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The sun had not yet risen over Republic City. Lin had woken up at the same time every morning without fail.
She sat up and allowed her eyes to adjust to the dark room. The curtains fluttered as the cool morning breeze filled the bedroom.
The police chief gazed over at the other side of the bed seeing only long grey hair spread out across the pillow.
Her wife was still sleeping peacefully. Lin just gazed at the woman for a moment as she did every morning. She leaned over and gave the Waterbender an affectionate kiss to her jaw while also trying not to wake her.
Lin then carefully slid out of the bed and into the bathroom. She had the same routine every morning, well almost every morning. There were days where Kya was just not going to let her slip away from her and Lin would never deny her wife of her morning cuddles. Sometimes those mornings involved a bit more than simply innocent cuddling and Lin definitely was not going to choose her morning jog over that.
Kya had known Lin forever and had grown up together. They had been best friends even before ever getting together, so of course Kya knew how much the woman loved routines. On paper, Lin and Kya were polar opposites. Kya was the easygoing, spontaneous hippie whereas Lin was the serious, organized police chief.
However, what made their differences work in their relationship was the fact that they never tried to change the other person. They had fallen in love with each other because of these certain qualities.
Lin loves that fact that she can bring Kya to whatever Gala or event she is forced to be at and her wife will do all the talking for her. Kya on the other hand loves how meticulously Lin plans every date night or vacation so that it is a guaranteed success.
They were different yes, but the one thing they had always agreed on was the fact that they did not want kids. They had discussed this many times before and they had both been in agreement.
Still, the spirits have never seemed to care about what they wanted.
All it took was one look.
The moment had been ingrained in Lin's mind.
—-
Over a decade ago, Lin had been summoned to the South by her wife. A tragedy had occurred.
A southern village had been attacked by a militant group calling themselves the Red Lotus. They had one mission: find and capture the new avatar.
The first part of their mission had been a success and they had almost succeeded in the later portion only to be thwarted by those stationed in the South to protect the child.
The raid had not come without it losses. Among the losses were Kya's Uncle, Sokka, as well as both parents of the new Avatar.
When Lin arrived at the village she could feel the great loss in the atmosphere. After all the chaos had occurred, everything seemed quiet.
Lin ran towards Katara's Healing hut in search of Kya. The hut had been filled of many injured warriors. Everything else had been a blur to the woman, all she wanted to do was make sure her wife was safe.
She had been directed to a private section in the back of of the hut that was blocked off by more curtains.
Lin had parted the curtains and stepped inside. What she had seen made her stop right in her tracks.
Kya had been facing away from her. The upper portion of her tunic had been pulled down so that it hung around her waist leaving her whole bare upper body exposed.
She stood there swaying from side to side as she hummed softly under her breath. She didn't even seem to notice Lin's presence behind her.
"Kya?" Lin's voice was barely above a whisper.
The woman in question turned around at the familiar voice. When she turned around, what or rather who she was holding caught Lin even more off guard.
In Her wife's arms was a tiny child. Lin assumed it was a little girl due to the three tiny ponytails on her head. The child looked to be about three or four, but Lin didn't know for sure since she knew very little about children.
The child was shirtless as well showing off a small yet pudgy belly. She had been curled up in Kya's arms fast asleep.
Lin was too stunned to speak. She moved her mouth but no words came out. The chief just continued to look from her wife back down to the sleeping child.
"Lin?" Kya's voice brought Lin out of whatever trance she was in.
"Is that the..." Lin trailed off as she eyes the toddler.
"She has no one, Lin. I-I couldn't just leave her. Those monsters they-" As Kya spoke she was starting to get riled up which caused the young child ,who Lin now knew was the Avatar, to stir awake.
Lin rushed over towards her wife, but perhaps her movements had been a bit too abrupt for the more than likely traumatized young Avatar.
The child let out a cry as she flung her arm in an uncoordinated, childlike fashion sending a weak burst of flames in Lin's direction.
Lin immediately backed off.
"No no it's okay Korra, she isn't going to hurt either one of us," Kya spoke gently as she tried to calm the screaming child down.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare her," Lin could only watch as her wife attempted to stop the crying. She felt so useless and way out of her element here.
Kya on the other hand seemed to be a natural though Lin shouldn't be so surprised because she had always been the gentler one.
Seeing her wife with a child was certainly something foreign to her. Sure Kya would wave at little kids on the street and make funny faces at them when their parents were looking, but this seemed so much different. It was different yes, but it still seemed right.
Korra hid her face in Kya's neck. Her tiny fingers had been gripping Kya's long brown hair.
"Korea, this is Lin, the sweet one I told you about remember?"
Kya gestured for Lin to come over. The metal bender had never been scared of anything, but here she was, 37 years old and nervous to approach a three year old.
Lin slowly approached again with her hands up to show she meant no harm.
"I'm sorry, Kid. I uh, didn't mean to scare you." Lin was now realizing that she didn't even know how to speak to a child especially not one this young.
She met Kya's eyes silently asking if she was doing this properly. The waterbender nodded and encouraged Lin to continue.
"I'm Lin, but I think Kya already told you that. What's your name?"
The child picked her head up from Kya's shoulder and sniffled softly as she studied the new face in front of her.
This was the first time Lin was seeing the child's face clearly. Her big, shining blue eyes stared into her. Tears streaked her tiny face. She looked so sad. In Lin's mind, no face that tiny should ever look that sad.
This was the look.
This one look is what made something change inside of Lin. It ignited feelings that she never knew she had. In her heart, even if Lin wasn't consciously aware of it, she had made a vow to never allow that little face to ever look that sad ever again.
Lin had not felt this way since the first time she had looked at Kya and realized that she was the love of her life. Back then, Lin felt like she never wanted to look away. The feeling had returned.
Kya eyed her wife. After all these years they had been together, she had learn to read Lin like a book. That look on her face had been saying a hundred things at one time.
"I Korra," The child finally spoke up in a small voice. Her grip on Kya had begun to loosen.
Lin suddenly stood at attention with her arms at her sides and leaned forward in a bow.
"It is my pleasure, Avatar Korra. Chief Lin Beifong is at your service."
A smile began to spread across Kya's face. The image of her stern, no nonsense wife respectfully bowing down to a three year old Avatar was definitely a surprising one.
A tiny giggle was heard coming from the little one. Lin looked up when she felt a small hand on her head.
Korra had reached out and placed her hand on top of Lin's head. The woman stood back up at her full height and smiled softly.
Korra began to squirm in Kya's arms as she reached out for Lin. The child whined when she couldn't reach her.
"What's wrong? Did I do something?" Lin asked nervously fearing another fire blast in her direction.
"Sweetheart, she just wants you to hold her," Kya spoke with a warm smile. Kya doesn't remember ever seeing her wife be this clueless. It was kind of endearing.
"Oh," Lin had begun to realize that she doesn't actually remember how to hold a child.
She had not been around a child this small since Su was little, but then again Lin had been a child herself back then.
Kya could sense her wife's apprehension. She shook her head knowing that she would have to walk the woman through the simple take of just holding a little child.
"Skin to skin is best," Lin's eyes darted to her wife as she spoke, "It calming and it also helps with bonding."
Lin nodded and hastily unbuttoned her coat and neatly laid it down on the small couch in the room. Korra watched in awe as Lin easily bent off her metal armor and left it to lay in the corner.
She pulled off her white undershirt leaving her in just her wraps underneath.
"Okay," Lin said as she held out her arms.
Korra had practically jumped into her arms which certainly caught the Chief off guard. Kya chuckled softly as she transferred the little Avatar into her wife's waiting arms.
Kya repositioned Lin's arms so she was no longer holding the girl like a sack of potatoes.
"Just relax, honey," Kya laughed as she rested her hand on the woman's tense bicep.
Lin held the girl so that they were chest to chest just as Kya had instructed.
Little fingers poked and prodded Lin's face as if she were studying her. Up until today, the thought of sticky, dirty little hands touching all over her was an absolute nightmare.
Now, the touch had been welcomed and it even made her smile.
Kya moved to stand behind her wife. Her still bare chest was pressed against Lin's back and she had her arms locked around the woman's waist.
"We are going to have a lot to talk about," Kya whispered softly.
Lin turned her head to look back at her wife. When their eyes met, both women shared a knowing look.
"I guess so."
One conversation 14 years ago had changed everything. That one conversation had given them their daughter.
Both Lin and Kya would be lying straight through their teeth if they said the adjustments had come easily.
There were many sleepless nights because Korra was not sleeping or eating and would have frequent accidents despite being potty trained. It worried both women but Katara had assured them that though it may be difficult this "regression period" was a normal reaction for a child to have after such a traumatic event.
Korra was so young, it was harder for her to really understand all that had happened to her. She had been old enough to remember her parents but not quite able to grasp what had happened to them.
Korra would wake up screaming for her mother and father. When Lin and Kya had been the ones to answer her cries, it only seemed to upset her even more.
Lin had learned very quickly that children do not abide by routines and schedules. They were unpredictable little things. There were some days were Korra just would be attached to Lin and Kya's hip, then other days it seemed like she wanted nothing to do with them.
They eventually must have gotten the whole parenting thing down pact because now many years later Korra is alive, happy, and spoiled as ever.
It should come as no surprise that the only child of Republic City’s Chief of Police and resident Master Healer is spoiled beyond belief.
Lin swears that Kya is the problem because she has never told that girl no a day in her life, but the metal bender is not completely innocent herself.
After every morning jog for the past 10 years, Lin has gone out of her way to stop by their favorite bakery to pick different pastries Korra liked so she would have them when she woke up.
Half the time, Lin doesn’t even realize all the ways her little family has softened her over the years.
She would come home from a busy day at the station and just collapse on the couch. In her younger days as a rookie in the force, she would get so annoyed whenever Su would come bother her after a long day. The last thing she had wanted was someone all in her space.
Now, she couldn’t function without her evening debrief on the couch listening to Kya ramble in about her day while absentmindedly running her hands through Lin’s thick grey hair.
Lin would share things about her day sometimes, but she would much rather just sit here and listen to her wife talk.
There would also be days where Korra would come to the station and hang out in her office simply because she was “bored”.
The Avatar would sit right in front of her desk and talk as the woman tried to get her work done. Of course Lin would grumble and tell her that she needed to concentrate, but she never kicked her out. Not even when Korra would eventually get sick of the chair and opt to sit on Lin’s lap instead.
This was because Lin had made a personal vow to never brush Korra off in the way her mother had done to her. Since the first time Lin had ever looked into Korra shining blue eyes, she had been wrapped around the Avatar’s finger.
Nothing was ever going to change that. This is just part of being a mother.