Lin shrugged Tenzin's oversized robes over her body with a scowl. She tugged the sleeves that slid down her arms up around her shoulders. It was a futile effort. The sleeves dipped again, so she adjusted them to hang from one shoulder, exposing her collar bone. Tenzin gave her a pointed look when he saw it.

"What do you want me to do?" she snapped, annoyed. Tenzin sat on the edge of his bed, unresponsive. He looked as if he were about to face a firing squad. Lin sighed at the sight of him.

"Relax," she began in a softer voice, "we aren't in trouble." He raised his eyebrows at this skeptically.

"Well, we shouldn't be," she corrected in a huff.

"But we are. So let's just go out there and let them go through their speeches. Let's just get this over with," he groaned gloomily.

"Are you trying to tell me to keep my mouth shut?" Lin questioned with a dangerous edge to her voice. He considered his words carefully, drawing out an honest response.

"Y-Yeeees?" He replied, closing one eye as if expecting a slap. It never came, instead she put her hands on her hips and looked at the ceiling.

"I'll try," she conceded, begrudgingly. He reached out and grasped her wrists, pulling her toward him. He kissed her hand and looked up at her.

"Thank you," he told her gratefully.

The hallway outside Tenzin's room seemed longer than usual as he made his way along it like a man on a death march. Lin was at his side, dragging her feet with a scowl across her face. They rounded the corner into the family room to face their mothers. Katara, looking deadly serious, was tapping her foot. Toph wore a cheshire grin and looked as if she were about to crack her knuckles.

"Why don't you two have a seat," Katara ordered. Tenzin dutifully complied, while Lin fell back on the couch with all her force, her defiant attitude on display as she crossed her arms over her chest for good measure.

"Did you even feed the lemurs?" Katara began. Tenzin shook his head and she scoffed.

"Time just got away from us," he explained quietly.

"I can imagine," Toph nodded in amusement.

"We were just swimming," he fibbed. All three women narrowed their eyes at him.

"I'm really disappointed, Tenzin," Toph sighed. He hung his heavy head, guilty. "I thought you would have gotten me a present for my birthday." There was a pause as all the sighted people in the room looked at one another curiously, Toph's winter birthday was nowhere near the blazing heat of today. "Seeing as you seem to think I was born yesterday," she finished. Lin rolled her eyes and groaned at the joke, sinking further back into the couch.

"I think we all know what you two were really up to, Tenzin," Katara followed up, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah! You were doing the business," Toph proclaimed, pointing at them with one accusatory finger. Katara's nose crinkled and she looked at her friend quickly, whose finger stayed rigid all the while.

"The point is," Katara continued, "the two of you are engaging in something that should be given a lot of consideration and is reserved for older, more... married people."

Tenzin could see Lin out of the corner of his eye- she was chewing her bottom lip ostensibly to hold herself back from speaking. Tenzin prayed to the sprits for her to chew harder. The last thing they needed right now was Lin's righteous indignation.

"This isn't something you just do without thinking about it first," Toph added.

"Like you did?" Lin muttered under her breath. All the muscles in Tenzin's body tightened, he knew from experience that if Lin started talking during this lecture that there would be a level of terror unknown since the hundred year war unleashed upon everyone in the room.

Toph's head turned quickly in the direction of her daughter's voice, "How nice of you to finally join us, Sassafras. Got something you wanna say?"

Tenzin and his mother looked at one another and for a moment, they were on the same side: the side that didn't wish to be present for a Beifong argument. They were shouters.

"I do actually," Lin replied, straightening her back. Tenzin groaned.

"Sorry, Tenzin," she told him quickly, turning back to her mother, "but don't you think its a little hypocritical of you to lecture us about responsible sex? I mean, the only reason I'm even here is because you did it- outside of marriage I might add."

Katara opened her mouth as if she were going to interject, but Toph beat her to it.

"That's a whole other story, kid- and I was a lot older than you are now."

"What does age have to do with it?" Lin argued, "Tenzin and I are adults, capable of making our own decisions and we're always responsible," Lin insisted. Tenzin dragged one hand down his face in silent agony.

"Always?" Katara questioned.

"Every time," Lin confirmed. Tenzin winced. Katara looked at Toph quickly who was now pressing her lips together, in thought. "So, you've done this before," Katara ventured, unsure she wanted to know the answer.

Lin's face was incredulous, "Of course. You think I'd lose my virginity in a cave?"

Tenzin's head dropped back and he sighed.

"Oh great- you guys have been doing it long enough to be spicing it up with new locations," Toph grumbled. Katara had begun pacing, unsure what to do with this information. A tense silence settled over the room, the muted sounds of Katara's soft foot falls echoing around them.

"So..." Tenzin began carefully, "can we just receive our punishments...or..." He was hopeful to put this conversation firmly in his past, but of course- Lin had more to say.

"Punishment? We have nothing to be sorry for," she protested. Tenzin threw his hands up quickly before folding them across his chest. So close. "Unbelievable," he muttered low enough so that it went unheard by his dauntless girlfriend.

Katara paused to address them, finally finding her voice, "When you say you've been responsible..." she led.

"I've been taking tea," Lin supplied in a voice a little less defiant than she'd used all day.

Toph's fist slammed into her open palm, "Ah-ha!" she shouted, "I knew I've been going through that tea faster than normal! You sly little punk."

Lin shrugged, shrinking back into the couch, "Would you rather I get pregnant?"

"Spirits no," Toph blurted.

"Well, that's why I had to take it. I don't ever want to have a kid," Lin affirmed.

"Good!" Katara and Toph chorused just as Tenzin's head whipped sideways to look at her.

"Like never ever?" He asked meekly.

"Ugh, no," Lin asserted without looking at him, too concerned with the opinion of her elders. Katara tapped her lip thoughtfully and looked at Toph.

"I didn't realize you were taking tea," she told her, distracted by this tidbit.

"Eh, been down that road before. I'm not signing up for another back-talking teen anytime soon," Toph returned with a shrug. Unfortunately for her, the blush creeping across her cheeks betrayed the air of calm she was attempting to project.

"That would make us cousins," Lin chimed in with a shudder, gesturing between herself and Tenzin.

"What?" Katara asked, confused. Toph shook her head quickly in the direction of her daughter, unaware that Katara was looking straight at her.

"Wait, what?" Katara asked again.

Toph released a sigh of defeat and turned her head toward Lin, "How did you even know that?"

"You're not the only one who can tell when something's being drilled," Lin snarked. Toph burst into a gut-busting laugh.

"What?!" Katara shouted, confused by their conversation and shocked by Lin's joke. "Ok- that was a pretty good one," Toph admitted.

Katara looked around at each of them, bewildered. Tenzin was bouncing his knee anxiously, looking at the floor. Lin was smirking as she watched Toph laugh to the point of tears.

"No!" Katara finally burst. "No, that wasn't a good one. Lin- watch your mouth. Toph- don't encourage her...and Tenzin- Tenzin go feed the lemurs!"

Tenzin's face lit up, grateful to be excused by his flustered mother. He wasted no time making his exit.

"Can I go too?" Lin questioned as the airburst from Tenzin's exit ruffled her hair and blew her loose robes about dangerously.

"No," Katara instructed. She turned to Toph and placed a hand on her shoulder in order to ensure the earthbender's full attention. "Is there something going on with you and Sokka?"

Toph shrugged one shoulder, "Maybe."

Katara's mouth hung open and she stole a quick glance at Lin, who was adjusting her saffron robes and looking rather bored with the whole situation.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Well, we considered taking an ad out in the paper until we remembered its not really anyone's business," Toph replied. Katara scowled at her, then looked at Lin again.

"What are you still doing here? Go set the table," Katara ordered. Lin looked around quickly and left the room like a crafty fox making an exit.

"I can't believe you never told me something this big," Katara continued.

Toph cut across her, "you see what just happened here, right?"

"What?"

"She flipped it around on us," Toph sighed, nodding her head slowly in acknowledgement.

"Dammit!" Katara whispered, looking at the empty sofa.

"Oh don't worry- this isn't over," Toph informed her with a comforting pat on the shoulder. "We've still got dinner. I'll be damned if that kid thinks she can out-embarrass me. I've only just begun!" Toph announced triumphantly.

Katara smacked her forehead. It was going to be a long night.