A/N: One of several ideas I've had cooking around in my head for a while. Just the first one to get thrown onto paper.

A few things before we get started: There's a few chapters worth of setup before we get into the main plot, so bear with me for a minute here. I'll try to keep updating as quickly as possible. Also I'm a huge Taang fan, so be prepared for that. Rated T for now, but the rating may go up depending on how gruesome/ saucy I'm feeling in the future. May ask for feedback on reader opinions before I go doing all that. Enough of that stuff for now though, I'll let you read.

/rant

Enjoy.

Toph slid off of Appa, feeling the forest's underbrush crunch under her bare feet as she landed. The last rays of the setting sun warmed her skin against the brisk evening breeze. She took a deep breath of the chilly air, digging her toes into the cool earth beneath her.

Sighing contentedly, she allowed herself to fall back onto the ground, a smile working its way across her face.

"You know," she heard, a light pair of feet landing on the ground beside her, "If you keep reacting like that every time we land, Appa might start wondering if you really missed him as much as you say you did."

Five years would change anyone, but Toph still found herself mildly surprised each time the Avatar spoke with his deep, resonating voice. They'd only seen each other a few times over the years since Ozai's defeat. Between him being on "Avatar business" all the time, and her taking up teaching in the fledgling Republic City, it wasn't as often as they might like. She was still adjusting to some of the changes.

"Appa's not as much of a drama Queen as you are, Twinkles." She sat up, resting her hand against Appa's side and stroking gently. "Fuzzball knows I missed him plenty."

Appa gave a rumbling sound of approval at the statement.

"See?" She asked.

Aang gave a light chuckle. "Oh sure, take her side, traitor."

Toph felt his heavier, albeit still comparably dainty steps make their way toward Appa. He started the lengthy process of unbuckling saddlebags and unloading their camping equipment.

"Hey Twinkletoes," she called, reaching a hand out towards him. "Lemme help."

"Are you sure about that, Sifu Toph?" He asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Learning from Sokka's example, no doubt. "I'd hate to take away from your bonding time with Fuzzball, after all."

She allowed herself a small smirk, mostly hiding it behind her long black bangs. She reached her arm out slightly further, more insistently. "I'm offering to help set up camp. Me. This doesn't happen often, so if I were you, I'd shut my trap and give the blind girl a hand before she changes her mind and decides to let you do everything."

He abandoned his current task, and she felt his long, thin fingers wrap around her much smaller hand. He'd apparently had quite the growth spurt.

"As Melonlord commands." He said, and she could practically hear the goofy grin in his voice. Some things would never change.

He pulled her up, slightly faster than she'd expected, and she had to brace herself by placing a hand lightly on his chest. He didn't budge as her weight pressed against him, towering over her as he did nowadays. She'd have been impressed by his lack of give, had she not gotten distracted by the lean muscle covering his torso. She'd noticed it before, really. It was hard not to compare old, wimpy Aang to his current stature. The stronger, firmer heartbeat coupled with the louder, thumping footsteps he made as he walked had already given her a pretty good mental image. But it was something else to actually feel the difference under her fingertips.

"Uhh, Toph?" Aang asked when she didn't remove her hand right away. "You okay?"

She realised what she was doing and quickly pushed him away, the lightest shade of pink dusting her cheeks, virtually unnoticeable in the light of the setting sun.

Yep, he's definitely grown. She thought to herself.

"I'm fine," she said. "And take it easy, twinkles. When I said 'help me up', I didn't mean to fling me back onto Appa."

"Sorry," he replied, at least having the decency to sound sheepish. "Guess I don't know my own strength," he joked, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully.

"Yeah? Well try manhandling me again if you wanna know mine." She threatened, though the smirk on her face gave away that the statement was nothing more than her usual bravado.

He chuckled in his typical good-natured manner for a moment before setting off to do his part. It was easy enough to fall into their usual system, Aang airbending his way into the forest to collect deadwood, while Toph laid out the bedrolls and earthbended a small pit for the campfire. Normally, she'd go with her "earth tent" setup, but as they traveled further south, the weather grew colder. She'd begrudgingly accepted the need for a bedroll at the last stop, much to Aang's apparent relief.

Toph wasn't the easiest person to convince, she knew this. Teaching a new generation of metalbenders and a reliable guard force had softened her up a bit, but anyone aside from her students still faced the brunt of her coarse personality. She was still just as stubborn and hard-headed as ever, and she made no apologies for it.

Still, after all the time spent in Republic City with students and strangers alike, it was nice to be around an old friend who didn't expect one from her to begin with. There'd been some growing pains when they'd all first met, to be sure, but everyone in the old gang had eventually accepted her for who she was, faults and all. She was looking forward to seeing them all again.

Her only concern was that Aang had seemed… Distant when talking about the others over the past few days of travel. He answered vague questions about what they were up to, and how they were doing. Beyond that, he was evasive about providing any real detail. Something had happened, and Toph hated being out of the loop. They'd be at the South pole by the following night, so tonight was her last chance to get it out of him before the whole group was back together, Sparky included. Twinkletoes was going to fess up, one way or another.

As if on cue, said airbender landed in the clearing, a light breeze blowing outward from where his feet had touched the ground. Anyone else might not have even heard the landing- but Toph? Growth spurts or no, she was so attuned to his prissy airbending steps that he may as well have slammed a boulder into the ground to announce his arrival.

"Sorry it took so long." He'd only been gone for maybe three minutes.

She shrugged and waved him off dismissively as he set about starting the fire. The sun was nearly gone now, she could feel it. Its warmth on her skin was very quickly being replaced by the chill of the nightime air.

After the fire was started, they helped themselves to a light dinner, mostly provided by the generosity of the Southern Air Temple Acolytes. Which, unfortunately, meant that it was mostly fruits and bread. Luckily there was a bit of jerky in the mix, as not all of the acolytes were willing to fully abandon all aspects of their former lifestyles, so Toph could at least enjoy a bit of real food.

After the meal, they were sitting in silence on opposite sides of the campfire, listening to the snapping of burning twigs. The quiet that stretched between them was companionable enough, but questions were still burning in Toph's mind, and it started to grate on her.

"You know," she began, "Can't imagine Snoozles would've been too happy with that meal. He'd probably be complaining about the lack of meat right now."

A quick breath of air that Toph suspected was almost a chuckle came from Aang. "He'd probably be hunting down the second course right now."

"Correction, he'd probably already be in some stupid trouble by now and you'd be on your way to bail him out. Again."

Aang looked up from the fire, and she could hear the amused tone that usually meant he was arching an eyebrow. "Don't you mean 'we' would be on our way to bail him out?"

"Nah, I'd be here relaxing by the fire."

He laughed. "Your concern for our good friend is touching."

Toph smirked in return. "What can I say, I guess I'm a big softie deep down. Besides, let's be honest. I think we both know I wouldn't really be able to relax if Katara was here, worrying enough for all of us."

There it was. Toph had used Sugar Queen's real name very deliberately, and she felt his heart rate spike at the sound of it. This wasn't the usual lovey-dovey kind of reaction either. He was nervous.

She pressed the attack. "I haven't talked to Sugar Queen in a while, actually. Snoozles at least stops by every now and again during his little trips he makes with his Dad, but Katara? Not even a letter."

"That's weird," he said distantly. He was replying, but he didn't really seem as though he was really paying attention anymore.

"So how are things in paradise?" She asked, keeping her tone as aloof as possible.

"It's…" He stared into the fire between them. "Complicated."

She nodded sagely, with exaggerated understanding. "She just hasn't been the same since the break-up, huh?" She asked.

"No, she hasn't." He replied. He stared at the fire for a moment before her words actually registered with him. "Wait," he said, heart rate spiking, "I mean- what I mean is- we didn't…"

"Psh," She cut him off. "Please, Twinkles. It was written all over your sad face."

"You can't even see my face." He replied, dejectedly.

"You're too easy to read." She continued, ignoring him.

In reality, it had been a shot in the dark. Well, maybe not a total shot in the dark.

She'd barely had any contact with any of them since the end of the war. The exceptions being Sokka, when his father came to Republic City as an emissary for the Southern Water Tribe, and of course Aang when he wasn't off traveling the world on "Avatar business". The subject of love lives would probably be the last thing she'd ever bring up. Not that it ever stopped Snoozles from gushing about it. He and Suki had tied the knot two years ago. And since then he'd been absolutely insufferable, never shutting up about how great his beautiful wife was, and how amazing his life was now.

Aang, obviously, had been more reserved. He didn't feel that the world needed to know everything that went on in his life- unlike a certain water tribe warrior- but he did at least make an effort to keep his friends updated during his travels.

His letters weren't lengthy or detailed things, as he still enjoyed taking face to face more than anything. Still, they'd had enough detail for Toph to have a general idea of what was going on. Diplomatic missions, meetings, and minor conflicts being resolved were the norm. Beyond that, there would usually be some personal tidbit. Usually involving Katara- either what they were doing or how much he missed her (and the rest of them, of course). Lately, not so much.

For it to have become such a rarity that even Toph had begun to suspect really spoke to just drastic the change was.

"So what happened?" She asked, carefully keeping her tone as even as possible. She knew how sensitive he got, sometimes.

"I thought I was easy to read?"

"I meant I can tell when something's wrong, dunderhead. Doesn't mean someone read me your diary. Now spill."

Aang stared at her for a moment, trying to decide if it was even worth it to try to worm his way out of this conversation. In the end, he decided it wasn't. Once Toph had her mind set on something, it was a futile effort to try to stop her.

He sighed heavily, watching the dancing flames. He couldn't meet her eyes right now, even if she couldn't see him. "To be honest, I don't know."

"Whaddaya mean, 'I don't know'?" she asked, her voice dropping an octave when she mimicked his depressed tone.

"I mean, I don't know!" He shot up to his feet, taking a few steps away from her, before running his hands over his scalp in frustration. "One second, everything was fine. I was visiting as often as I could. I was busy, so it was rough- but I was trying. We wrote each other, tried to spend as much time as we could together, but…" He took a slow, even breath, staring out into the woods around them. His voice had been rising gradually throughout his tirade, until he was practically shouting by the end.

Now, the silence that had settled over their clearing sat even more unpleasantly with Toph.

He took a long moment, just bringing his dismay back under control. His breathing slowly settled back to normal, and he returned to his place by the fire. He didn't say anything.

So Toph took it upon herself to break the silence.

"You still love her?" She asked.

"Are you kidding?" She could hear the indignation in his voice. "Of course I do."

It was the answer she was expecting, is course. But, for some reason, Toph felt something heavy settle in the pit of her stomach at the reply. Naturally, her face remained neutral, betraying nothing that she didn't want him to see.

"We fought through a war together. Took down Ozai-"

"I was there too, dunderhead." Toph interrupted without meaning to. She realized afterward how peeved she'd sounded, and quickly continued. "A-and Snoozles. And Suki."

Aang laughed a bit. It was deep and different, yet still airy and so very familiar. She didn't realize how much she'd missed the sound while he'd been away.

"Yeah, exactly. And Zuko, too." He sounded like he was caught between places, somewhere between the current conversation and his own reminiscing. "Somewhere along the way we all became a family. Do I still love her? Yeah. Romantically?" He paused, perhaps only now coming to this realization himself. "I don't think so… Not anymore. We both… drifted while I was away. Both of us changed. I think we just kinda…"

"...Grew up?" Toph offered.

"Yeah." Aang agreed. "She started growing into her role of rebuilding the Southern Water Tribe, and I finally had a chance to slow down, and start really settling into this whole 'Avatar' thing. We really started living our lives and I think… We found that we didn't fit into each other's anymore. At least not that way."

"You sound like you've got this all figured out, Twinkles." She said, idly biting off and chewing another piece of jerky.

"I guess." He replied, not sounding fully convinced.

"So what's eating you?"

"I just…" He fumbled for the right words, trying to decide how to put a voice to his problem. "I'm afraid that now we're gonna drift apart. Completely, I mean. When I came out of that iceberg, everyone I'd known was dead." He stopped, laughing suddenly enough to surprise Toph. "Except for Bumi."

She smiled too, remembering the eccentric Earth King's wild personality and snorting, gleeful laugh.

"And now that I have people I care about again, I don't wanna lose any of them, you know?" It was likely a rhetorical question, but Toph found herself nodding slowly anyway.

She knew exactly what he meant.

Three years ago- two years after the fall of Ozai- she'd learned just how unwilling she was to give them up, too.

-X-

When she'd returned to Gaoling some time after the conclusion of the war (mostly at Aang's insistence), she wasn't sure what she'd expected. Perhaps her parents would still be strict, and stubborn, but she'd at least held out the smallest amount of hope that they might look at her accomplishments and realize that she was a strong, capable individual, who needed no looking after. Instead, she'd found her mother, alone in the house after having separated from her father. Poppy was an emotional wreck, immediately falling to tears upon seeing her daughter. It had taken some time, but Toph eventually managed to reconcile most of her differences with the woman, coming to, at the very least, amicable speaking terms.

Toph's father, however, was a different story. After receiving his location from her mother, Toph had managed to track him down, and force a confrontation. One that made facing down the Firelord seem like a minor debate between friends. Lao had accused her of tearing their family apart, claiming that if she'd been less of an ungrateful shrew, he and her mother would still be happily married, and all would've been well. He demanded that she stop foolishly throwing her life away with her so-called friends, and return to being his obedient daughter.

She wasn't sure what happened then. She'd been angry at him for how he'd treated her when she'd been growing up, for sure. But suddenly she was furious. Finally- finally- she'd found people who'd accepted her for who she was- she'd found a real family- and he wanted her to drop them like a discarded napkin and become his subservient little doll again.

The very thought of being told to abandon them, never to see them again had filled her with such horrible, seething rage that she'd have been blinded by it if she were able to see in the first place. Words were exchanged, shouted from both father and daughter. Horrible, scathing words that Toph wasn't even sure that she meant. She'd called him a horrible father, saying that he'd been more of a Warden than family to her. She'd told him that he deserved to lose everything. She said that she and her mother were better off with him as far away from their lives as possible, and that she hoped that everything else was taken away from him, just as he'd taken her childhood from her.

She'd kept going, long after she'd stopped paying attention to the words passing her lips. Somewhere along the line, he had fallen completely silent, mouth slightly agape at the accusations and condemnation coming from his once sweet, innocent daughter.

Finally, the tide of words had come to an end, and they'd stood silently on opposite sides of his desk. Mere feet apart, but it may as well have been the Great Divide between them. Neither spoke for a long time, before Lao finally found his voice.

"Toph, I-"

"Save it. I don't want to hear your excuses, or your justification. Stay away from Mom, and stay away from me." She'd turned sharply away then, stomping toward the door.

She'd found her way outside, returning to a waiting Aang and Appa.

"So how'd it-" Aang had begun to ask.

"Don't." She'd interrupted. She remembered how pitiful her tone had sounded back then. How desperate she was never to speak of her father ever again.

So he didn't speak. She still remembered how shocked she'd been when his still-thin arms had wrapped around her waist, pulling her to him.

"Aang, what the hell do you think you're-" She'd been so ready to be angry. She'd needed some kind of outlet, and her hastily constructed wall of anger was going to be just that. Then she'd heard his voice, still in the process of changing. Though it didn't crack when he next spoke. His words were firm and sure.

"I'm so sorry, Toph." That was it. That was all it had taken for her wall to crumble as quickly as she'd built it, and for her anger to dissipate away. All that was left was a weak, hollow feeling, and she couldn't bear it.

Her fist that she'd raised to punch him for having the audacity to touch her now landed with a pitiful thump on his chest- all energy behind it having drained away. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she collapsed against him, burying her face into his shoulder. (They were still the same height, back then.)

She'd cried into his shoulder for a few minutes, before she had finally felt ready to take off for the recently founded Republic City. Ready to take on the job of making sure the city guard was up to the task. Because Aang had asked her to. He didn't force her, didn't expect anything of her that he knew she wouldn't want to do. Her real family had needed her, and she was all too ready to help.

They all needed each other, whether they admitted it or not.

-X-

Which was why she found herself getting up and walking around the fire to kneel down beside him. He'd been there for her when she'd needed it, and now it was finally time for her to return the favor.

His eyes had followed her as she approached, and his voice betrayed his bewilderment. "Uhh, Toph? What are you-"

He was shocked silent when her arms wound around his shoulders, gently pulling him toward her. With her kneeling, and him sitting, his head only came up to her chest, coming to a rest against it as she drew him in. She could feel his skin heat up, and his heart rate skyrocket.

"Uh-" he provided, eloquently. It was honestly a little flattering just how flustered he became at her proximity. Sure, he was like that around most girls, but that at least meant he remembered she was one.

"What was it you called us all, Aang?" She asked, trying to bring him back to the present.

"A f-family," He stuttered.

"Exactly. I may not know much about how family is supposed to work," She paused, allowing her mind to drift very briefly to her mess of a home life. "But I do know that they're supposed to stick together, no matter what. I bet Katara doesn't wanna lose you just as much as you don't wanna lose her. So suck it up, straighten out, and hold your head up. You know it's gonna take more than a little break-up to get rid of any of us."

"Y-yeah." He stammered. Then, with more confidence, "I guess you're right."

"I know I'm right." She replied. "Now-"

She pulled her arms back, slugging him in the shoulder- hard.

"Ow! What was that-"

She grabbed one of his ears, dragging his head toward her mouth. She thought she felt him shudder slightly at the feeling of her breath on his ear, but ignored the reaction and forced herself to focus.

"That, was for trying to keep secrets from me. Now you've got big ears, Twinkletoes, so I'm only gonna say this once. You ever try to keep something like that from me again, and you're gonna learn real quick that no one can hear you scream from underground, got it?"

"Yes ma'am." He replied quickly, his tone clipped and nervous.

She released his ear and leaned back on her haunches. "Good," she said, satisfied.

Suddenly, she was yanked forward again, feeling surprisingly strong arms locked around her midsection. She had thought his hug three years ago had been stifling, but it was nothing compared to this.

"Thanks, Toph." He said, earnestly. "I think I needed that."

Her cheeks were ablaze, and it took her a moment to form a coherent enough thought to wrestle out of his grip.

"Yeah, yeah," She said, much more bravado in her voice than she actually felt. "Enough hugging already. I feel like I need to punch a Saber-Tooth Moose Lion or something just to earn back my tough-chick image. I was just tired of hearing you mope around, is all. Don't read too much into it."

Aang's laughter once again shook his whole body with mirth. "Whatever you say, Sifu Toph."

Something about the way he said that made her face feel a little warm again, but she forced the feeling away, jabbing a finger into his chest. "If you tell anyone about this, I'll-"

"Yeah, yeah," He interrupted, mimicking her tone from earlier almost perfectly. (Albeit much lower in pitch) "Underground. I got it."

"Good," she said again, relaxing a bit. "Just wanted to make sure. I taught you earthbending, I know how slow you pick things up sometimes."

"Maybe you should try hurling some boulders at me. That seemed to help back then."

"Don't tempt me, Twinkletoes." She felt the grin tugging at the side of her lips as she settled down next to him. It was warmer on this side of the fire.

She felt something drape over her, warm and soft. One of the blankets they'd packed. It was thick, woven from the surplus of fur that their large companion shed on a daily basis. It even smelled a bit like Appa.

It smelled more like Aang. The blanket was his.

"Cold?" He asked.

"A little," She replied, scooting a bit closer subconsciously until their shoulders brushed. "Remind me why anyone in their right mind would live this far south?"

"I guess some people enjoy it."

"I said in their right mind, Twinkles." Toph said. "Remind me why we're here at least? I'd take the fire nation over this any day."

"Well I'm here because 'the Spirit Festival' sounds like something that the bridge between our world and the spirit world should attend."

"Fair," she replied, pressing her side against his when another particularly cold gust of wind blew by, chilling her to the bone.

"And you're here because you promised Sokka and Katara that you'd come."

She noticed that he said Katara's name without even a hint of his earlier melancholy that time, his sadness apparently forgotten. "Regretting that more and more every day. I could be in a nice cozy guard barracks right now." She said.

"And also," Aang continued. "Because Republic City's guard captain happens to be my best friend, and there's no way she'd let me go to this thing on my own, right?"

"Snoozles and Sugar Queen will be there." She offered, not even realizing that she'd once again brought up Katara, a potentially unhealed wound.

Aang either didn't notice or didn't mind at all, leaning against her.

"I know, I just think it'll be more fun with you there."

Toph started to smile at the warmth in his voice, but chose to hide it by turning it into a smug grin. "I guess I am pretty great."

"Yeah, you really are." He agreed, voice trailing off a bit at the end.

She couldn't hide her expression this time, surprise plainly written across her features. He'd said that so surely, as if there wasn't any doubt. Her face turned up toward him even as he slumped gently against her.

"Twinkletoes, what are you-" She cut herself off as she realized that his breathing had leveled off, even and calm. He'd fallen asleep.

She considered earthbending him off of her, or dragging him to his bedroll, but neither of those options appealed to her right this second. She was pretty comfortable where she was.

Just a few minutes. She promised herself, even though she knew that it was a lie. Figuring no one was around to see, she let herself nuzzle into his shoulder, shutting her eyes contentedly.

I've got the first couple of chapters written up already, so those just need to go through the editing/ submitting process before they show up here. Depends how excited I am to get that all submitted, I suppose.

After that I've got a rough draft outlining the rest of the story, so I'm gonna go ahead and throw out the rough estimate of a weekly update schedule.

As for the first chapter: Love it? Hate it? Think I should get the heck off of this website? Let me know! Been a while since I've written anything and I'm super excited to get back into it. Can't grow as a writer unless I have feedback though, so bring it on. Constructive, destructive, death threats, it all goes here.

A/R

Cheers,

-Specter