.

"I should be asking you that," he countered, following her out of the car. He preferred to fly, but a car was good for anonymity. "What Yakone did..." Bloodbending was awful. It robbed a person of control, of choice. It hurt physically to have to endure, and it was mentally draining as well. But, it was much more painful for Aang to have witnessed Toph going through it than having experienced it himself.

After they both entered her home, he closed and locked the door behind them. "Where's Lin?" he asked.

"Suki offered to watch her after you insisted I needed to be checked out," she replied still annoyed. "Why?"

Walking over to the window, the Avatar looked out at the city. The lights, the buildings...it was beautiful. Not even Ba Sing Se was as impressive. With his gaze fixed on the Police Station, he finally addressed the woman standing only a short distance away.

"I didn't fight for you."

That seemed like a strange thing for him to say and Toph made a face. "What are you talking about? No one could possibly know what Yakone was capable of."

In three long strides he was standing before her. Though he took her hand in his, he kept a respectable distance. It didn't matter, the small, but prolonged contact, the feel of skin, the warmth, it put them both on edge.

"What's going on, Aang?"

"I didn't fight for you," he repeated, his voice hoarse. When he saw Yakone lift Toph off the ground, bloodbending her against her will, the rage that ran through him could hardly be contained. Had he never learned to master the Avatar state, he would have destroyed that courthouse in seconds. "All those years ago...I didn't fight for us. And I should have."

A sound like a sob tried to escape her lips, but she reeled it in. To hear him say it after so long...to confirm her suspicions... A heaviness, that empty feeling in the pit of her stomach, lodged in her heart, it disappeared with his confession. But as much as she wanted to forget the world again to be with him in that moment, too much had happened, too much had changed. Their children were now involved, for Oma's sake!

Toph tried to move away, but Aang didn't release his hold on to her hand. She could have fought him and he would have probably relented. But, she didn't want to. Instead, she clutched his with the same desperation.

"I wouldn't have let you if you tried," she answered with a smirk, downplaying the swirl of emotion she was experiencing. No matter how much I would have wanted to, she added silently. "Things happened the way they did for a reason."

"I know," he agreed with a long sigh. Looking into green eyes that couldn't look back, one thought continued to cross his mind. When he took a step back and let go of her hand, he told her what it was he had been thinking of late.

"Maybe... maybe we'll have better luck next time..."

She scoffed. I'm not falling for you in another lifetime, she wanted to say, though something - the strangest feeling - told her she had before and would again. "Maybe," Toph replied with her trademark smirk in place. "We'll see."